Lynn rap, R&B singer hopes to make it big

LYNN – As part of what has become a vibrant urban music and art scene in the city, 19-year-old Manny Alcantara is gearing up for the release of his debut R&B album “Call Me Manny” next month, but friends and classmates of the 2007 Lynn English High School graduate can no doubt remember a time when he was printing his own independent rap albums and distributing them to his friends in an effort to get his music career off the ground.A writer, singer and producer, Alcantara recently hooked up with Beverly-based Illumina Records to produce his first record and in the process became the company’s New England R&B spokesman for its Ground Control anti-drunken driving campaign.”Ground Control is a great thing. They use music and the artists to promote safety when it comes to drunk driving and kids,’ said Alcantara. “They asked me to be the New England R&B spokesperson for it so I will be doing concerts and appearances and that sort of thing.”A life long Lynn resident, Alcantara is the son of Deputy DPW Commissioner Manny Alcantara and Lynn English High School teacher Maria Alcantara. He is hoping to make a name for himself as the most successful musician to come out of Lynn and has had his sights set on the goal for a long time.Always a fan of music, Alcantara first put pen to paper on a rap song when he was 12 years old and was soon recording his own tracks into a computer microphone. By the time he had graduated from English, he had self-recorded three rap albums.”I started writing when I was 12 and recording when I was 14. I always liked music and one day I just decided to plug in a computer microphone and see what I could do,” he said. “I found that it didn’t always come out great at first, but I ended up doing three albums as a rapper. I didn’t have much of a fan base. I would even print the CD covers myself.”Although most of his background was in rap, his friends started noticing the R&B hooks on some of his songs on his latest album and started complementing Alcantara on his singing as well, which inspired him to make a change.”I started out doing just rap, but I started taking it a little bit more seriously in January and February, so a lot of my new music is R&B and pop,” he said. “This will be my first album as an R&B artist so I wanted to come out with something that a lot more people could hear. I have been playing a lot more shows and making more fans.”Alcantara signed with Illumina Records in April and has been diligently promoting ‘Call Me Manny’, which is set for a Sept. 29 release.Along with the album release, the artist hopes to play a record release show on Oct. 1.Although music is his life right now, Alcantara says he is doing it because he loves it, not to make money. He has confidence in his career, but has enrolled in the entrepreneur program at Salem State College as a backup plan.”I do it just because I like it, not just to make money, because who knows how it is going to work out,” he said. “(R&B artist) Pleasure P has a song called ‘Dream in the Air.’ There is a line that goes ‘I see a dream in the air and I believe.’ That song is really inspiring, it has kind of been my inspiration for a lot of this.”To learn more about the album or Manny visit www.callmemanny.com.