Née: Yoyo López, A.K.A. Yoryi Mala Bizta
Raíces: Consolación del Sur, Pinar del Río, Cuba
Sounds like: The best of Cuban hip-hop, but with a slightly different production style.
You should listen to Mala Bizta because…. everybody knows Cuba has some of the best MCs in Latin America. Just look at what happens when they travel South instead of Miami.
What if instead of Miami, FL, a Cuban migrant decided to travel South and make Montevideo, Uruguay his home?
Yoyo López, A.K.A. Mala Bizta started his career in music back in the island during the late nineties. During that time, he was more closely associated to the hardcore and metal scenes than the then-burgeoning Cuban hip-hop scene. He later replaced distorted guitars and mosh-pits for break-beats and carefully crafted rhymes, and became a fundamental player in the hip-hop scene of his town.
Then, for some reason, he decided to leave the Caribbean behind in search for new musical inspiration. But instead of traveling 90 miles north, like the average Cuban expat, he flew 4 thousand miles plus to the south, to this little country called Uruguay. That’s where he started to build up his name as a solo artist in 2011. It didn’t take him long before he was amongst the top artists in Montevideo’s eclectic hip-hop scene (the same scene where artists like Bajofondo’s Campo, Santullo and Supervielle emerged from).
Se acabaron las vacaciones is Mala Bizta’s solo debut, with the collaboration of Uruguayan top turntablist DJ Platos Violadores and a couple other local producers. With politically conscious rhymes over jazzy laid-back beats, and zero bling-bling and phony gangsta mannerisms, Mala Bizta’s debut album is definitely worth checking out regardless of hip-hop affiliation. Even if you only started to like rap en español after Calle 13‘s boom, this is something you can totally dig. Plus, it’s free, so why not giving it a try?
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