Name: Derrick Bonilla
Year/Major: Sophomore, Finance Major
Hometown: San francisco
Spirit Fruit: That’s hard…..Blueberries; they’re small but they have a lot of flavor in them
Pick a number from 1-10: 6
Describe yourself in 6 words: I am an extroverted Latino male.
Can you elaborate?
I’m very social and I try to make connections as much as possibly. It’s good to be genuine to different people with different faces and different experiences. I put an emphasis on Latino because we’re under represented in general, I’m not only representing myself but my whole culture.
What are your involvements on campus?
I work the front desk at the learning and writing center and I also work with the athletics department through events management, so I work the basketball games. On campus I’m involved in lyricist lounge, I do that every month. I’m also in brother connection. I’m getting the salvadoran club started, we have one but it’s been really stagnant lately so I’m really trying to get our names out there. I’m also in the Muscat Scholars Program, it was a really good experience to help me bridge from high school to college.
What is one thing you love about USF and one thing you wish you could change?
First of all USF is in the best city in the world, I was born and raised here. I also appreciate the atmosphere even though the college campus in predominately caucasian and that posed a challenge. Minorities have to put in extra work to stand out but that encourages me to do well, it’s a challenge that I’m willing to take on. I’m going to make a name for myself. One thing that I wish I could change about USF is the price, I mean everyone says that. So another thing would be the diversity problem. We’re supposed to be diverse and yes compared to other private schools we are diverse but that’s not the standard that you want to have, you want to be diverse period not in comparison.
You perform at lyricist lounge every month, how is it like and where do you draw your inspiration?
I got tired of not having my words heard. I like expressing my words. I write everyday. Before you got here I was writing. I write everything; what i see, what I’m doing, how I feel. It’s a passion of mine and I think that lyricist lounge is the best way for me to express myself.
How would you encourage people to attend lyricist lounge?
I tell people that if diversity is a problem for you lyricist lounge is the perfect place to be exposed to that diversity. People talk about where they come from, what they have gone through and that gives you an different perspectives on life and what we talk about isn’t only about school. Attending Lyricist Lounge may help you in your situation or give you empathy for others. Lyricist lounge has a family feel that you don’t really feel at USF as a whole.
I have seen you change up your performance style between poetry and rap. How do you do that? Also what’s you rap name?
My rap name is MCdmb. To answer your question I don’t separate them. My #1 inspiration is Tupac who was a poet and then a rapper. I’ve been writing poetry since I was 13 but I didn’t start rapping until I was 17. I did little freestyles now and then, I asked myself what I’m more passionate about and thought what if I don’t have to pick? I’ll just make my rap’s poetic. All my raps are poetry. Nowadays the definition of Rap has become mushy, people think that trap is rap but in reality Rap is comes from the heart. I try to put all my experiences in my rap/poetry, that’s why I don’t consider myself a rapper. I consider myself a lyricist and poet.
If you could switch places with anyone right now who would it be and why?
Kendrick Lamar. I feel a lot of empathy for him. He grew up in a really bad neighborhood exposed to really bad situations similar to myself. One thing that we have in common that I don’t have in common with any other rapper is how he chose not to let his neighborhood and those bad situations define the person that he is or was going to be. He’s succeeding on his own and setting the bar for everyone else who are in those types of situations. His famous, like he just won 5 grammys!
What is your personal mantra?
I actually came up with this for a song and then I liked it. No silence can be more powerful than words, what’s the point of a voice if it can not be heard. The first half of my life I was silent, I took everything in. I realized that silence makes you a strong person because you are reflecting on things more deeply but at the same time it’s important to make sure that your voice is heard. You have a voice for a reason so use it to express yourself. That is what I do now.