SSOTO - 1OF1

Biography

Steven John Joseph Soto II (born April 15, 2001) is an American rapper, student athlete and audio engineer. SSOTO began making music during his freshman year of high school (2015-2016), only to drag his focus to his career as a musician during his senior year (2018-2019). He released his first project Everything You Need (EP) in 2016. SSOTO released 2 other projects (albums) throughout his high school career, For You, My Love and Us Against The World; providing notable tracks such as Flower Girl and Text.

As a performer, SSOTO has put on multiple shows. These vary from school proms, venues, to youth group recreation centers. At this rate, SSOTO is presumed to be well established as his fan base continues to grow. Despite his well known “album mode” (mood of album creation), He has released multiple EP’s throughout his career. As his first project, Everything You Need was also his first EP. SSOTO continued to show his interest in EPs, releasing his Summer EP in 2018. Prior to releasing his debut album Us Against The World, SSOTO released his third studio EP, Loft Hours, in 2019. Tracks such as Unhidden, Summer Blues, and With You were notable tracks from these three projects.

Steven John Joseph Soto II was born on April 15, 2001, in San Jose, California. His father, Steve Soto, is a former DJ and now currently an audio engineer for Riverview Systems Group, Inc. SSOTO’s mother, Sandy Soto, worked with many elementary schools in East Side San Jose as SSOTO was growing up. His sister, Sydnie Soto is 3 years older than SSOTO, although they share the same birthday of April 15. She has always protected him throughout any troubles he got himself into.

When he first began walking as a child, SSOTO also began playing baseball. By being involved with the sport at such an early stage, he was able to play with kids much older than him. SSOTO began playing little league when he was 4 years old. His early experiences with East Hills Little League and Campbell Little League influenced him to play travel baseball. As his position of a pitcher, SSOTO played travel ball up until he was 18, even throughout his time on Mt. Pleasant High School’s Varsity baseball field. After his 4th year playing high school baseball, SSOTO signed to Menlo College to pursue his education and love for the game of baseball.

Along with baseball, SSOTO was exposed to the art of music at an early stage in his life. As his father, Steve Soto, was involved in the music scene, SSOTO was always listening to many classic artists. These varied from Beastie Boys, N.W.A, A Tribe Called Quest, to Kenny G, and Marvin Gaye, just to name a few. With his father being an audio engineer, SSOTO was always intrigued by the equipment that would be brought home from his father’s work. It wasn’t until a microphone and headphones were placed on SSOTO’s childhood desk that he had recorded music before. At 12, SSOTO recorded his first cover to Lil Wayne’s Megaman, in which he later on performed for his middle school’s 6th grade talent show.

Far from music and baseball, SSOTO enjoys camping with his family. Every summer, his family resides at a cabin in (Classified), California. This has been a tradition for the family even before SSOTO was born. SSOTO plans on keeping the tradition alive with his family in the future. Although this is used as a getaway for SSOTO and his family, he tends to put the final touches on his albums when they stay in their summer cabin. Many references of his connection with the cabin can be heard throughout many of SSOTO’s songs such as Comfort Zone, an inletting track off SSOTO’s 3rd studio EP, Loft Hours.

SSOTO attended Mt. Pleasant High School for all 4 years and graduated in 2019. He is currently in his 1st year of his college career at Menlo College.

SSOTO began making music at a young age of 12; music was always a hobby of SSOTO. During his freshman year of highschool, SSOTO released music on SoundCloud. He went on to release a 6 track EP titled Everything You Need during his sophomore year of highschool. At 17, SSOTO began gaining recognition from his first studio album, For You, My Love, released in December of 2017. The 6th track of the album, Flower Girl, was his most popular song of the album, gaining traction throughout the countries. With the help of the Youtuber Sharpe, SSOTO was able to expand his fan base through a reaction video posted on Sharpe’s channel. This was the traction that influenced SSOTO’s consideration on taking the music path.

In the summer of 2018, SSOTO linked with many of his close friends, now known as Highxbeam and Pete5hunnitthou. This led to the 6 track Ep, Summer, which was released in July of 2018. During his senior year of high school, SSOTO performed for his high school during a prep rally, allowing other schools to start planning for their school dances. DJ Christeezy brought SSOTO to many of the school dances to perform and get his name known and music heard by high schools throughout varieties of school districts. This went a long way as many doors opened for performing as videos of SSOTO were surfacing social media of huge crowds singing along to one of his most popular singles, Text, allowing live concerts to take place on many different stages such as the stage of Redemption Church’s Youth Group, Alcance.

SSOTO was exposed to many different experiences during his last year of high school, including heartbreaks, fall out of friendship, betrayal, cut ties, condolences, etc. These were the main influences of his 2nd studio album, Us Against The World, which could be found being spoken on throughout the whole album, especially on the tracks #5797, Feeling Down, Come Over, Indecisive Interlude, and Tomorrow’s Never Promised. The 12 track album was first promoted in December of 2018 with the release of his single Gucci Link. An Instagram caption describes SSOTO’s approach of the album; “Within these past years and projects, I’ve gone through many experiences. For those of you who’ve been by my side through those years, you know how I’ve always looked at the way we live. It’s Us Against The World. No matter what you got going for you, the world will have its ways. Stay humble and keep a positive mindset. Now keep your head up, ears open, and let’s keep pushing, it’s Us Against The World-”. Released on April 12, 2019, Us Against The World gained over 170k streams, being heard in over 90+ countries, according to SSOTO’s distribution label, United Masters.

Known for his ego defining lyricism, you have most likely heard SSOTO name drop his label, Best Out Best Sound. Rather than the label aspect, Best Out Best Sound has branded itself as a Playlist, Radio, Artist Tag, Management, etc. As the label is in its early stages, its rate of success has presumed to be a label of multiple artists and producers in the near future. In the beginning of each SSOTO song, you may hear the tag “Best Out with the Best Sound!” being displayed. This was sampled off the 2nd track, Cloud 6, of SSOTO’s first studio EP, Everything You Need.

SSOTO has worked with many of his close friends who grew up to become producers. You may have heard SSOTO name drop many producers such as $pits, KEEKS, and Gav, just to name a few. He has also worked with many artists, including Sol Jay, Kobe FMB, and much more to be rumored.

SSOTO has resided in East Side San Jose, California since 2001. His immediate family, Steve Soto (Dad), Sandy Soto (Mom), and Sydnie Soto (Sister), have grown with SSOTO to influence his early interests of music, sports, and video games. In 2016, SSOTO gained a relationship with his previous ex-girlfriend Courtney McClain, also known as Flower Girl; Most, if not all, albums created by SSOTO were influenced by this relationship. SSOTO signed to Menlo College in 2018 to pursue his business degree and to continue to play college baseball. As of 2020, SSOTO is a part of Menlo’s Freshman Class (2023) and is currently working on his 3rd Studio Album (TBA).