And you thought all Chilean hip-hop had to offer was Ana Tijoux? Right. Well check this guy out, Cea, or Ceaese, representing the newest new school of South American hip-hop. Breaking away from the taboos and restrictions from the orthodox previous generation, a new breed of emcees and producers embraced the post-Kanye West definition of hip-hop, employing retro synths, digital effects, and a more liberal understanding of sampling. Cea is a great example of this new trend.
“2011” is Cea’s newest single, featuring Bronko Yotte and DJ Sta, and it’s the first track off his 20-song-long new album, Luces & Sombras, available for FREE download on his personal Web site. Why give a whole album away for free? Well, on one hand, as we all know, nobody pays for music anymore, right? But more importantly, Luces & Sombras is so full of extremely obvious samples that it would take years, and a whole legion of lawyers, to clear the publishing rights, something that only someone the size of Kanye could afford nowadays. And we’re not talking about sampling a two-second drum loop from an obscure ’60s soul record here. We’re talking about snatching the full melody and sometimes even choruses of ginormous Eurodance one-hit-wonders like Technotronic’s “Pump up the jam” or Corona’s “The Rhythm Of The Night,” plus plenty of other less-expected turns (Guns N’ Roses’ “Sweet Child o’ Mine!”).
The album has many guests including Ana Tijoux’s former partner in rhyme Seo2 on two tracks, showing that there’s no animosity between the older generation of boom-bap purists and the young kids with their flashy new tricks.
Download Ceaese’s Luces & Sombras HERE and watch the Chile thug-life video below.