Big A Prado Is Grateful For All His Blessings But Ready for His Glory.
Artists often inspire and influence the surrounding people from their listeners, producers, and their colleagues. Quiet as kept, many artists often credit the surrounding people with being the driving force behind their stories, their image, and their success. Big A Prado is an artist’s artist. Known amongst his musical peers for his writing chops and his captivating music, Prado’s penned hits for the best and put the Southside on his back at the same time. Now, though, it’s time for him to get his just due and no longer have to make do with borrowed goods.
Born in College Park, Big A’s family migrated to America from Panama when he was still a child. As a child, Big A balanced both words, embracing his Panamanian roots while also learning about the black American experience.
“I was too young to remember it, but I was in Panama when I was younger. I remember the culture though. Being younger, we said Tia or Tio so much that I didn’t even know what an auntie or uncle was, says Prado.
In his household, he grew up hearing Salsa and attending the local parties that his community members held, but he was also exposed to the sounds of rap from his older brothers who put him up on artists from Crucial Conflict to T.I. and OutKast.
“I listened to the Dungeon Family, Cee-Lo, TIP, Jay-Z, Nas, The Roots, Big Pun, Bone Thugs- it’s all a big gumbo pot.”
Eager to make a way for his family, Big A began hustling, using the sounds of artists like T.I. and Trap Muzik to inspire him to find a way out of the streets. Initially, Big A struck gold as a member of a rap group called The Embassy Music Board whose single, “Money Machine” landed them a spot in the 2010 XXL Magazine. In spite of the early success, Big A’s climb involved more challenges and hurdles to overcome.
In his own words, “I’ve been around for a long time, but I’ve had spots in my life where I didn’t take the artist thing as serious as I should have.”
After a chance encounter with a friend who invited him to record in the studio, Big A took the lead and invested $14,000 of his own money into his own studio. He then learned how to engineer and started his own studio named Canal in the vein of the Panama Canal. Soon Big A’s reputation spread, and before he knew it, he was engineering all over the city, most notably for Block Entertainment.
Working with artists like Yung Joc and Gorilla Zoe gave him a chance to increase his income and also led to him earning writing credits. Around that same time, Big A jumped out, releasing his first solo projects in 2019, For Sisters Only and FerraiPrado. The fever pitch though was his 2020 project, D.R.O. (Da Real One), which was led by the massive single, “SouthSet”.
An anthem for his side of town, the song highlighted everything A loved about his side and also showed his talent as a storyteller and lyricist.
All three projects elevated Prado’s individual star, but he still struggled with music tastemakers who sought his services as a writer. Thrust into the role of writer, A took advantage of a once-in-a-lifetime chance to write for Jennifer Lopez on the song “Dinero”.
“Tommy Brown, the owner of Champagne Therapy Music reached out one day and that’s how it came through. Years earlier, Gorilla Zoe asked for beats and I called him. He got his first placement through that.”
Solid and consistent, A’s pedigree has garnered respect from everyone, including T.I. who’s offered his help on forthcoming projects. Although his work with JLO led to a VMA Award as well as BMI and more, for Big A, nothing matters more than being real and fostering healthy relationships.
When asked what his goals were, he firmly responded,
“A core fanbase of a million plus people. When people use my lyrics as captions and give me the credit for what’s due, I’ll see it as success. If you got a million but not real it means nothing. That’s what being a realionaire is about. I’m me no matter what room I step in. That’s the highest level of wealth.”