Midas Alonso: “Until you see death up close you are not scared and I have seen it many nights”

It is impossible to tell the story of Midas Alonso (Madrid, 1992) without talking about Daniel Sturridge. The English footballer was for a time a prestigious player after playing for renowned teams such as City, Liverpool and Chelsea. Until one day he disappeared from the map.

Everyone had forgotten about him when at the beginning of 2023 the Madrid rapper released a song in which he asked “Where’s Sturridge?“. The theme, named Brixton and viral on social networks, brought the athlete back to the news and, in the process, placed Midas Alonso, at that time a complete unknown, on the map.

“In that song I also say ‘he’s going to shit when he releases my album’ and now he’s hitting the ball because people were paying attention,” he says confidently as soon as he sits down for the interview.

His real name is Alvaro Aparicio -‘What‘ for friends – and it’s so huge that it almost doesn’t fit on the white armchair. “The Midas thing comes from King Midas, who turns everything he touches into gold. And Alonso is from Alonso Quijano, from Don Quixote,” he explains about his artistic alias. His physique is reminiscent of James Gandolfini, the actor who plays the protagonist of The Sopranos. He likes the comparison so much that he even imitates it on the cover of his album, posing in a bathrobe and surrounded by ducks in a pool.

Mastercaster It is a long work, 18 songs, that sounds like a rap that is no longer made. His lyrics talk about gambling, drugs, his feelings, and a lot of football. “Nobody makes the references that I make. It’s not a topic like any rapper can make.”. Mine encompasses much more than saying names of players,” he defends while denies “being a total geek” of it. “Well, maybe I’m a bit of a geek,” he reconsiders.

The passion comes from his grandfather. “At his house he had a room where he was watching games all day. I I loved being with him. We were going for a walk to El Retiro, he took me to the Rastro and he would talk to me about whatever I wanted,” he remembers.

But Midas Alonso did not grow up in the capital but in a town in the mountains of Madrid. “I I studied at the Monastery of El Escorial. I spent eleven years there with the priests. He was his favorite student because he was the most naughty. The teachers were crazy about me. In second grade I told my friends that the Three Wise Men didn’t exist and I got into a hell of a mess. I remember all the parents called. It was exaggerated. I have been very complicated, but a good one, eh,” he points out. “In the first year of Baccalaureate I already messed up too much and they expelled me. That’s where I really prepared it and it got lost because sometimes that happens with joints,” he adds without wanting to give many more details.

Yes, it counts that He had “a dark time” that led him to move to London before starting his musical career or working as an actor in series that have taken him to Netflix. “I wanted to learn English and have a change of scenery,” he begins. “I was working as a bike taxi and scamming tourists. When maybe three Italians asked me to take them to their hotel, I would leave them at the door of a strip club that would give you 50 pounds for each person you brought in,” he says.

“In London at first it was good but then came an even darker time. I was very screwed. I got into places where I shouldn’t have and getting out of there is complicated. Until you see death up close you are not scared and I have seen death many nights on the edge of what we all know,” he reveals. “In the end I left there alone because I don’t like asking for help. I have achieved it. But I support all the people who ask for it, whether for their problems with drugs or other things. You can get away from everything,” he emphasizes.

Returning to that artistic side, he says that when he released his first song on YouTube his father asked him to listen to it together. “Imagine, what a shame!” he remembers. “I didn’t blame him because I’ve always had a lot of respect for him. He told me to stop doing that because it wasn’t going to get me anywhere and, look, now he’s super proud from heaven.“, dice.

His mother didn’t trust much in the acting thing either. “But I got into the race and I have been studying for several years. I am an actor, I don’t act like some famous Instagrammer who has a lot of followers and then you see two shots and my goodness…” he defends. Until now, He has worked on fictions such as ‘Christ and King’ o ‘Entrevías’. Now, he says, he is with a docuseries about his life. “I just filmed a pilot episode that I financed myself. It cost me a lot of money but I know it will be a success,” he says, convinced.

His money comes from music, but also has won some money playing poker. A few weeks ago he played a tournament in Bratislava and returned home with 5,500 euros after finishing fourteenth among more than 1,500 players.

“I had never played in my life. Well, some timbita yes, but nothing online. They invited me and I went. In the end playing live it has a lot of weight how much you can stand the gaze of the rest,” he says.

As applauded as he is criticized for talking about bets in his lyrics, he defends that “poker is different because it should be classified as a mental sport just like chess is” and does not hide when pointing out that money will continue to be played for certain sporting results.

“If I put 200 euros into Real Madrid beating Chelsea it is because I see it as safe and I will have a profit. But I’m not doing it every day and losing money. You have to play responsibly. Gambling is destroying poor neighborhoods, it is the new heroine,” he says.

Speaking of social causes, He assures that he will allocate 40% of what he makes with his clothing brand to the fight against suicide. “It is an issue that draws my attention. It seems outrageous that, for example, a teenager commits suicide because they are being bullied without having told their parents. It is very worrying and more voice should be given to this. Above you’re sick, you’re going to make an appointment with the psychologist and they’ll give it to you in three months,” he says.

For now, its purpose will be to fill all the dates of the tour through Spain that begins next December. Although there is more: “One of the goals I had was to be in the top 5 rappers in Spain and I have already achieved it. Another was to appear on Netflix. And I have already achieved it. And, another, is to win a Goya. This It’s more screwed up but I’m going to win it.”

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