A collaboration with two hip hop legends, international recognition, the "most ambitious album of his career" and the signing of a contract with a multinational, were some things that marked the "hurricane" that the Mexican rapper Alemán is currently experiencing.
"In my personal relationships, in music, a hurricane was going through my life, I was about to sign with Sony, but it was desperate to be locked up, I didn't know if there were going to be concerts again and everything was uncertain," says the rapper in an interview with Efe.
"Huracán" is the name of his most recent album, made up of 21 songs that show the creative universe of the 31-year-old musician born in Cabo San Lucas, Baja California Sur, and who has currently earned his place as one of the rappers of most popular in the country.
The material was almost finished at the beginning of the year, but the perfectionism of Erick Raúl Alemán, his real name, led him to "keep it" for a while, refining every detail and waiting for the right moment so that people could enjoy it as it should.
"I was postponing the album due to the pandemic, I didn't want it to come out with that feeling, like everyone was suffering and that's why I postponed it," says the author of "Rucón."
Later, he wondered if 21 songs were too many, if it was convenient to release only 12 or 15, but he felt that his audience deserved it, since three years had passed since he released "Eclipse", another album with the same number of songs that It was also an internal journey.
"I already told my compas (friends) and representative, after I delivered 'Huracán' don't call me again in two or three years to make an album like that," he affirms.
CLASSIC RAP, TRIPHOP AND GERMAN
German spends all his time in the study. "When I don't go it's because I have an interview, a meeting or I'm in shows," he mentions.
"In the flight studio, with your imagination you can reach the sky, another planet, you fly," he describes.
His inspiration comes from listening to rhythms and "beats" that lead him to think more clearly about each of his speeches.
"When I was more cheeky (young) that I had everything to say and that I hadn't said anything towards songs without a clue and even with my eyes closed, now I need the rhythms," confesses the rapper, who writes all his songs on his cell phone, after bad experiences losing notebooks.
"Huracán" takes a trip through the most classic rap, which is promoted by figures like Cypress Hill or Snoop Dogg, with whom he collaborated; in addition to trap, trip hop and the unique style that Alemán has impregnated in his rhymes that he was born from what he calls "pure rap from Baja Sur".
However, one of the components that he was fundamental to carry out the sonority that he presents today was a "sound box" that rapper Phil King Fu gave him.
"He was always characterized by being jealous of his pull (his work), he never shared his beats and always had the best sound," he confesses.
King Fu contacted him to give him "beats" that he had saved since 2006 and from there came songs like "Relojito", where he criticizes the Mexican government and the current situation or "Envy and betrayal".
"The concept of 'Huracán' is that it is just a musical hurricane," explains the rapper who also collaborated with Rels B and the Santa Fe Klan, Adán Cruz, Junior H, among other artists.
LOLITA AYALA
The project is still unfinished, some videos and capsules that the rapper prepared are missing, but without a doubt the least expected collaboration for Alemán was that of the veteran journalist Lolita Ayala.
"She approached us two weeks before we already had a deadline for the album, with Times Square booked in New York, but we needed a journalist for the project," she relates.
Ayala, a legend in the Mexican media, wanted a collaboration with the rappers of the Homegrown Mafia label for her clothing brand, and Alemán wanted a journalist to announce a fictional story inside the album.
It was about the arrival of a category five hurricane in Baja California Sur, a story that unfolds throughout the album.
"I couldn't believe it, I met her, we took some photos and we recorded some capsules," she says.
Finally Alemán cannot wait to start his tour where he will show "Huracán", which begins the year in Spain with five dates, then he will visit Mexico City and the 31 states of the country in the first half of the year and then he plans to arrive for the first time to the United States.
