AROZO 

 Ariel Then, also known by his stage name AROZO, is an American recording artist who comes from a Latino background and creates mainly hip-hop and latin music, but recently has been releasing some pop & dance records. What style would you prefer to listen to? AROZO believes ”there are no rules or limits when you’re in the studio meshing a whole bunch of sounds together“. With over 100k streams on Spotify, his work is infused with diversity and versatility that allows him to deliver his songs with a wide range of emotions. Before his music career took off, he acquired the name AROZO through his friends back in 8th grade and it just STUCK, also utilizing it as his Xbox gamertag. Are you a gamer?   

AROZO was born in Englewood, NJ and was raised in a small town in Bergen County, New Jersey called Palisades Park. He comes from a Latin background as his parents are from the Dominican Republic. His mother from Santiago, and his father from the capital, Santo Domingo. His Dominican background has inspired him to start incorporating Spanish/Latin into his music. His unique approach of meshing together English and Latin hip-hop, pop, and trap allows him to express himself in different ways, as he firmly believes that people have different moods and feelings on any given day. He continuously showcases his versatility as he portrays that through his sound selection, creating commercial music, conscious music, and even music for all the beautiful ladies out there. With that being said, you never know what AROZO will come up with next.   

AROZO started dabbling into the making of music when he was a senior year in high school. He started messing around with different styles and rhythms, creating amateur audio recordings on his cellphone, making low quality YouTube videos, and even writing rhymes on receipt paper during work at Lowe’s Home Improvement at the time.  

AROZO is easily inspired by greatness and has been influenced by various artists such as Eminem, Jay-Z, 2pac, DMX, 50 Cent, Drake, and other greats including Will Smith, Michael Jackson, Justin Timberlake, and the Backstreet Boys!

His first time professionally recording was in Bushwick, BK in 2010 with Musician/Producer and now friend Will Baker, who was introduced to him by a mutual friend who happened to discover AROZO vía a YouTube video posted on Facebook. AROZO and Will ended up making two songs on the very first day of meeting. “How We Do” and “Simple Man”. In 2012 AROZO released his first full project, a debut mixtape called '#LIFTOFF', a compilation of 11 tracks including a skit as a phone conversation intro. Loving a challenge, the mixtape (LIFTOFF) was audio engineered by AROZO himself for practice and a better understanding on mixing. His first performance was in 2012 in Secaucus, NJ at a place called 1313 Lounge. In 2013 AROZO performed in Atlantic City at Harrah’s Pool Party for Memorial Day weekend. Later In 2013 released his second mixtape, Magna Carta: Holy S***, a collection of tracks inspired by Jay-Z’s Magna Carta: Holy Grail. ROZO has also performed in venues in Hoboken, NJ, various bars and lounges in NYC, as well as an art festival in Brooklyn (2019) where he performed his longest gig to date, a 30 minute set which included 10 of his most recent and unreleased tracks.  

AROZO’s determination and ambition made him fight through the struggles and learn from his experiences to keep on making music as he still thinks that he has not fulfilled his own expectations. He believes that it is very important to take full advantage of every opportunity presented to him as he aims to inspire those who share his passion towards music and life in general. Without any type of management or a solid team behind him, AROZO has been able to take his craft to the next level in the more recent years, debuting his new music on all major streaming platforms such as Apple Music, Spotify, Tidal, etc.. with singles like “GET THAT BAG!”, “EVERYWHERE”, “AMIGOS” and “LET YOU GO” which are currently on the market.  

AROZO has been writing, producing, & recording lately, as he aims to build content to continue performing on a more consistent basis as well as collaborating with local artists and producers from the tri-state area as well as networking and building relationships to help further his career. It does not stop here, as AROZO is still on his journey of creating and inspiring people around him with his ability to wake up everyday and have the same amount of passion, excitement and dedication to make his voice heard by people from different backgrounds and cities who can relate to his music.