Self-taught artist honors family and heritage through pursuit of music


(Photo courtesy of Charlie Curtin)

Picture this: It’s an early morning at the beach in sunny Southern California. Surfboard in hand, you soak in the golden hour sunlight and listen to the even beat of the waves crashing onto the shore as you paddle out into the surf. That’s the vibe that Jacob DeGuzman, whose stage name is Guspy, hopes to evoke through his music. 

A sophomore majoring in business administration, Guspy’s musical style draws inspiration from jazz and reggae, with distinct undertones of late ’60s rock and indie-pop. His relaxed melodies feel like laying on the sand and basking in the sunshine, while psychedelic beats give the listener an added hallucinatory experience. 

At 14, Guspy’s father took him to a Dick Dale concert. Around the same time, his friends introduced him to the White Stripes. After watching Dale perform and listening to White Stripes records on repeat, Guspy knew he wanted to make his own music. 

“[Seeing Dale play] was just one of the craziest things ever,” Guspy said. “I don’t know, something about … Jack White and Dick Dale … shredding the guitar just [made me think] I really want to do that.”

In eighth grade, Guspy taught himself how to play guitar, the drums and has also since taught himself how to produce music using GarageBand. Due to his lack of formal music education, Guspy can’t properly read sheet music. TJ Wee, one of his friends and musical collaborators at USC and a junior majoring in music production, believes that his unconventional approach to music has allowed him to be fearless in experimenting with his craft.

“[Guspy has] definitely taught me to be a little bit less analytical and critical, and just go by what feels good, and what feels right,” Wee said. “He’s really good at doing that.”

In addition to writing and producing three full solo albums while in high school, “Guspy,” “River Styx” and “Pilgrim,” all of which are available on Soundcloud, Guspy played in a band that performed at the House of Blues in Anaheim to an audience of over 70 people. For Guspy, it was at this point when he realized that music was exactly what he wanted to pursue.

“I was just like, ‘I want to do this forever. And why not? I’m pretty good at this,’” Guspy said. “But coming to college and seeing how it really works, it is a lot of luck. But it’s also a lot of being smart about what you’re doing.”

At first, Guspy admitted that it was hard to be taken seriously as a musician at USC without being in the Thornton School of Music. However, he doesn’t feel wholly disadvantaged because of this, as his courses in the Marshall School of Business teach him other essential skills, such as networking and building relationships. 

“I think business best suits me because I learned music all untraditionally,” Guspy said. “I don’t think learning that stuff in a classroom would have benefited me. I’m glad I can learn other skills, like how to make money off the music because that’s one thing I didn’t know how to do.”

Guspy released the single “Hesh Girl” at the end of his first year at USC on Spotify, SoundCloud and Apple Music — a song based on an inside joke that he and his friends had about a girl living in their dorm. After the release of this song, he realized that he was finally taken seriously as an artist by fellow student musicians. Forming a live band and performing live shows was another step in being acknowledged. 

Kane Acosta, a junior majoring in music industry, met Guspy during fraternity formal recruitment. He was drawn to Guspy because of their similar interests and music tastes and took Guspy under his wing. As a mentor, Acosta pushed for Guspy to add a minor in music industry. 

“I pushed really hard for him to be a music industry minor and then through that, he was able to develop a mindset and start pushing his business aspects towards music,” Acosta said. “[Being a mentor] it’s not like you teach somebody something. You just set a bunch of parameters and expose them and they just grow with that on their own.”

Guspy’s music is currently available on SoundCloud. Wanting a clean slate, he has taken his music down from Spotify and Apple Music to focus on rebranding. This process includes polishing old songs with the help of a producer and an audio engineer in order to elevate his music to the next level. Guspy said it is a slow and calculated process, but he is dedicated to releasing the best possible music.

“If I want to take it seriously … I should put in that extra 1% to just really hone it in because it takes one song eventually to really make a name,” Guspy said. “So [I] might as well put everything into every song.” 

Guspy is inspired by a number of artists, ranging from the way they create their music to their cultural background. As an artist who composes and produces all of his own music, Tame Impala and Mac DeMarco serve as continued inspirations for Guspy. With cultural ties to Mexico and the Philippines, he admires artists such as Omar Apollo, an American artist born to Mexican parents, and the Spanish-influenced band, The Growlers. 

“I see myself fitting with [those artists],” Guspy said. “In a music sense, not exactly, but definitely in terms of identity and culture.”

Guspy’s grandparents worked hard to create a life for him in America. For that reason, he feels an obligation to represent his culture in the music industry and take advantage of all of the opportunities they fought to give him.

“I want to give back to the community in a sense, and have more representation,” Guspy said. “My grandparents … sacrificed a lot to get their families here. So it is now my job to take the most of the opportunities available and mimic and replicate their hard work that they did to get here so that I could be successful.”

Guspy is scheduled to perform at YOON FEST July 17 to 18 in the Mojave Desert. In addition, he has a big release on Spotify coming soon. 

This article was updated to reflect new information given about YOON FEST dates.