‘We broke the barrier of the underground’

THE ConeCrewBoard is back. After a five-year hiatus, away from the studio but not from the stage, the rap group — made up of producer and beatmaker Papatinho and MCs Ari, Batoré, Maomé, Rany Money and Cert — announces the release of two singles, “Bug do millennium” and “Anthem”. The songs, they guarantee, are the first of an upcoming album.

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ConeCrewDiretoria is back. After a five-year hiatus, away from the studio but not from the stage, the rap group — made up of producer and beatmaker Papatinho and MCs Ari, Batoré, Maomé, Rany Money and Cert — announces the release of two singles, “Bug do millennium” and “Anthem”. The songs, they guarantee, are the first of an upcoming album.

roots

When, in February of last year, ConeCrewDiretoria performed at the Rep Festival, fans were excited for a return. Months later, in September, they occupied the Supernova Stage, at Rock in Rio, and there the group’s return was clear.

“We were slow to release music when we were active, and fans were waiting anxiously. It is impressive to see that, after years, they are still waiting – evaluates Papatinho.

Muhammad completes:

— The fact that we protect ourselves values ​​our return not only commercially, but also internally, to rescue our roots. We’re much more serious individually than when we’re together… The jokes start to come out, unintentionally.

In fact, the joking atmosphere was constant during the interview with GLOBO, in a studio in Barra da Tijuca, West Zone of Rio.

— We’ve known each other for over 20 years — justifies Mohammed.

It was at the skate park at the Novo Leblon condominium, in Barra da Tijuca, that they were introduced, and the nights at Batalha do Conhecimento brought them together around rap.

With no external investment or record company, the sextet appeared among the group of independent artists and ended up creating their audience on the internet.

— We broke the barrier and it became a mainstream even with the underground structure and music — says Papatinho.

From the first appearances, the band was compared to Planet Hemp, mainly because the lyrics talk about marijuana. The group, however, was not active in pro-legalization. Marijuana is there, as are other elements (parties, women) of the members’ daily lives. But that didn’t stop the police from stopping several ConeCrew performances. On one of these occasions, Cert (who did not participate in this interview) was arrested for drug addiction.

— 15 years ago, Cone sang about marijuana and horrified some people, and today to say that he smokes a joint does not surprise anyone. I don’t know if we’ve evolved as a society or if we’ve just fucked it up. But we don’t talk to trivialize it, it was the rolé that we lived, that lives – explains Maomé.

Each with their own personality, and all confident in the work they’ve done so far, ConeCrew’s new phase promises to mix what is already known to the public with influences from new aspects of rap, such as trap. In addition, they say that they intend to partner with artists of the new generation to, in a way, sponsor them — as well as the precursors Marcelo D2, Gabriel, o Pensador and Mr. Catra did with them.

— Nowadays everything is very disposable, isn’t it? We come from a generation that stopped to listen to bands’ albums, see the inserts… Today, there’s a lot of stuff coming out all the time. Our idea then is to focus on the good songs because they are eternal – says Ari.

Imprinting their own personality and not surrendering to the mainstream are a concern of the band, which makes this explicit in the lyrics of “Hino”. “Another one that will become an anthem because what I do is genuine”, they sing.

“When you try to do something that’s already out there, you do more of the same stuff. It has no identity, it becomes blah-blah-blah, with the same slang, even “Lacoste” or even “glock” — concludes Maomé.