CTZ, a rapper from the suburbs who aspires to be the new Duki

In these times of urban music –dominated by rap, reggaeton and pop–, cockfights are true

.

From there emerged the most popular artists of recent years, such as Wos, Duki, Paulo Londra and Trueno.

In these

competitions (some amateur, in squares and with an underground spirit, and others, professional, in stadiums and with sponsors), youngsters compete to see

, based on hip hop, to Beat your opponent in a one on one duel.

Payadores of the 21st century

, are the new rockstars of the digital age.

The most prestigious league is sponsored by the Red Bull energy drink and has been held in Argentina since 2005 with a large audience and great international projection.

The last national edition was last October, at the Movistar Arena,

.

There were

who passed instances of eighth, quarter, semifinal and final, and the jury crowned the 19-year-old Thomas “Mecha” Antonelli from Cordoba as the winner.

"Trust your dreams," he said through tears, after receiving the trophy from the previous champion, the Klan.

The runner-up was CTZ, the nickname behind Mauricio Ortiz.

He is 18 years old and is from Villa Bonich, San Martín district.

Precisely, "Cete" came to battle after winning the regional tournament in Buenos Aires.

.

His life is divided between

and streaming, through the Twitch platform.

There he

for his followers (he has 20,000) and analyzes his own battles and those of others, reacts to competitions from his idols, does

sessions and even uploads his own songs.

“In my family they are very music listeners;

I have memories of waking up as a child and listening to my mother singing.

My uncle has also sung since I was a boy, and I… I decided to rap”, he says.

“In my family they are very music listeners;

I have memories of waking up as a child and listening to my mother singing.

My uncle has also sung since I was a kid, and I… I decided to rap."

CTZ, rapper

His gateway was

, when he discovered the theme

.

“He was super fast, and I was surprised by the number of words he used, even though he was a kid and

.

It was something strange, something he had never heard of, and he fascinated me.

Today I do not continue listening to him, but he is one of my greatest references and I have great respect for him ”.

CTZ wants to make the leap and earn more money to help his family and friends./Photo: German Garcia Adrasti

Today its closest models are Argentine:

.

“I don't have so many references that I love their music, but I do have their development because they make me feel that it is possible.

I got to know YSY personally and he helped me a lot to see what a great artist with such an impact and career was.

to go up a little more and, if he does it, how can I not do it, since I'm much lower? ”, he observes.

But above all there was a recital that marked him forever:

.

“I saw a lot of people singing their songs, a lot of people committed to their art.

And there I thought: 'Hey, I would like to experience something like this with my music'”.

life of a rooster

CTZ is a fan of

, and played

as a kid .

He doesn't watch many movies or series, but he says that Michael Jordan's (

) was very motivating for his battle at the Movistar Arena.

He usually wears sportswear and

, has clawed nails painted black, and tattooed characters from

, a Japanese series starring a twelve-year-old boy who seeks to find his father who abandoned him, appeared on his arms.

CTZ has all the characteristics of a withdrawn

(anime fan), but on stage, in front of his opponents, he breaks out.

“Rapping is liberating,” he maintains.

In the biography of his social networks, he introduces himself as "

and I stand on my hands, short."

"Rapping is liberating"

CTZ, rapper

-Would you tattoo your face like the ragpickers?

-I would if I had a more comfortable life.

-What does it depend on?

-To have more money, I suppose.

October 2022: CTZ established itself as the regional champion in Buenos Aires of the cockfights.

-How do you get on with money?

-All right.

It's not my biggest obsession, but it's important.

-So that?

-To help the people around me, be they my friends or my family.

The little income I get from

in the other field that I specialize in, which is streaming.

Or I have helped my family.

-When did you start rapping?

-

And before that I was already writing, it was a more '90s style, I didn't understand much, really, but I wrote lines like poetry, separated into four, with rhyme.

It was nothing very remarkable;

I was very young.

-Where was?

-Close to home, in

.

It was a competition called Handle, which are created from nothing, just for fun, with no intention of growing.

I had a friend who was already rapping, HDR, who is my best friend to this day, and he invited me to go.

, so it must have been in 2014.

-Where did your nickname come from?

I started battling with the computer

, through the webcam, against people from all over the world.

On that Red Bull page they asked you for a minimum of three letters to sign up: I looked at the keyboard and thought that three letters sound relatively good together as acronyms.

That's how he was born.

-How old were you?

-16.

The minimum to be able to score.

-How do you train today?

-I don't have a method, I do what a person would do to like me.

I had a moment when I didn't like my

.

Although he won events, such as the Sub 15, he felt that he competed well, but that he rapped badly in terms of music.

I didn't feel like I was making music but competition.

Now I try to make music, and I consider that what I do has more useful life.

"I felt like I was rapping badly musically. I didn't feel like I was making music, it was competition. Now I try to make music, and I find that what I do has more shelf life.

CTZ, rapper

-How is your day?

-I get up at 8, 9 in the morning.

Breakfast tea alone, I don't like to eat at that time.

Later in the afternoon, I cook, type 12, and there I ask what I am going to do in the streaming of the day and I look for the trends.

I talk to my friends, I try to stay close from afar, because I don't have the same life as them, they like to get together and

Most of what I learned and most of my art was born from being alone.

From the neighborhood

CTZ lives in San Martín, Buenos Aires province, and there he rapped for the first time./Photo: German Garcia Adrasti.

a grand finale

CTZ takes it seriously.

In the October final of the national Red Bull against Mecha he rapped "in my veins I have art fluid", and released a slogan:

It turned out to be his most celebrated rhyme by the public, his best punchline, as this type of auction is known in rap.

“It was a beautiful moment, it was very crazy to watch the public, although I tried not to.

Every time I looked at the bottom I couldn't quite see where the people ended up,” she recalls.

-How much do nerves weigh in those moments when all kinds of provocations are yelled at your face?

-In the final with Mecha,

.

It was when he told me that I had dyed my hair like him, and I looked at him, as if to say: "But you don't have dyed hair!"

And he also told me that "we ate at the same table and he didn't wash the dishes", which was a metaphor, but

.

It is seen that I am still bad at understanding these things.

-Mecha was the big favorite that night, how much did it affect you?

-I felt pretty safe, although on paper I had someone who was better than me, and that's why he ended up winning.

If you made a bet at that time, 9 out of 10 would surely have bet on Mecha.

, I think the moments that will be reviewed the most in the future are mine.

While he had two minutes that crushed me, I think mine weren't punchy enough, but they were memorable.

Can they really hurt you with what they tell you?

-Yes, but there are things that between us we cannot say because we know each other.

I have a code of not touching personal issues, but some do not.

If I find out that one's mother passed away, I'm not going to tell her.

Or if his girlfriend was with someone else.

"There are things that between us, competing rappers, we can't tell each other because we know each other. I have a code of not touching personal topics, but some don't.

CTZ, rapper

-How do you work your vocabulary when it comes to rhyming?

-I don't consider myself a person with little vocabulary, but when I'm rapping it reduces a lot.

My moments of lucidity are when I manage to expand it.

I like to exercise my art and for that I have to exercise my person, it is the natural development.

: I recently started reading philosophers, a bit of poetry, and a lot of history.

All of that nourishes me somehow.

-Can you live from freestyle?

-Yes, I see it as a way to expand elsewhere.

than from my freestyle, where they can hire me for a weekly or monthly exhibition.

But it is a consequence of my free, they are links.

Before it was something strange to stream on networks, but today it is more accepted.

The moment in which Mecha from Cordoba established himself as the champion of the Red Bull Batalla national level.

-What do you aspire to?

-My dream is to be a rapper sponsored by a company interested in

, like Red Bull.

, I have to try again.

I will always do my best in fights.

Every time I go to rap, there's someone who's never seen me do it before.

For this reason, I always seek to give the best show so that when he arrives at his house, that person wants to continue watching

.

And not only me, but all my colleagues, to expand the movement

look too

The trap rules on Spotify: how much more can national rock resist?

The plot of the national trap: why it ousted rock and pop

Cazzu, the Boss of the trap: "When I have to cry, I cry"