10 years have passed since the emergence of the trap.
And they have flown by.
For some, so loud that they have neither seen nor heard it.
It has been one of the most relevant musical, social and political movements —perhaps the most important— that this country has experienced in its recent history;
a true disruptive process that, beyond providing new sounds, new aesthetics and new forms of communication, has opened a generation gap never seen before.
Of that decade and of how this heterogeneous, dislocated and, above all, scene was forged by means of references sometimes too contemporary to be understood, sometimes too unknown not to have been forgotten by that part of the public and the media already accustomed to it. whether musical revolutions were predictable or nostalgic. In the midst of all this, at the end of 2017 El Bloque was born, a one-hour program on YouTube devoted to all these sounds that drank from rap, but did not buy into it; they kept it in their mouths and sometimes even spit it out back.
Now, the members of that group have written a book about the scene.
Making Flu $
(making money in this jargon; this has even jargon, of course), edited by Plaza & Janés, there are 15 chapters in which eight members of El Bloque (Alicia Álvarez Vaquero, Daniel Madjody, David Camarero, Blanca Martínez, Aleix Mateu, Aïda Camprubí, Alba Rupérez and Quique Ramos) discuss the keys to the movement. From sound to social media, through fashion, trademarks, feminism, the media or the record industry. Rarely has a book about a scene been as similar to the scene itself as this one. The prologue is by La Zowi; the epilogue, by Alizzz. On the way, from Cecilio G to C. Tangana, passing through Yung Beef, Bad Gyal or Ms Nina.
Yung Beef and La Zowi, in the video for the song 'Cooking steak' (2018).
We were coming from a time when rap had become very strict, which was fine, but it was already what it was.
Then these kids arrive who don't care about any of that from before.
They are more linked to what is happening in the US at that time.
People like Lil B, the Atlanta scene, Gucci Mane.
Everything based on the "I sweat everything, I do my thing and that's it", explains Aleix Mateu, one of the authors of the book.
For Blanca Martínez, another member of the group and participant in
Making Flu $
, "the important thing is that this supporters club was aware and that they knew all the progress that was being made in Germany or the US. For the first time we have been on par, even ahead of what was happening outside ”.
The advanced nature of the proposal, the ability to be armed outside the margins of what is established and, above all, the ability to make itself visible in channels that, paradoxically, are massive, but inhabit a universe parallel to what is still understood as massive, it helped cement the fame of countless artists who accumulated likes, plays and other new ways to quantify. And they understood everything, from the meaning of becoming a meme by dint of constant display to the real meaning of wearing a fake Gucci, which had hardly anything to do with what was understood so far with wearing designer clothes , much less fake brand clothing.
There was no money, but while there was not too much attention outside of one's own circles, there was no major conflict. The problem came at the time of having to perform in a room on an official circuit, having to talk to the press, having to interact with a record label. And surprisingly, for anyone who has briefly followed the evolution of the musical scenes of the last half century, it is not clear how, they managed that, in most cases, the problem was for the status quo, not so much for them. "There is opposition to hierarchies and quality standards," says Martínez. “Look, you could be an indie or punk band and they wanted you to sound good, but here those quality standards are broken and the music lover's head is blown off. There is also classism,There are people who understood the videos as a frontal attack, they got angry. It was an attack on the beliefs of many ”.
"Many did not need the press, and that is interesting in the paradigm shift," recalls Martínez.
"It would have been precious if there had been reviews of this at first, but they have not needed it, the relationship has not existed."
Aleix, for his part, remembers the first appearances in the general media of people like Yung Beef or C. Tangana, today already representatives of the almost adult faction of all this.
“In the interviews they were very ironic and resorted to trolling.
But there was a moment when the mainstream press began to treat them well and they were flattered.
The newer ones move on from the topic, but the first ones did have that ninis step and to be the cover of Icon or things like that.
That gave them a high. "
C. Tangana, Alizzz and Rosalía, during the recording of the video for 'Before I died' Instagram @alizzzmusic
And as the media woke up, the industry had to readjust its parameters to make room for them. "Putting some of them to pass quality standards, deadlines and others has been complicated, and this has made the
majors
have put the batteries," says Martínez. “The issue has resulted in the fact that today, if C. Tangana appears tomorrow and tells Sony that he has a subject, they take it out. They would have told him to wait before. They understood that these people already came to you with a 360 made, with their references, their style, how the hype should sound. The labels, accustomed to packaging the artists themselves, have had to assume that these people are 100% created, and build a project with them or let it be ”.
For Aleix and Blanca, those who best understood this and learned to capitalize on it knowing that they could not cannibalize it either were the brands. Money was key. I was in the middle of the speech, either because of the passion of these artists for shiny things or because of the precariousness in which they lived. They weren't going to do anything for the love of art, they weren't going to be teased. “It is super important. They put money in the center and sometimes they said: 'But why are you asking me for your cache? I'm not giving you a 1,500 cache on your third bolus. ' There was frustration. And he put the pasta in the center, it was not going to sing for singing, but for money. That has violated many ”.
The brands paid the boys and girls, and there is no record of any asking them to change their discourse.
Neither to them, nor to them, key in all this from the moment in which La Zowi, as Martínez remembers, “says that you don't need a boyfriend, you need pasta”.
And so we have come to today and this book, which talks about how when we thought everything was done, some kids came and began to undo everything.
This book works because it is not necessary for the reader to like what is being talked about, it only asks for a minimum of interest in what is happening.
'
Makign Flu $.
Urban music: a generational change, a new cultural paradigm '.
The block.
Foreword by La Zowi.
Alizzz's epilogue.
Plaza & Janés.
336 pages.
19.90 euros.
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