Cristina Luis Madrid
Video: Reda Slafti
Madrid
Updated Friday, April 5, 2024-13:54
Enry-K "Underground artists are the ones who push the game and don't get the recognition they deserve"
IDOLS All interviews from the Idols series
Cyril Kamer
(Barcelona, 2001) appears more than an hour after the agreed time. He does it shuffling and carrying luggage. He has spent a few days for work in Madrid and as the interview ends he will return directly to his city. He is accompanied by three friends from the neighborhood that he has on his payroll and takes everywhere. "
I never trust anyone 100% and rather than hiring another person I prefer to be with the people I have been with since I was little
and I see with skills. It is more comfortable and that way we are all happy," he explains.
As he begins to chat he decides to put on the hood of the black tracksuit he is wearing. "Can I?" she asks. "This way I feel more comfortable," she says in a display of unexpected shyness that will emerge at times and alternate with character responses.
With
almost 2.5 million monthly listeners on Spotify
, the artist - of Cameroonian descent and raised in the Besòs i el Maresme neighborhood -
is one of the greatest references of
drill
in Spain
. A genre inherited from trap with violent lyrics that talk about the underworld over frenetic rhythms. But he doesn't stop there. His taste for the Afrotrap sound has also led him to success with romantic songs like
Cinderella
or the most recent
Thalía
, which is now playing everywhere.
idols
Morad.
"People must be given the right to change and mature"
Editorial: CRISTINA LUIS L'Hospitalet
Editorial: VIDEO: REDA SLAFTI
"People must be given the right to change and mature"
Spout.
"My girlfriend always appears in my videos and, if she can't, I'm not going to feature a model or an actress"
Editor: CRISTINA LUIS
Editorial: VIDEO: DANIEL IZEDDIN
"My girlfriend always appears in my videos and, if she can't, I'm not going to feature a model or an actress"
"
I'm more comfortable talking about the street than about love topics
. I feel more fluid. Lyrics about feelings make me more ashamed, I feel like I count too much in them," he details.
Despite this, he recognizes that he tends to make this type of songs more and more. On the one hand, he considers it a natural evolution. "
I never imagined that I would write beautiful things when I started. I was very focused on talking about the street, about what I like
. But traveling and moving opens your mind. You stop being locked in a box," he says.
On the other hand, there is a clear intention to reach a larger audience. "You know that songs like '
Thalía'
can be heard by families, children... With '
March 9'
, for example, they told me: 'no, don't play that song'. This also fills me more," he admits. . Although she confesses that the crudest themes are not liked in her environment either:
"My family doesn't tell me that, but there are songs that don't play at home
. "
In that
March 9
, published a year ago, he talks about an upcoming trial and releases stanzas like:
"I come from the underworld, as a minor doing missions / On the street all my blacks are clever / Portal, I sell cell phones."
A song whose title on YouTube is accompanied by the hashtag #FreeCyrylKamer (#CyrilKamerLibre), which has not been removed after his
arrest at the Malaga airport last September
when he was returning from a gig. Accused of robbery with violence, he has spent a few months in preventive detention for it.
"I feel pressure. I know that if I fail there will be an avalanche in the media as has already happened. When I have achieved a gold record [he has five and another two platinum] no one has published it.
I know that the bad things will always be more exposed because it's more morbid. That's why I can't fail, I can't make a mistake
," he says.
Lyrics about feelings make me more ashamed, I feel like I count too much in them
In that sense, he believes that the public trials of his figure have less to do with racism than with his lifestyle. "It could be because of the origin, but I think it's more the label I have on. I'm a neighborhood
driller
. My label is already dirty. I'm already in a group that's difficult to get out of," he says.
But he assures that he is calm and does not go crazy trying to wash his image. "I don't know what I have to do, but
I'm not going to paint my nails or do the
happy friendly
things that people want to see
. I'm going to continue being what I am," he points out haughtily. He adds: "But it's not something I'm crying in bed about and thinking 'oh my God'."
And, as often happens, his time in prison has had some repercussions on his work. "
After the prison thing, festivals have been canceled for me
. They don't tell you directly, but in their heads they already think that you are involved in an ugly problem and they prefer to avoid you," he says.
"
If it were up to me, this wouldn't have happened, but it is what it is. I take it like Cristiano Ronaldo when they insulted him on the field and he became more motivated
. Have you canceled me? Well, now I'm going to play five songs and the public will support you." to write 'bring Cyril'.
We have bombs on our cell phone and we are working hard
. In the end this is a business and, if you sell, they will have no choice. They will hire you with rage because the public is in charge ", he expands.
Precisely, he confesses that after the latest problems with the law, his followers are more committed to him.
"I've noticed that they support me more
," he says, "I think it's because they think you're suffering and they want to support you," he adds. He has had no disagreements with his union colleagues either. "The artists are modern and it is not the first time this has happened in music. They understand it. You have gone out and that's it. Nobody has said anything strange to me," he says.
"I'm not going to paint my nails or do the happy friendly things that people want to see"
He confesses that one of the most recurring topics of conversation with his friends is
whether the same thing will end up happening in Spain as in France
, where "street music" fills stadiums.
"
I want to think that yes, in ten years it will change here. But the public is very cool, I don't know if you understand me. They want everything nice
. So I don't know what is going to happen. There the level is very high. The ten most listened to artists talk about the street. There are also more people in the ghetto. The division is greater," he reflects.
"Something will change. It's not going to stay like this. But
it all depends on those above. When they play something all the time you end up consuming it
. There are songs that play on the radio 24/7 and I know them even if I don't have them in me cell phone because you enter Mercadona and they are ringing. The thing is that those at the top want it," he adds.
In any case, he does not consider his future in a decade. "
In five years I hope to be retired
. Having achieved it, but retired. It's been many years and I don't like this exposure and fame," he concludes.