Album : ChocQuibTown : Eso Es Lo Que Hay
Album : Eso Es Lo Que Hay : ChocQuibTown
Listen To Eso Lo Que Hay
Listen To Eso Lo Que Hay
Who Is ChocQuibTown?
Hailing from the remote and rainy Pacific coast of Colombia, Choc Quib Town is an Afro-Colombian hip hop group. Members Tostao, Goyo, Slow, Larry Viveros, Alex Sanchez, Juanpablo Tobon, and Andres Zea work with a variety of styles, including funk, ragga, and traditional Colombian rhythms, to produce a unique hip hop sound. The group released their first album, Somos Pacifico, in Colombia in 2007. Their second album, Oro, was released on Nacional Records, giving the group a boost in stateside recognition.
Eso Es Lo Que Hay Review
I first caught wind of the Fugees-esque trio three years ago right as they were dropping their sophomore album Oro on Nacional Records to what would soon be massive critical acclaim. Hailing from Colombia’s Pacific Coast, Goyo, Tostao, & Slow were making major waves with their uniquely infectious blend of hip hop, funk, and alternative rock with the traditional salsa and marimba sounds of their homeland.
Chocquibtown’s raw energy and honest lyrics were resonating with audiences of all types, both inside and outside of South America; suddenly, the group found themselves painting a different, more accurate, more African face of Colombia (recent estimates place the number of Afro-Colombians near 10.4 million, yet they are rarely represented on a national stage, including in both media and politics) and by 2010, they had won a Latin Grammy award in the “Best Alternative Song” category for De Donde Vengo Yo. Their win certainly propelled them onto an even larger stage, and audiences–from SXSW to Glastonbury–were treated to the talented group’s amazing live stage performances.
Chocquibtown’s raw energy and honest lyrics were resonating with audiences of all types, both inside and outside of South America; suddenly, the group found themselves painting a different, more accurate, more African face of Colombia (recent estimates place the number of Afro-Colombians near 10.4 million, yet they are rarely represented on a national stage, including in both media and politics) and by 2010, they had won a Latin Grammy award in the “Best Alternative Song” category for De Donde Vengo Yo. Their win certainly propelled them onto an even larger stage, and audiences–from SXSW to Glastonbury–were treated to the talented group’s amazing live stage performances.
My obsession with Chocquibtown doesn’t start with their Latin Grammy, or the first time I heard Somos Pacificos, or even the first time that I saw the jaw-dropping video for De Donde Vengo Yo, filled with beautiful, energetic Afro-Colombians celebrating the history and geography that gave rise to them. Nah, for me the story begins a bit earlier.
It starts when I’m five years old, and my lil homies are demanding to know why my very dark-skinned mother has that “funny” accent and how in the world she is speaking Spanish.
Or perhaps a more accurate place to start is that time in seventh grade when my teacher had us work on a project that entailed researching our parents’ educational background. I can still remember how shocked I was at hearing my mother say, “I never went to high school; I went to sewing school. Where I’m from, people who look like me don’t get to go to school.”
It lies in every single time I would try and heed my father’s advice to have pride in my Central American roots but would simultaneously have to battle the racial slurs that many of the non-Black Latino kids at school would call me on a daily basis. Or always having to hear a variation of “Don’t worry, you’re not Black. You’re Panamanian,” when someone needed an excuse to kick it with me. And how I wanted to shout from the rooftops, “I’m BOTH! I’m BOTH!” but could never find the voice to do so.
And as a child, how I would constantly sit through my aunties’ and uncles’ stories about how great their country was; how where they were from, people weren’t so capitalistic and self-serving; how people there would share their last piece of bread with their neighbors if they were hungry. And me, wanting so badly to be there, to magically transport myself to the little casa in Rio Abajo, patacones frying on the stove, beads of sweat crowding along my brow, agua de pipa juice dripping down my chin and arm, crashing into a tiny stream around my toes; I wanted to be THERE. I wanted to discover the landscape that, by then, existed mainly in my people’s memories; the landscape that I felt I would never have access to.
It’s the story of identity and survival.
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Sources : Eso Es Lo Que Hay Photo | Listen To Eso Es Lo Que Hay | ChocQuibTown Biography | Eso El Lo Que Hay Review
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