Born in Los Angeles and raised in the City of Roses (Pasadena, California), Alvin Manalo also known as BamBeeno (Bam-Bino) found himself working at an insurance brokerage for 4 years. After 4 years at the job and at the age of 21 he began to ask himself, “Do I really want to do this for the rest of my life?” It was at that moment he decided to look into other areas of interest. Little did he know that what he wanted out of life was right in front of him all along.
There were many things BamBeeno was into: music, basketball, drawing, dancing, etc. He soon discovered that he was most interested in being creative. Stemming from his love of music, he began to look into the creative side of music production. At the time, however, he still had his 9 to 5 job and was unable to delve into his new found interest. It wasn’t until the final months of 2004 that BamBeeno was laid off. This was an unfortunate event but was a blessing in disguise since it is what led him into giving beat making a try. He researched the music he listened to and started reading the credits of the beats he liked most. He noticed that his favorite producers (such as Just Blaze, Kanye West, and Alchemist) sampled music. He saved up for his first sampler, an Akai MPC 2000xl and picked up some vinyl records. From there he began to sample loops from vinyl and started creating his own beats. And that is when he realized that making beats is what he wanted to do for rest of his life.
After a couple of years of teaching himself how to make beats, he wanted to get better. He decided to sharpen his skills as a music producer and in late 2007 attended the Musicians Institute in Hollywood, California. There he acquired more tricks of the trade. One of his instructors in the program was impressed with the self-taught producer and told him, “You’ve got a special ear of finding those samples!” In March of 2008, he graduated from the recording artist program at MI.
With hundreds of beats under his belt, BamBeeno hired Museum Inc. in January of 2009 to manage him and is in the process of forming his own production company. Chances are you’ve already heard his beats or have seen his popular tattoos which are included in Urban Ink’s latest (2009) magazine issue. One tattoo displays the music equipment he started with(Akai MPC 2000xl, Ensoniq ASR-10, turntables, monitors, and headphones) and the other, a dog tag that reads: “Vision, Creativity, Desire, Fire, Strength, Will, Heart. It’s my checklist and I got it all”. His latest (and 4th) tattoo also illustrates his dedication to his music.
When asked about where he is now in his music career, he says: “The moment you stop trying to get better, somebody is catching up. And I feel like I’m still far behind, but I’m creeping up fast.” With his incredible talent of changing up music and creating completely different styles of sound with each beat, in addition to his hard work and dedication to get better, the sky is the limit for this young producer.
Written By: M Guerra
