Castro Escobar is a Latino rapper from Texas. Born in Rio Bravo, Tamaulipas and raised between Marietta, Georgia and West Columbia, Texas, he is known for real life storytelling and his new single “Choppaz” featuring Houston legend Lil Keke. After a five year break from music, he is back, and he is not shy about where he thinks hip hop stands right now.
At one point we wanted to be a part of the rap game. Now the rap game isn’t anything without us.
Castro Escobar
The Rap Game Isn’t Anything Without Us
When we asked Castro how he sees the Latino rap scene growing in Texas, that was his answer, and he told us to take it how we want to take it. The way he sees it, Mexican, Latin and Hispanic artists went from trying to get a seat at the table to being a big part of what keeps the culture moving.
It is not a shot at anybody. In the same breath, he said he is proud of every single Mexican, Latin and Hispanic artist doing their thing and wishes nothing but the best for everyone in the scene. He is rocking with Wayo Bless, Parkside Plugs and SOS Taz, and the artist he wants to work with next is Bashfortheworld, who he calls a great representation of the Mexican go getters.
That pride is personal. As you will see in his story below, Castro knows exactly where he came from, and when he says “us,” he means the people who came up the same way he did.
Choppaz With Lil Keke
“Choppaz” hit YouTube on September 28, 2026, and it plays like a love letter to the Houston rap scene that raised him musically. The link up came through his videographer OGfilm, who helped connect the two. Castro already had the record finished and could hear Keke on it before the call was ever made.
A Houston legend featured in a song that paid homage to the Houston rap scene? What more could I ask for?
Castro Escobar
The video was shot across two Houston spots, Exotic Pop and Kat Daddy Studios. Castro keeps his description of the set short: it was a Houston vibe, and if you know, you know.
Twelve People, Two Bedrooms
Castro’s story starts in a two bedroom, one bath apartment on Little St in Marietta, where twelve family members lived under one roof. He watched his people get treated differently at work and even at the corner store, and he saw a lot of hard living inside the house too. What stuck with him most was that every single one of them got up every morning and went to work. He credits that for the work ethic he carries today.
At 13, after he and his mother received their green cards, the family moved to West Columbia, closer to relatives back in Rio Bravo. It was a culture shock. He felt like an outsider right away, and the music sounded nothing like Georgia.
Drums First, Then Screw
Music was in the house long before rap was. Both sides of his family are musicians, and by age 9 or 10 he was playing drums in a band his uncle started, with his father on bass. When the pressure got too heavy, his mother stepped in and reminded his dad that he was still just a kid. Castro stepped away from the band, but music never left him. He says he learned songs before he learned to speak English.
Texas is what turned him toward hip hop. First came screwed and chopped music, which he was skeptical about until it hooked him. Then he started wondering what rap sounded like in California and went all the way down the rabbit hole. The final push was watching a kid named EC Martinez freestyle in the school gym with a crowd around him. Castro was new in town without many friends, and he figured if he learned to do that, everybody would know his name. He started rapping around 16.
Fidel’s Favorite Dishes
“Choppaz” lives on Fidel’s Favorite Dishes, a 10 track project that also includes “Toxic,” “Duffle” featuring Wayo Bless, “Tool Bag,” “Locksmith,” “Fantasy (In Love),” “Let Me Love You (The Break Up),” “Her Pain (The Aftermath)” and “Letter To My Son.” The title explains itself. The songs are built from his favorite records and sounds, with influences running from Danny Brown and Ludacris to Mario and Fat Pat.
Ask him to describe his sound in one word and he says authentic. He can make you cry on one track and turn up on the next, but his strength is real life storytelling, something he studied from the best storytellers in the game. He is already looking ahead too. He says the new material he has been cooking feels more like him than anything on the project, and his YouTube is already teasing Fidel’s Favorite Dishes II.
Then there is “Drinking Beer & Selling Sheetrock,” a title pulled from one of his own bars, which is how he names a lot of his songs: “I’m the motive for all these rappers, selling Sheetrock to the cappers.” His explanation is simple. Plenty of artists claim to know about things they really don’t, and he can tell. No shade, just observation.
Five Quiet Years
Before the break, Castro spent a lot of time on the road performing, and he learned fast that touring is nothing like it looks from the crowd. Hours and sometimes days on the road, then soundcheck, set lists and getting ready in a brand new city. He compares those first shows to learning to drive: nobody is perfect the first time behind the wheel, and he learned something new every time he stepped on stage.
Then he walked away. He remembers the exact moment he decided music wasn’t worth his mental and chose a regular life instead. He calls those five years peaceful but empty. “I felt hollow,” he says. What brought him back was the people around him, and the same question everybody asked when they saw him: you still doing music?
He returned to a different game. TikTok, Reels and streaming had changed how artists get heard, and he admits all the possibilities froze him at first. He has caught up since, and he says the version of him that came back is the best he has ever sounded, with a voice that has gotten deeper and more captivating over the years. These days he runs his own operation, which he says is harder than any 9 to 5 but still a blessing.
Unfiltered
Castro doesn’t manufacture hot takes. Asked for an unpopular opinion on Texas rap, he said he doesn’t have one because he is proud of everybody coming out of the state. The most overrated thing in hip hop right now? AI songs. And the thing nobody in the business wants to say out loud: no one is your friend. In his view, everybody has a job to do and will go with whatever benefits them most.
Mend Your Garden
There is plenty of new music on the way, though he is keeping the details close for now. What he wants people to take from his story is simple: focus on yourself before anything else. Never chase, attract. He leaves it with a line from Brazilian poet Mário Quintana about not wasting your time chasing butterflies. Mend your garden, and the butterflies will come.