From Colombia’s grey capital of Bogotá, perched atop an Andean mesa, head west. Follow the sunset across two mountain ranges, through fields of coca hidden under the jungle canopy, and across God knows how many rivers, until you reach the Pacific. Welcome to Chocó, the Afro-Colombian capital. It is a place that breeds malarial disease and plantain forests; where rhythms with names like bambazú pulse from wooden homes on stilts while kids play soccer under relentless rainfall.
“The Pacific is basically Africa inside Colombia,” says 28-year-old Yahanny Valencia, better known as Tostao, a name that echoes the telltale accent of Pacificos, transforming the Spanish –ado into a laid-back “ah-ow.”
A world away from the rest of the country, and an ocean apart from anywhere else, this is the last place you’d expect to find b-boys and girls. But since Choc Quib Town emerged a decade ago, the Colombian hip-hop trio, comprised of Tostao and fellow emcees Goyo and Slow, is putting Chocó on the map, both nationally and, with their debut U.S. release of “Oro” on Nacional Records this week, to hip-hop fans beyond.
Unlike Colombian rap groups that came before—Bogotá crews that essentially imitated Run DMC in Spanish—Choc Quib Town uses hip-hop not to obscure but to reveal their own culture. “In case you don’t know,” spits Goyo in the first verse of “Somos Pacifico,” “in the Pacific there’s everything to enjoy: singers, colors, good flavors, and many saints to worship.” Throughout the album, lyrics namecheck them all—from the saints to regional dishes, sports stars, and slang. Even the name, Choc Quib Town, offers a geography lesson, combining Chocó, the regional department, with Quibdó, its capital city.
Beyond wordplay, it is in the music that Choc Quib Town exhibits its Pacific heritage. To American ears, the sound is unquestionably hip-hop. But the group prefers to call its music Afro-Colombian, and a close listen reveals that hip-hop elements only provide a framework on which to exhibit local styles. Beats are hammered out on the marimba, and rhythms follow the Afro-Colombian patterns of the Pacific. “There’s no linear process in which we say, we’re going to put in 30 percent of this and 70 percent of that,” says Tostao. “This is our natural condition.”
It is a condition that has been nurtured by oral tradition and regional festivals for generations, yet all but ignored by the rest of the country. And geography is only partly to blame.
Of all the disappearing acts that punctuate Colombia’s history—from presidential candidates to drug kingpins, FARC warriors, and cocaine jets—none is more deceptive than that of an entire race. Four-hundred years after Spaniards brought African slaves here to mine for gold, most Colombians would rather forget that one in of five Colombians is black. No black beauty queens, no black Juan Valdéz, no black president here. Hell, even Shakira has straightened her hair.
yes awesome!!!!
Awesome group.