Hip-hop brought Wally Rios to instrumental music, and he hasn’t looked back

Rios loves when artists take his beats and make their own art.

Wally Rios at Shuffle in Tampa, Florida on July 7, 2024. - Photo via wallyrios36/Instagram
Photo via wallyrios36/Instagram
Wally Rios at Shuffle in Tampa, Florida on July 7, 2024.
Michael Bostinto, drummer for new St. Pete band Soft Cuff, told Creative Loafing Tampa Bay that he would love it if local rappers started to hit him up to collaborate.

In fact, hip-hop is a common way for pop music fans to start exploring instrumental music. Just ask Tampa producer Wally Rios who fell in love with it while he was brainstorming ideas for raps.

“Eventually I just learned to enjoy the beats as they were,without lyrics. It made me get interested in creating beats myself,” Rios told CL.

He tries to create moods and change energy with his work, which often pays homage to his love of animation and comic books—and he loves it when artists take his beats and make their own art.

“What’s amazing is, you create beats with certain visions in your head but its interpretation can be different depending on the listener or artist. Ultimately it is fulfilling when another person just gets it, lets you know you’re doing something right,” he added.

Rios regularly spins at the Wu-Tang Sunday brunch at Tampa Shuffle. See a list of the best Tampa Bay instrumental bands you can listen to right now.

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Ray Roa

Read his 2016 intro letter and disclosures from 2022 and 2021. Ray Roa started freelancing for Creative Loafing Tampa in January 2011 and was hired as music editor in August 2016. He became Editor-In-Chief in August 2019. Past work can be seen at Suburban Apologist, Tampa Bay Times, Consequence of Sound and The...
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