Frank Pedroso is a talented and versatile young man. We spoke exclusively with CubaSí about his work as the leader of Ron con Cola and other creative pursuits.

—From Cujae to music. How was that journey?

—Actually, that journey began a little earlier. When I arrived at Cujae, music was an inseparable, very important part of my life. It started in elementary school, singing at morning music shows; Then, in high school, involved in amateur workshops, I remember the first groups I founded at the Palacio de Pioneros and also writing songs at school. Later, during my time at Lenin School, and during that teenage period, when I was 15 or 16, I remember the concerts in the first groups I had, even in nightclubs and on national tours. When I arrived at CUJAE, I did start the Ron con Cola project, which began when I was doing my military service with that first album, La historia de un corazón (The Story of a Heart), which won an award at the Puños Arriba Festival. When I arrived at CUJAE, music was already fully established in my life, and it's curious because the same year I graduated as an engineer, I became a professional musician. In other words, I took it so closely that I became a professional musician in both branches the same year.

—You've said in other interviews that Ron con Cola's musical approach is based on hip hop. Is that still a premise for you?

—Yes, hip hop is the premise of Ron con Cola and it still is, perhaps in a less direct way, but we always try to use hip hop as a culture, as a way of encompassing, of focusing our lyrics, our messages, even though it's a commercial and increasingly fusion-based music, because we can't hide or deny it either. We're actually incorporating more and more genres, more trends, always in unison with the times, and hip hop has stayed there: trap and reggae always appear in the message and in the genres we include in the fusion, and so I think that yes, it's still the core of Ron con Cola and me as a rapper…

—And the final result, what other—let's say—influences does it combine?

—Since our beginnings, we've been playing, above all, with the genres of Cuban music: cha-cha-chá, bolero, guaguancó; and as we've evolved, we've experimented with other genres, both Cuban and foreign, such as flamenco, bossa nova, reggae, and funk. That's the essence of what Ron con Cola does, the blend of rhythms, sounds, and aesthetic trends, and I think that's what's reflected in the final result.

—Do you define yourself as a rapper?

—That's an interesting question. For many rappers, I'm not a rapper, and I've always felt like I don't quite fit into the rap scene, although I do identify as a rapper. I see rap as a mode of expression, beyond a musical genre. Ultimately, I rap over any sound, any rhythm, any musical base, but I still string words together in a discourse-like fashion, and I fully identify as a rapper. It happened to us a lot at the beginning, when we started the group, because for rappers, we weren't rappers, and for mainstream music, we were rap. So we were kind of in a gray area at the beginning, and that was one of the biggest challenges Ron con Cola had when it came to establishing its brand, its sound, and making people understand that it was really what we wanted to propose.

—How do you assess the dialogue between young people and these alternative genres today?

—Regarding the dialogue between young people and alternative genres, if we focus on Cuba, it's no less true that this interaction has diminished. I think it's also due to a generational and social problem, where many young people who consumed that music have emigrated, and the new generation, this generation of the 2000s, is a little more detached from these genres and more influenced or seduced by urban music. That's the reality, however, there's always a group of young people who do consume this music, and that's the market Ron con Cola targets, always trying to capture the newest audiences. And that's where these new sounds come in, these nods to the music they consume the most, without losing the essence, but always trying to stay in the taste of young people.

—What's Ron con Cola currently doing?

—Ron con Cola is currently promoting its latest album, Chocolate, an album that was nominated in the recent Cubadisco edition. We released it in May, and the plan is to promote the EP all year long through singles that are off the album itself with their audiovisual material. We've already released two, Tú decides and Chocolate we’re obviously in the middle of a promotional campaign. The third audiovisual is ready, called La Timba, a collaboration with Jorge Sáenz, one of the musicians from Ron con Cola who's also dabbling in singing, and we made this collaboration. That's what the plan is for the short and medium term…

—You've also experimented in hosting television programs. Do you enjoy it as much as music?

—Hosting is something I enjoy a lot, I don't know if as much as music, but it's something I really enjoy. It came to me by chance, through Alain Finalé, on a show called Dale mambo, and it was a little bug I always had inside me, wanting to do it, without preparation, without any training, let's say more empirically. And after this show came another called Cuba rapeando así (Rapping Like That), and then came La Majomía, which has really been like, I don't want to say consecration, because it sounds really big, but well, let's say the biggest foray I've had into hosting from the standpoint of relevance, in terms of television time, audience acceptance... I really enjoy it a lot. It's something I'm taking a little more seriously now, and I'm preparing myself in that sense. I'm taking a broadcasting course at ICRT Study Center. I hope to graduate in November, and I intend to continue doing this on television and radio as well.

—Recently, you worked on the soundtrack for a TV movie by Alain Finalé. Tell us about this experience…

—The experience of working on the soundtrack for the teleplay "Double Time" was magnificent. It was something I'd never done before, and it was also a way to help promote hip-hop, since the teleplay had rap, freestylers, and that whole culture as its backdrop. Making that visible, putting it in a teleplay, in material of this type, with such high quality, such a beautiful script, such excellent acting direction, and contributing my bit with the music, was truly a very beautiful experience.

—Just a curious question: Have you thought about acting?

—Yes, I've thought about it, and I really would like to. I've already taken my first steps with some special roles in a good drama. I have a theater proposal for 2026 that I'm still considering because it seems like too big a role to start with, but I do think it would close my cycle as an artist. After music and hosting, I've also done smaller dance projects, but I've done them seriously. I think acting would complete the artist I once projected to be: as complete as possible.

Translated by Amilkal Labañino / CubaSí Translation Staff