A couple months ago, Remezcla took Atlanta rapper Kap G to Mexico City for the first time. The trip offered the young rapper a chance to see a side of his culture he rarely witnessed growing up in College Park. One of the spots that struck the MC the most was Tlatelolco, a neighborhood of D.F. where the world-famous Plaza de las Tres Culturas is located. The square is the home of a pre-Hispanic archaeological site, a 17th-century church, the Nonoalco-Tlatelolco housing project, and the site of the tragic Tlatelolco Massacre, a killing of hundreds of student demonstrators by Mexican military and police in the fall of 1968. A place steeped in so much of Mexico’s history was the ideal location for Kap to reflect on his heritage, his hometown, and his journey as a rapper–all over Drake’s “Energy” beat, of course.
His freestyle is full of pithy couplets, most notably: “I got shampoo bitches/They give me head and shoulders.” But other than cracking jokes, Kap is reflective and hard-hitting on this track, building on his commentary of police brutality from songs like “La Policia.” On his freestyle, he does everything from declaring a call to action (they’re killing all our people/man, it’s time to unite) to observing his ancestral homeland (If you go to Mexico they got connects like wi-fi). The accompanying images of Tlatelolco’s world-famous market–with vendors selling chácharas and tacos al pastor–add to Kap’s terse flow, as he walks through the square and around the housing project’s impressive architecture, which has become a symbol of modern Mexico.
The footage is part of Remezcla’s upcoming Kap G documentary, titled Like A Mexican, which showcases the rapper’s visit to Mexico City in further detail. Keep your eyes peeled for the doc in the coming weeks, and stay tuned for his EP El Southside, coming soon.