El Sistema 407 – Q&A Interview

Tell us a little about yourself. Where are you from? How long have you been making Hip Hop?

I’m El Sistema 407, a beatmaker & MC from Santiago de Chile, from San Joaquin neighbourhood to be exact, and I’ve been making Hip-Hop professionally since 2007, putting it down for Southamerica. I speak English, but I still make music in Spanish.

What influences you in making Hip Hop?

To understand Chilean Hip-Hop, I gotta make a little foreword for you to understand the context. Hip-Hop started here around the 80’s, but in that time Chile was in a military dictatorship and things used to be very rough, the most popular Hip-Hop element used to be breakdance, because the studio sessions for the MC’s or an MPC for a beatmaker were out of reach. Fortunately, this dictatorship ended in 1990, and hood people started to make the first street tapes. At the end of the 90’s, a lot of people started to pay attention to Hip-Hop culture, but I felt in love with the rhythms, the rhymes and also the message of turning the hood negativity into positive things. That’s something I’ve never experienced before with any other type of music.

Describe your music, and what separates you from other MCs?

My music is very dynamic. I can’t fit everything I do in just one type of Hip-Hop, I listen to a lot of music, from 60’s Soul to Heavy Metal, and that is strongly reflected on my beats and my lyrics. I take little elements from music I like; add some secret spice; put that on a blender and the result of that is a new song. I hate musical stereotypes, I’m always trying to make something new, fresh, exciting and surprising to the listener, that’s what I do.

Who have you collaborated with? Who would you like to collab with in the near future?

As a MC I’ve collaborated with a lot of Chilean rappers, guys like Thaies, Cevladé, Radamanthys, Midas X, Morteros Crew (please google all those guys) among others, and also I’ve been on some international projects mostly with Tucson MC’s like Arsenal Arsenio & Intertwine and my man VoO from SouthAfrica. As a beatmaker, my works have been mostly for Chilean MC’s and artists from my record label (SCR Family), but I also did something for U.S. underground artists like S.A. The Abolitionist, Miguel Max and Shan Brown. I’m always open to work with any artist who brings some new to the game, in the near future I’d like to collab worldwide more often.

Your definition of “Underground Hip Hop”?

My definition of Underground Hip-Hop are those artists who can make it without a major record deal or insistent big media advertisement. When a rapper can feel comfortable about what he (or she) is doing, doesn’t need that kind of help. There’s a bunch of real artists who are successful nowadays which actually came from the Underground, and switched the mainstream into a new direction. That’s it, when you can keep yourself sincere and real, you’re Underground. But, when you’re trying to imitate the mainstream standard, you’re just garbage.

Production wise, who are your influences? Who does your production?  And who would you like to work with?

Most of my production is all by myself. Actually, I consider myself more beatmaker than MC. Nevertheless, there’s some producers I’ve worked with, like Ekualyritmos, Utópiko, Cevladé and DJ Beatshot. My biggest influences are J Dilla (I’ve never met someone who’s not influenced by Dilla), Timbaland, Just Blaze & !llmind. Those guys make the type of beats that I love. I’d like to work with !llmind or Symbollic One in the near future.

Any current or future projects you are promoting?

Right now, I’m producing for the SCR Family artists, Electrón Magneto and Bestia Blanca will bring fire to the world. Simultaneously, I’m working for other artists, recording tracks for the future LP with my partner Thaies and also working on my up-coming LP called Degeneración 2.0, which is a compilation of experimental Hip-Hop with a lot of guests and surprising featurings, where I play the host role with my alter-ego “David Guetto”. Been a busy year.

Can you give us a brief description of the creative process of Apologia Del Okapi? Also/ tell us a little bit about the concept and idea behind your Album/Mixtape Cover Art.

“Apología Del Okapi” is a conceptual album about an enigmatic animal from Congo, Africa. The okapi, for those who don’t know, is an animal pretty similar to a giraffe, who used to be extinct, but in 2006 reappeared from nothing. It took about one year and a half to make the whole thing, actually I recorded like 35 songs and I selected the ones who can follow the common thread of the LP. My album describes the whole okapi’s story, using it as a symbolism of freedom. So, is not like I’m rapping about a weird giraffe, I took the story and I put that into topics as oppression, sex, hate, party and triumph against the enemy. The artwork was created by Ayronebway, who is a very recognized and talented Chilean graphic designer and it represents the okapi’s thought, that’s why a guy has an animal head.

Where can we find your music and info?

You can find my music and all the stuff I’m doing at my Facebook Fanpage, search for El Sistema Cuatrocerosiete, also search for Sistemitashanel in YouTube (that’s my official YouTube channel) and look for El Sistema 407 in SoundCloud, Bandcamp and Reverbnation. Also search for my indie label, SCR Family.

Any shout outs?

Well, I’ll give shoutouts to all my SCR Family people, to my friends in San Joaquín, to my people in Chile, my homies in Southamerica, to my people in Europe and Northamerica too, and specifically to Thaies, Scran, DeLadoUmbrio Crew, Radamanthys, Electrón Magneto, Bestia Blanca, SH.Deem, 3GA El Tren, Grey Griss, Arsenal Arsenio, Intertwine, VoO and many others. Peace to all of you.