Where did you learn to verse?
Listening to rappers.
But… he has a gift.
The important thing is passion.
Can you speak rhyming?
If you make the artist rhyme, you will receive a bill at the end of the interview.
Impromptu!
It is my specialty in the art of rap: freestyle, that is, improvising verses.
Improvising about what?
About any stimulus: an object they show you, a word they tell you… That’s how competition works.
I have heard of “battles.”
It’s the confrontation between two rappers: they improvise rhymes to attack each other. I was world champion. Today I serve as a jury.
What do you value in rappers when judging them?
The wit. Let them surprise me.
Is lacking aggressiveness obligatory?
Missing others has been typical of rappers. And rap usually complains about the world and criticizes everything. That’s not my look.
What is your look?
The world is full of goodness and possibilities. Surprise me with something cheerful!
Where did you learn this?
Of my mother. It’s joyful. We have experienced raw episodes… that she has gone through with fortitude and sparks of humor.
What episodes?
As a child we were evicted from the apartment that my parents could not afford. We live in a mechanic’s workshop, owned by a friend.
He has been at the bottom of the well.
My mother encouraged me with her joy.
Have you rapped about that?
I haven’t rapped that eviction. I don’t rap about sorrows. I prefer to rap joy.
What vocations did you have as a child?
I finished Computer Engineering, but I haven’t worked: rap has been stronger.
How did rap enter your life?
My older sister was into hip-hop culture: she painted graffiti, she rapped with friends… And I wanted to imitate her.
Do you remember the first rap you sang?
With a plastic Chinese microphone and a crappy speaker, at age eleven I sang a rap based on “stones.”
“Stones”?
That’s what we called surreal verbal occurrences that we kids shared to make us laugh.
For example?
“Tightrope a lemon tree.” I was very shy, but at 14 I got up the courage and rapped in public, and I said something like “onions with tuna tun, tun.”
And what did your mother say?
“You keep passing!” And I approved. With a note, on top, so as not to lose the study scholarships. That’s why I am leftist: without the public system I would not have been able to study… What would have become of me?
Your personal effort also counts.
I like to help others with my art now.
Give me an example.
Maybe some kids still feel guilty about their bisexual or homosexual orientation… And maybe seeing me happy and rapping can help them normalize their tastes. It used to seem like you could only be a rapper if you were straight!
You made your bisexuality public on a television show, right?
I competed on Masterchef and one day I commented on my bisexuality, without knowing that they were recording me. It was news! For me it was normal.
Did you learn to cook?
My pickled sturgeon was highly praised. But I got saturated: I don’t cook anymore. If I go into the kitchen… I think I hear Jordi Cruz saying “applicants, last minute!”
And he returned to rap.
I set out, and I achieved it, to rap one day straight: I rapped for 24 hours, 34 minutes and 27 seconds. In Puerta del Sol, in a glass urn. She was urinating behind a screen.
Tell me three keys to improvise.
One, be ready to fail. Two, be ready to fail. Three, be ready to fail. The fear of failing is the biggest enemy of improvisation.
Any homegrown tricks?
I prepare the final rhyme from the outset… And I make my way to that end.
Said like that, it seems easy.
As a child I played rhyming with my father: he called me “ball”, and I, “marmot”; He, “terracotta”, and I, “shallot”…
Well, I say La Vanguardia, La Contra, Ima, Lluís and Víctor. Improvise!
I have a mouth and at La Vanguardia they want my brain to break. The specialty of rappers is to go against each other. Because we are at the end, but I sound so clean that even if I am at the end, my principles never expire. You’re listening to La Contra by La Vanguardia, and this is dedicated to the rapper who has the most anger. People recognize me by what I spit on the microphone… but La Contra would not be possible without Ima, Lluís and Víctor.
