Zacari

Singer/songwriter/rapper and multi-instrumentalist Zacari Pacaldo was raised in Bakersfield, California in a highly musical family. He was enrolled in a school for performing arts by age eight and began learning guitar, followed by drums, saxophone, and keyboards. After finishing high school, he worked seasonally for three years at an Alaska national park, earning money to enroll in music school in Los Angeles. During his time in L.A., Pacaldo posted his own songs online and quickly began collaborating with much larger names. Through various friend-of-a-friend connections, he went from offering saxophone session work to singing on tracks alongside artists like Ab-Soul, Larry June, Kembe X, and Isaiah Rashad. His largest breakthrough came when he pitched "Lovely," an original song of his own, to rap superpower Kendrick Lamar. Lamar reworked the song as "Love" on his massive 2017 album, DAMN. Aside from Lamar himself, DAMN. had only three featured artists: Rihanna, U2, and Pacaldo. Following his appearance on DAMN., Pacaldo appeared on a few songs on the soundtrack to the 2018 feature film Black Panther, another connection to Lamar, who curated the soundtrack and album of music inspired by the film. In 2019, he released the solo EP Run Wild Run Free.