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Emcee Ana Tijoux Discusses Chile, Hip Hop
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Ana Tijoux truly represents the international reach of Hip Hop. From both French and Chilean backgrounds Ana looks to J Dilla, Jeru Da Damaga, Pete Rock, among others, as strong influences on her work as well as the larger Chilean Hip Hop and social scene. She takes this reach even further by pulling back in time in her latest album “1977”, where she (literally) wears Run-DMC and Public Enemy on her sleeve. We caught up with Ana and explained her work and how she connects with sounds, energy, and vibes from hundreds of miles (and years) away–and how this music took hold to develop one of the biggest Hip Hop scenes outside of the United States.
Please tell me about yourself? How long have you been making music?
Oh ok, well my name is Ana Tijoux and I come from Chile, South America. I am a Hip-Hop musician. And I began to make music since twelve or thirteen years old. I began to first freestyle. Then, I used to be in a group known as Makisa and we made, at the time, two albums. And then I began a solo career. And now I’m presenting my new album which is called “1977”.
Why did you choose Hip Hop as a genre for your music?
Well, I always loved hip hop since I was a child. I always find in Hip Hop, maybe, a good way to say what I was feeling at the time, until now. And for me, Hip Hop is like the mixture of poetry, lyrics and music at the same time. So it was very comfortable since I begin to rhyme, that’s the reason.
Generally, what themes or topics do you draw for inspiration for your music?
Well, in general, I don’t have a specific topic yanno. I like to speak about everything. Sometimes I speak about things that I see. Others about things that… I think by myself. And from conversation I had with my friends and I saw it’s a good conversation and would make a song about that. So for the topic, I’m very free. It can be love, it can be sadness, it can be emotion, humanity, it can be about pain, anything. I don’t like to close myself in only one topic.
As far as your choice in production and beats? What kind of beats, and rhythms, and styles of tracks do you like?
Well, when I say I’m a solo artist, its not so true because I work with other people. And I work with a friend of mine which name is Hortadoj (Jotadroh) who comes from Chile too. And we have the same tastes with Hip Hop. We love the J Dilla school [of production], and after that, classic sounds like, I don’t know, I guess sounds like DJ Premier or Pete Rock. We got the same flavor, we love the same music. So, when we decide to make a track, or when we are searching to find a sound, very simple with beats [like] boom boom clak, and the lyrics. And we have the search that the lyrics have to be the DNA of the song. So, that’s the way we work. And all the beats that we made for the album are passed by the MPC. So we work everything in an MPC in a home studio, very simple.
As far as you being a female rapper from Chilean/French background, and a Hip Hop artist, how does that identity affect the work that you do or the music you write?
Well, I’m sure that because I’m a woman that something has to be different because you get another energy, right? And to be Latina at the same time, we are hungry to make things, as the way we say in Chile. Its not what I think, its really, we get a big big huge scene in Hip Hop right now in Chile. Almost all the people listen to classic Hip Hop, yanno? And, I love to work with my people, my friends. And we are very close to each other, we try to help each other too. Maybe that is the most personal thing that I need in my music. I love to have conversation with the people that hear my music because I think that is the strength of the work that I do. And I’m a great fan of Latino American music. I really feel that we get a huge force that is happening right now in Latinoamerica and in Hip Hop because we all talk in Spanish. So there is something that is happening right now in Venezuela, Bolivia, Cuba, and Chile. And its very interesting for me.
Yes, that sounds very exciting.
Yes for me its very exciting too.
Can you tell me about your newest album “1977”? Why did you go with that direction, as far as talking about that timeframe, and making that the theme of your album?
Well, when I decided to make the album, it’s like I told you, I wanted to make something very simple. I didn’t know if that was going to work or not. But it was what I wanted to do, no? So because I’m very nostalgic of that time of that kind of music. So, I dunno, we made an album with friends very close, very near, very simple. And we loved so much making that album, its that thing that maybe you can listen to in that album. We love to laugh to each other and make professional music at the same time. But to feel that with… I don’t know how to explain it, but to not be serious sometimes you know? To enjoy the work that we do, not act like what we do is very important. Yes it is very important, but its important too to have a good relationship with the people that you love, and making music.
What are some of the influences that classic hip hop, how do you connect with that music as someone from Chile? How does that music connect to you? What about… How does Hip Hop connect to you being that Hip Hop is from the Untied States and you’re from Chile?
Maybe the force of the beats. Because I know that a lot of the people when we say Latinoamerica, the only thing that we get is Salsa, cumbia, or Samba in Brazil, you know? But you get a huge thing of Hip Hop in Latinamerica. Why? I don’t know, but because Hip Hop is very big in all the world right now. Its like another nation, it might be. Because we are making Hip Hop that is a blend of all of us, never matter what language you speak. When you love the flow of somebody, he rap in German, or French, or in Spanish or English, you feel it, you know? And the same thing happened to me when I began to listen to classical Hip Hop. I don’t understand everything that they talk about, but you can feel it, I don’t know how I can explain it. It gives you something, like the anger or the happiness, of the love, of the nostalgic. That’s why maybe I connect immediately with that kind of music, with that kind of time, no?
What do you want American or United States audiences to learn from you? What do you want them to walk away with, seeing your shows, and with your new album? What do you want them to know about you and your work?
Uh, I think that I am wanting the same thing that could be a concert as anywhere because a concert is very much about the public that is here, and the energy that they want to give you too, because its not only that is singing and give energy, you receiving too. So, the philosophy that I have on stage is having good times and enjoying what I do, even if its my work. But, I’m hoping of the same thing here in the United States. And until now it has been great for me, because I was a little bit afraid about the language you know? I was thinking, “I don’t know what she is talking about?”
How did Hip Hop take hold in Chile? Where do you see yourself in this movement?
The Hip Hop scene, I have grown up so much in the 80’s, in the beginning of the 80’s. We were living at that time with a military dictatorship. So, Hip Hop was beginning, but the most important music was Rock or Folklore, you know? Not contestory music. The people at that time in Chile choose not to listen to American music. So some people began in Chile to listen to NWA and Public Enemy in the 80’s, like Los Panteras Negras (the Black Panthers). And the breakdancing began with the classic movies that arrived like Wildstyle, Stylewar, and all those movies. And then in the 90’s, after (the arrival) of democracy, a lot of people arrived like me, because I was born in France, and a lot of people came back, coming from France, or Germany, or I don’t know, Africa, Cuba, North America. So, I’m almost sure that makes something, made a plus in Chile, you know? Bringing new stuff, new kind of sound. And since ’90 the scene has been very very very big. What I see is, I cannot explain, how much bigger it is for a little country, in comparison to North America. I remember when Jeru Da Damaja went in the 1990 (something), 2000, more or less. Everybody was knowing his lyrics, even if we don’t speak English, you know. It was almost 5000 people, waiting for him. So, I think almost all of the rappers that come to Chile of that time can’t believe that could have a lot of fans from Chile, you know? Like Smith and Wessun and Group Home, I don’t know, a lot of people. So, for me I’m really proud of what is happening right now, I think that we got a very good energy and there are a lot of parties that are a tribute to J Dilla, from Chile, very far away, you know? And all the beatmakers with their own MPC, they don’t have much money, but they want so much to make music that I think there is a lot of energy, very very interesting.
Cool, and I’m really happy to hear that Jeru da Damaga was an ambassador for Hip Hop.
Yes yes, it was one of the first before Cypress. First it was Jeru and then Mad Lion went, I don’t know, a lot of people that they just go to Chile, you know? They travel only to go to Chile cause they know because they got a big public there. And a lot of people when they ask where the beats? where they come from? (and I reply) Chile, they are like ‘no I don’t believe it’, (I reply) ‘yes! They come from Chile!’ We love music, we love to download everything, new albums, you know? There is a new school of beatmakers in Chile right now, and they are very fond of Flying Lotus for example.
Oh yeah, Flying Lotus is amazing, he is one of my favorite producers right now.
Yes yes, I don’t know how to say the name, but I love that new kind of Hip Hop too. So it is very interesting what is happening.
Yeah yeah, I don’t know what to call it either, but it’s a product of a younger… not younger people, but a newer approach to production to me that is fascinating right now.
A new kind for me, you know all that people invent a new Hip Hop for me, its like wow! ??? When I hear it.. No joke no joke, its amazing how…
I heard you are participating in two benefit concerts for earthquake relief in Chile. How is the recovery going there and how has the music and Hip Hop community responded to this tragedy?
Well, what happened to me was that a lot of people was calling for a benefit concert. I was thinking “Yes, but I don’t know’, but then I say I’m not a nurse to help people in health, I don’t know how I can help” and then I said “We got to make a Hip Hop concert”. So at that time I was a messenger and I said to my friends, ‘we got to make a concert’ and everybody respond very well and we made two days, you know? And the Hip Hop community, its amazing how we joined all of us for one reason, solidarity was amazing, you know?
I’m very proud of all the money that we earned for that cause and all the food that people bring. So it’s been very amazing to be onstage with the organizations and see all the people that made a difference in Hip Hop and we was all there, (we asked) ‘how were you?’ ‘how was your family?’ because when things like that happen, that catastrophe, you want to be with your people, your family and the people that you love. So, in a certain way that happened tonight, the Hip Hop community was talking about where Liana, from a city which almost disappeared, ‘no he’s alive… oh cool cool’, ‘and how about that young MC that come from that city?’, ‘no he’s alive… oh cool cool cool’. So, that happened, the catastrophe and the energy between us, you know?
From your perspective, do your fans listen to as much American Hip Hop as they do Chilean Hip Hop? Or do a lot of Chileans listen to a lot of Chilean Hip Hop? How would you describe the audiences in Chile?
My audience?
Yes
I have a lot of Hip Hop fans that listen. But its funny, a lot of times mothers listen to me. I don’t know why, but I have a good reception with mothers. (laughter) So, and I love that, I think the music is universal. So I love to play for the Hip Hop audience but I love to sing for different audiences because of another energy. And like I was saying that music in only one.
Where do you see you and your music in the future?
Who knows! I don’t know (laughter) I just want to make a lot of albums solo right now, and work with people that I admire. And I met a singer, a lady from Detroit, and I want to invite her to the new album. And for me that is already amazing. I try to live day by day, and who knows what is going to happen… I don’t know.
You are right because most of us don’t know where we’ll be tomorrow and live day by day.
Almost a way of life, no?
Hugo grew up on Yo MTV Raps, cassette tapes, and pupusas. A b-boy at heart, he discovered electronic music and dub reggae and has been exploring the intersections of all styles of beat, bass, and DJ music since. By day, he serves as an advocate for underrepresented intellects and leaders in higher education. These explorations can be read and downloaded from his blog, Chronicles of the American Pupusa (www.americanpupusa.blogspot.com). His own music can be heard at www.mysppace.com/illselection. An American from El Salvador and Guatemala, he lives in Washington DC.
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