Venezuelan Hip-Hop: living the music in a war zone

The day by day of musicians who are struggling with heart and soul for Hip-Hop music in the most dangerous country of the world.

by Edwing Salas

    Now Caracas is the most dangerous city on the planet: 27,000 homicides per year, as part of a deep political and humanitarian crisis, which keeps the eyes of the entire world on it.

Nonetheless, the capital of Venezuela is full of Hip-Hop. Young people make their playlists with salsa, reggaeton, vallenato, and rap. The rhymes of the local artists are the soundtrack of their complex and risky daily life.

“Here, I’m not an artist or a rapper, or anything…It’s very different being a Latin American rapper than it is being a rapper in the U.S.”

Said Arvei Angulo Rivas A.K.A “El Prieto” in an interview done in 2013. He's one of the most iconic figures of the movement.

Lives in the highly dangerous neighborhood of  Petare, where the army and police 

fear entering. Prieto's songs are powerful anthems that make you live the realism of the violence in Caracas. It seems like live coverage of a war zone.

In his new release: “Prieto Gang. El Album” ( Prieto Gang. The Album 2017) the sound and the production are pretty much sophisticated and very closer to mainstream American rap.

Here is the video of “Traigo los kilo como Pablo me le escapo como El Chapo”

(I bring the kilos like Pablo I escaped like The Chapo)

The rules of the barrios

Another survivor of the streets is Gustavo Ferrin, better known as "Rekeson" (or just “Reke”). A tape of Michael Jackson´s “Thriller” changed his boyhood and started his curiosity to listen to M.C. Hammer, Kriss-Kross, and Beastie Boys. 

The tunes made it what is today: a passionate rapper who faces the violence in every corner, 

same as others who play by the rules of the barrios. 

In 2014 a rumor of his death in a car accident was set on fire on the local social networks, but he,  

through his Facebook account, said everything was a hoax by his enemies. 

“La Mort du Christ” (The Death of Christ” 2017) is the new album of this hard critic of the violence 

and corruption in Venezuela. 

The video clip of the promo single “Vida ilegal” (Illegal life) is a living portrait of 

certain characters easily identifiable.  

The DNA of the music 

Prieto and Rekeson used to be a duo called Guerrilla Seca. 

After the separation, they became rivals and both refuses to get down the guard.

The battles of lyrics between them are aggressive and constant. 

Each one blames his former partner but in Venezuela, 

a rude and edgy country, this war between artists is what matters least.  

Like the 1970s and 1980s in the US, when people used to say South Bronx (East Coast) or Compton

(West Coast), meant a life well below the American standard. The reality in those violent places,

full of poverty and vices, it was very different from what was shown in the media.

In these marginal places, something remarkable happened: artists like Cool Herc, Afrika Bambata,

Grandmaster Flash, NWA, Snoop Dog, Dr. Dre - and many MCs, DJ's, poets, and street painters -

defined a culture that won all the respect and admiration of the people, who feel the beauty,

the stories and this amazing sound.

For this reason, Hip-Hop music dominates today on every radio station and video channel.

What happened or continues to occur in rough communities around the world, 

remain in form and substance within The DNA of the rhythm.