By: Al Ballesteros
Photos by: @lucasinstyle – @stevenjamesxposed – @free_berto – @btscenesbody – @lucasinstyle
Perhaps you’ve seen him on Out TV’s For the Love of DILFS, Iconic Justice, on Pride Festival stages, IG or Gogo dancing at the Abbey in West Hollywood. Dressed in black leather and gold, studded holsters, crowns and medieval jewelry he’s Prince Joshua, the high-energy performer entertaining the crowds and lighting up the stage with powerful splits, high kicks, and his signature radiant smile. He recently released his EP entitled CROWNED, a collection of original gay rap music unlike you’ve ever heard before.
Prince Joshua brings unmatched energy and passion to everything he does. His is of mixed Latino and German descent and a natural-born performer whose passion for the stage began in childhood via theater and cheerleading. Originally from Idaho, at 19 he moved to Phoenix, Arizona to study fashion at the Art Institute. Entering the queer nightlife community, he gained experience as lead bartender at Kobalt and began performing and hosting nights at different clubs including Charlie’s, BS West, and the Rock. When he attended different LGBTQ festivals and raves, he’d see the Go-go dancers on stage and remembers he was thrilled because they seemed to be the center of energy of the event. He himself started Go-go dancing at 20 and in doing so, says he found his place because “it felt so right.” He became a social media influencer for brands like Andrew Christian, JJ Malibu, and Body Aware, and gained traction from his Princely aesthetic and thirst traps.
After receiving a Bachelor of Arts in Fashion Marketing & Management he moved to Hollywood, California from Phoenix to continue to blend his passion for dancing, fashion, and entertaining and to pursue a music career.
Prince Joshua is now cultivating his talents as a rapper on his EP entitled CROWNED. It is six tracks of gay rap music which emanates from his personal experiences on the stage as a dancer coupled with his royal persona and the medieval world and how far he can take it all. We had the opportunity to speak with him about his music and his journey to the here and now.
Adelante: Congratulations on your EP. This is a new venture for you.
Prince Joshua: Yes, I’ve always liked dancing and performing, but not singing. A friend asked me to be in one of his music videos and I enjoyed that. I like Hip Hop songs and I like to rap so about a year ago, I decided to make the EP.
I put time into finding and buying the right beats and wrote lyrics to them. I put out six tracks and it feels good to have accomplished this new chapter in my career. I’m having fun making music. All it takes is one song to go viral, so I’m going to keep doing it.
Prince Joshua says he drew upon his experiences with being a Gogo dancer, bad bitch, and public persona to write different songs. From being catcalled, to signing NDA’s his EP is full of ass shaking, metaphors, and telling his story through an ‘unapologetic sequence of hooks and bars’.
Adelante: What kind of response is your EP getting?
Prince Joshua: It’s getting a good response. So many different people have offered congratulations to me. It feels good that I could break out of this box and be viewed as more than just a Go-go boy. I feel a lot of people don’t see Go-go boys or underwear models to have much more to offer. I think it’s cool to give people a taste of my different talents and to share those as an influencer and now a singer and song writer.
His EP’s song titles and lyrics are original with somewhat predictable meanings behind them. All are gay themed and uniquely the creations of Prince Joshua. Some of the tracks on the CROWNED EP and his definitions behind them are: ROYAL TEASE – “embracing my sexuality and using my good looks to tease men and make them tempted to chase their desires, that’s what this song embodies.” LET THEM EAT CAKE – “popping my shit in a Prince Charming fashion while highlighting the royal asset of mine that thousands of followers would love to eat.” CLAP THAT – “encouraging baddies with booty meat and good cooch to clap their cheeks together and stand on business by getting money to do so”. BAR-KING – “taking my power back from unwanted remarks, DM’s, or catcalls and putting these dogs on leashes so I can walk them and show them who’s boss.” PASSENGER PRINCE – “chivalry is expected when in the presence of a Prince, along with gifts and acts of service there are many things to catch his Majesty’s attention.” GET SUM MO – getting to the bag, giving jaw dropping performances, and being uniquely genuine to myself, I’m going to continue doing me and getting the most out of life by doing so.”
Adelante: What are your favorite songs from the EP?
Prince Joshua: Let Them Eat Cake, I loved the way it felt recording it. I was in such a good mood that day. I felt so animated and free. I wanted to have the listeners feel the confidence in the song and twerk or vouge to it. And Get Sum Mo.
Adelante: Let Them Eat Cake, really fits Prince Joshua.
Prince Joshua:: Yes. I had to pay homage to that. I released the song last year on my birthday. People are always looking at my ass and I know it’s what they want. So “Let Them Eat Cake.” I’m known for my butt. I did a photo shoot with a cake on setting on my butt and I’m known for the crown on my butt cheek so the song came so naturally to me. The song also incorporates Royal Aesthetic, Marie Antoinette, and her iconic saying, Let Them Eat Cake. I’m playing with royal themes and innuendos and I love the song for that reason. It goes with my fashion.
I’d love to make a video for song. I have a specific vision for a video of Let Them Eat Cake but I don’t have the ability to produce it now and I don’t want to settle for a half ass production. So, I have to wait. I might do a revamp of the song also.
Adelante: What’s the meaning of Get Sum Mo.
Prince Joshua: Last year during Long Beach Pride, I was working and having such a good time. I was counting my tips, and I thought, wow, I was getting a lot of tips, and I thought, I want to Get Sum Mo. Let me write that down. I started playing with that and the song just started happening in my head and I got a beat, and I started free styling. It’s really about multiple different areas of my life, getting more, like more money, more confidence, more opportunity, it’s about getting to the bag, giving jaw dropping performances, being uniquely myself and getting more out of life, yea, Get sum mo.
Adelante: You’ve done a lot in your career in a relatively short time. Has it been difficult at all?
Prince Joshua: I’m a full-time go-go boy, that is my main job, and I get paid for that. And it takes funds to make my music, every music video that you see I’ve funded, with all the money I have made shaking my ass. Generally, all of what I do is from my hard-earned money. As a dancer, it’s hard to make really good money. I’m one of those starving artists, but I don’t care because I love living this lifestyle. I’d rather be doing this than doing a boring 9-5 life. Sometimes people look at one’s IG and think they are doing so well, but I’ve created a visual of what I want you to see. I don’t think people realize all the work and funds that go into this all, to create my look; or to rent a studio to make the music, getting it mixed and mastered and putting it on streaming services. It’s just me doing all this, the art, the making of the music, the marketing. One day I know it will pay off. I don’t think people realizes how much work it is to be an independent artist. It all looks so magnificent and luxurious, but they don’t know the effort it takes.
Adelante: Do you aspire to go beyond the LGBTQ community with your music?
Prince Joshua: That is something I want for myself and other queer artists. I want there to be more visibility for all of us. For the general population, when it comes to queer people in music, they usually don’t know many. It’s up to us to show them we exist. We are not much different from them. We have our own stories that need to be told. In terms of crossing over to write music for the straight community, I’m not doing that, necessarily. I’m currently working on this high energy club song that has gay themes to it and I could see the straight community liking it. It’s not too gay focused and straight boys or girls could get into it and shake their ass to it.
Adelante: How did your career start? Where did the title “Prince” come from?
Prince Joshua: I have always been fascinated by the medieval time period and characters like knights, princes, royalty, costumes and things. To get into it more, I wanted to create something unique, a persona to bring me into that feeling and style. When I was in high school, and IG was becoming popular, I decided to pick a username to portray that vision of myself. Prince Joshua was my new username and identity and on IG. I was around 16 at the time. I didn’t know where that would lead me, but I think I’ve done this role to a “T” and created a brand for myself.
Adelante: We would definitely agree. You’ve done a great job with this. It all looks so natural on you.
Prince Joshua: It is one of those things I continued to embrace. I got a tattoo of a crown on my butt cheek. So, I’m taking it all pretty far, lol.
He wears prince-like looks, and incorporates royalty gold into his fashion. He also designs his own tattoos. As a marketing expert, this is all inspired by his persona and all focused on solidifying his brand. Prince Joshua creates a lot of his own fashion and works with designers to help him create the vision for what he wants to wear for a particular event. He has a formal fashion degree, but says his expertise is more on the business side of things. Over the years his brand has continued to evolve and become broader. Each year he compares his looks from the past and from moments in time, and each year it just gets better and better and he takes it to the next level.
Prince Joshua looks are a wide blend of current day street wear, 90s type culture, combined with a medieval black and gold gothic look. To be sure, you’ll find him in Nike Jordans, baggy pants, a crown and epaulettes on his shoulders along with a bunch of thick necklaces. He says he likes to play with both the masculine and feminine side of things, such as wearing oversized jeans, boxers puffing out, chains and a backwards hat; to wearing fish net body suits that are like thongs up his ass crack and showing off his skin. “As a gay man, it’s nice being able to play with masculine and feminine energy.”
Adelante: Your looks are quite creative and memorable. When did you start liking medieval stuff?
Prince Joshua: Very early. There’s an old home video of me on my fourth birthday, playing King Royal, and they made me a little crown and put it on me. I’ve always lived to that fantasy in my head.
Adelante: Where does your confidence come from?
Prince Joshua: I was born with it. I’ve always wanted the spotlight. I have three older sisters and one younger and I always felt I had to compete for the spotlight. Everyone in my family is competitive and wants the stage and attention. My upbringing was being around people that have confidence, and I was fortunate to have that. I think confidence is something that is gained, something you decide to be, and you must trust yourself. Doing the things that you love makes one more confident. I love what I do and I trust myself to do what I love.
Adelante: Are you close to your siblings?
Prince Joshua: We are always there for each other. I’m very close to my siblings and I can tell them anything. They were there for me through hard times, especially when I came out. Having them tell me I can do it helps me reach for the stars.
Adelante: It seems like you get a great reception from the crowds?
Prince Joshua: Oh yes. There are times when I’ll go to an event and the crowd’s energy may be low, but I’ll get the energy flowing. All it takes is that one person to get it going and then it all falls into place.
Adelante: You seem to be a person that enjoys uplifting people?
Prince Joshua: That was instilled in me as a child. Something that I will always tell everyone is there is so much room in the sky for everyone to shine. We can all shine. I love to share positivity with others. I believe one can make things happen if they work hard for it. I love surrounding myself with ambitious people. When everyone is working towards goals and passionate about that, it feels like we are all moving forward together. It feels good when I can help others pursue their dreams while I pursue mine.
Adelante: Are your parents supportive of your work?
Prince Joshua: My parents have always shown me unconditional love even if they did not always agree with what I was doing or working on.
Adelante: Have they watched your performances?
Prince Joshua: They’ve seen my pictures and videos online. They came to a live performance once. When I was writing my first EP, I was nervous for them to hear it but they are proud that I’m out here making stuff happen for me. No matter how vulgar or gay some of my lyrics may be they are just content knowing I’m doing what brings me joy.
Adelante: It must feel great to have parents like that.
Prince Joshua: I can’t tell you how appreciative I am for that. I did not have the easiest upbringing, being Baptist Christian, and brain washed, and it was so amazing that I was able to break out of that environment and eventually my family did also. And I realize above all, family matters more than anything else. Something is wrong when a whole church congregation of people tells you that a young good human being, (me) is a bad person because he wants to love another man.
My whole family eventually left the church. I’m not saying this is what everyone should do. It was incredible to witness my mom go from not wanting me to listen to secular music to now her listening to my very inappropriate gay music.
Many stereotype and negative views of Go-go boys are prevalent in our community such as they’re not smart or don’t have other ambitions beyond the dancing. Prince Joshua proves those sentiments could not be further from the truth. He works hard and uses the money he makes dancing to fund his other creative projects including the music development. He doesn’t want to be viewed as just a cute face and sexy body but also as a smart, hard working brand developer.
Adelante: What is the Joshua off the stage like?
Prince Joshua: I’m a goofy guy. I’m just as vulgar off the stage. I’ve always been able to make people laugh. When I was growing up, I experienced bullying. I was made fun of for being gay and one way I knew how to make them stop doing that was to make them laugh. That way I would not be the joke. I’ve always found ways to be the class clown or a goofball. A lot of what you see of me online is that of a pretty boy. People who don’t know me may think I’m a guy that holds myself so high, but I’m really down to earth.
Adelante: What do you do to keep yourself grounded?
Prince Joshua: I go to the gym every day for a couple hours. I stretch a lot to be able to do all those splits and kicks. While I go to maintain my body looking good, the gym is also a form of mental health. The gym is time I give myself to organize my head. It’s a good way for me to just reset and mentally prepare for what I have to do for the rest of the day.
Adelante: Is this the way you take care of your brand, you.
Prince Joshua: Yes. I’m the product. I have a degree in marketing, and I know how important it is to maintain a brand.
Adelante: Why do you think it’s important for LGBTQ artists to be visible.
Prince Joshua: For so many reasons. I believe as a young child, if I could have seen a successful gay person in media, it would have helped with me coming out and embracing myself. I didn’t know successful queer performers until I was older. I think queer people in media can be good examples to look up. I’m more of an artist for the 18+ person audience, but in general, visibility in the media is important for us. It shows the community that we are just as important as them. We have goals and passions just like everyone else. Ever since I was young, I’ve felt I was not born in a world that was for me. For straight people, they can go to any store or place; for us, queer people, we often feel out of place, perhaps some of us never feel we are in a world that was made for us.
Adelante: Where do you see yourself in five years.
Prince Joshua: I see myself touring, whether working with other artists, opening for other artists or headlining. It’s one of my biggest dreams, to go to multiple bigger cities and do music, and live that rock star life.
Adelante: Any final thoughts you’d like to say to the readers
Prince Joshua: Be unapologetically yourself and always believe you can shine because there is room in the sky for everyone to shine. Don’t take yourselves too seriously and remember to have fun living your queer lives. Take up space! I hope there will be more queer rappers. I want us to listen to music and actually be able to relate to the words.