Argentines have a tradition of autogestión; a culture of dynamism and resilience where people just get on with it. Just like their predecessors watched, copied and carved their own identity to pioneer Latin American rock, this new generation of artists are fearlessly forging their own sound in urban music. Reggaetón is in their DNA, just like hiphop was for Lil Wayne and Eminem growing up in the US in the 90s.
Trueno had that experience, amplified. Accompanying his dad, MC Peligro, a rapper who pioneered the hiphop scene in the 90s, as he organised rap battles and gave workshops in the barrios, was no doubt instrumental in Trueno’s formation as a serious rapper.
LatinoLife: Your dad was obviously a big inspiration to you and he’s openly expressed how proud he is to see your success. How would you describe your relationship with him?
Trueno: It’s super transparent. He’s my dad, my best friend, my companion in the shows, the one who helps me in my work. We continue sharing the passion we always shared when we started singing together with his band, when there wasn’t any commercial interest in the urban music scene here in Argentina, when there was no guarantee of a future doing hiphop, when you couldn’t make a living from it, when we started this whole journey. We continue sharing our love for what we do, perfecting what we are doing and achieving what we dreamed about over 15 years ago. So today being able to play in Spain or London, in front of so many people in Latin America, this is a real dream come true and the joy of performing is still the same because we continue to do it in our neighbourhoods.
LL: Apart from your dad, who else inspired you when you were young?
Trueno: There were many people that influenced me. I listened to a lot of hiphop in English, Dr Dre, 50 Cent from the noughties, because I grew up in that period. Then a lot of reggaetón from Puerto Rico, obviously Tego Calderon, Vico C, Don Omar and Daddy Yankee. Then also, thanks to my mum, I listened to rock, reggae, funk, bossa nova, so I’ve been influenced by a lot of different types of music that today form who I am.
LL: Argentine rock has always been the reference for so many across Latin America, but non-rock genres, specifically hiphop, from Argentina have been less well-known and less respected, even though Argentina had the first winner of the pan-American rap battle with Frescolate and also won the first Latin Grammy in the urban genre with Sindicato Argentina de Hiphop. Now people are starting to recognise Argentine urban music, with you, Biza and Nathy all getting insane numbers on YouTube, tell us a bit about this process…
Trueno: Yeah exactly! I think, it’s been years and years of building up our movement and our identity, thanks to the artists that went before us, like my dad and his group Inti Rap, like Fuerte Apache, Condición Real, artists from west and south of Buenos Aires, who were fighting to create this musical movement, of the rap battles in the plazas, the stage competitions. They created a scene that was very intimate, very about us and because of their passion, hard work and commitment, the doors began to open.
Actually, the only way we could get big audiences at that time was when the government supported our events, open air competitions and festivals, and that support allowed us to grow a bit, and get us a bit more exposure. Then the success of Syndicato and then the batallas in the plazas which became more and more popular allowed us to grow as artists, because the majority of us came from those battles. We were able to use the social media platforms to catapult us, get more attention and to make a career out of it and that was the foundation of the whole genre here.
LL: Your collaborations have become very special, you’re not scared collaborating with 1970s canción social heroes like Victor Heredia on Terra Zanta as well as global superstars like J Balvin. It seems like you don’t feel the need to work only with commercial artists …
Trueno: While I am aware of and take notice of what other artists are doing, but I go mostly by the song, when I feel that a song is calling for a collaboration with someone it doesn’t matter if he or she is well known, it’s mostly about creating a song that I’d like to listen to and gives me pleasure. People decide whether they like I or not. So all the collaborations that happen, happen naturally because the feeling has to be right, and come from the necessity of creating a work between two people something special together, for example when I get together with Biza, Nathy or Victor with the only aim is to have fun, but also with a serious approach, and that is how a good tune is made and that’s how the energy of the song is created.
LL: In your lyrics we hear a lot of social conscience, particularly respect to women that is the opposite of what you hear in a lot of other urban music , a bit different to the typical glorification of drugs and violence and misogyny, and you have still received commercial success taking this line…
Trueno: I think our generation is in a moment of consciousness and evolution and I am part of that generation. I have certain codes and values that my parents brought me up with…I have a way of seeing things and that is what I’m expressing. I make music out of a need to express myself and those are my thoughts. People ask me if I feel I have to say something about society or it’s a burden and expectation. I say things because I need to say them …because it’s what I think. I need to express anger, happiness, the sadness, the joy, because its therapeutic. These days, the guachines, are thinking more openly, they have a different education, more empathy, I am just a grain of sand collaborating in my own way.
LL: What other artists do you like at the moment?
Trueno: In Argentina the one I most get on with is El Tiagito (Tiago PCK). His message is good, along with El Clan. In Chile there is also some really good artists emerging. Young guys and girls, doing their thing. There’s a lot of artists that I don’t know, but I’m always looking out for new sounds. There are lots of young kids doing music because they have something to say and as long as they have something to say, we have to listen and support them.
LL: How is your relationship with reggaetón?
Trueno: I’m a total fan…I need to go to Puerto Rico, as I haven’t been. I’d love to go. I’d also love to go to Colombia, because there’s loads of new talent coming out of there. It’s a very exciting time for reggaetón, so I’d love to go and learn, just being there and hang out with talent, it would be like doing a post-graduate degree in reggaetón!
LL: And if you had the opportunity to do a collaboration with a reggaetón artist who would that be?
Trueno: Uuuy, doing something with Daddy Yankee would be my dream. He’s my idol from when I was a child.
LL: And this last album Bien o Mal, tell us more about it
Trueno: The first objective was really my consolidation as a musician. This album shows my transition from the rap battles, so it is a musical project that stems from that. It’s a step in my path, of putting my voice out there, and luckily I have people who are accompanying me in this journey, who like what I say and the way I say it and my music wakes something in them, resonates with them. I’m just one more person in a society of many people and the idea is that we all feel like one, the album talks about this, about protest as a celebration, about being united and that we can achieve change together…and party together at the same time!
