Halca + Yucali = HalCali– simple. The female duo exploded onto the Japanese scene in 2003, with the single “Tandem” which entered the Oricon Charts (think Japanese Billboard) at #19. In 2008, 5 years later, HalCali made their U.S. concert debut… about a week and a half ago. While neither Halca nor Yucali is old enough to drink a beer in the States, the two decided to sit down (read: email via a translator) with Flight 808 and talk about their music, fashion endeavors, and future.

Tommy: You just had your first concerts a few days back. How does performing in the U.S. differ from performing in Japan? Did you enjoy it? Were you at all uneasy?

Halca: At first, I felt uneasy with how many people would come to the venue, and if they would respond to us in a good way. However, the result is that audience liked the music and came to the venue with joy. It’s a universal situation regardless of countries. One thing I was delighted about is that American people responded to us and expressed their feelings very clearly.

Yucali: I’ve performed in France before. Overall, audiences overseas are very quick in response. So, I really enjoy performing overseas. Rather than feeling uneasy, I feel excited.

Tommy: Have you been here before? If not, what about our culture has caught you off guard so far?

Halca: Nothing.

Yucali: I’ve been to Hawaii for pleasure.

Tommy: You both got started in the music industry very early on, in your early teenage years. As you’ve gone through such a formative time, how has your sound and style changed? How is Halcali in 2008 different from Halcali in 2003?

Halca: It has 6 years since we debuted, so some changes must have happened. However, it’s not easy to express with words. It should be natural that we changed our musical tastes during those years. However, our policy is to create enjoyable music, so we feel the same as ever.

Yucali: When we debuted, we’re 15 years old and knew nothing. So, I felt our adult staff created and produced us like a toy. Currently, we enjoy being HALCALI. Music style is same as ever and doing music activity freely based on HIP HOP. Our motto is ‘HALCALI and producers create happy music”.

Tommy: Your music videos are absolutely incredible, especially to a viewer like me who is most familiar with American music videos. They look supremely fun to make. What is the most enjoyable or memorable experience you’ve had in shooting a video?

Halca: Shooting video clip is one of the most favorite sessions, so I’m very happy to hear that you liked them. I feel most impressive with the video shooting for “Strawberry Chips”. It was hard to forget because I was wrapped with raw whip cream. Also I felt interesting with Christmas-like costume.

Yucali: We’re doing choreography by ourselves, so video clip means a lot to us in showing our songs. Choreography is created based on meaning of lyrics, so we’re happy if you notice them. It’s very difficult to choose the most favorite clip, but ‘Tandem’ and ‘Marching March’ are my favorites.

Tommy: In your lyrics, you’ve referenced Eminem, Slick Rick, and Public Enemy, to name a few. Who are your favorite American hip-hop artists?

Halca: Missy Elliott, Beastie Boys, etc.

Yucali: Kanye West, Pharrell Williams, Missy Elliott, etc.

Tommy: Who are your biggest musical influences in Japan?

Halca: RIP SLYME

Yucali: RIP SLYME, Schadara Parr

Tommy: Recently, you have been featured in fashion magazines. Do you have plans to continue with fashion or pursue any other ventures apart from your music?

Yucali: It’s very much enjoyable to wear different type of clothes and be shot on fashion/culture magazines, so we would like to continue it.

Halca: We really enjoy it, so if we have opportunities in the future, we would like to do it.

Tommy: What’s next for HalCali? Another album? A tour?

Yucali: Hopefully we’ll perform in France, release new album by the end of this year or ealry next year at the latest. So, we’re currently working on recording. Please look forward to it!

Halca: Please check our homepages: HalCali.Com & HalCali MySpace

Currently, we’re working on new songs, though release date is yet to be fixed. Hope we’ll perform again soon in the U.S.

To say Maya Jupiter is a busy girl would be a huge understatement. She’s an emcee, a dancer, a radio host, a TV host, an educator…and the list goes on and on. Since we’re focusing on Australia this week, I chose to highlight Maya Jupiter because of her central role in the Aussie hip hop community – and because I can’t resist a moment for a little bit of girl power.

Growing up in Australia, Maya faced ridicule and racism for her Mexican and Turkish decent. She felt so traumatized that she was completely uninterested in embracing her Mexican culture – going so far as to resist learning the Spanish language. At just fourteen years old, she began to find herself through the discovery of hip-hop. The passion and rawness of artists like Naughty By Nature and Ice Cube moved her, even though she couldn’t completely relate to the lyrics.

At 18, Maya followed her sister to breakdancing classes and became fully immersed in the hip-hop community. Being a dancer all her life she enjoyed breakdancing for a while, but knew hip-hop was her number one passion. She soon decided to focus on becoming an emcee and as a female artist, made a conscious effort not to be another “hip-hop booty shaker”. At the time, Australian hip-hop was struggling to be accepted – the public didn’t necessarily like hearing an Aussie accent in a rap song.

Cut to today – she’s wildly successful, incredibly talented and on top of it all, gorgeous. She has since taken ownership of her heritage, using it as a source for inspiration in her music. Incorporating salsa and mambo rhythms, Maya has created a unique, multicultural hip-hop sound on her solo projects and with her 11-piece salsa band Son Veneno. I’m talking really multicultural – Son Veneno mixes jazz, hip-hop, latin influences and traditional Chilean music.

Maya is also part of the Aussie trio Foreign Heights – along with MC Trey and DJ Nick Toth. Check out “Get Yours (Remix)”:

Like most of the artists here on Flight808, Maya is also very active in her community with the Soul Sistaz Project at the South Sydney Youth Services, along with MC Trey. They are both certified educators and run a music business program for disadvantaged youth – girls only (to continue with the girl power theme)! This program sounds absolutely amazing – the girls have the opportunity to express themselves through writing songs, recording music and performing. On the business end, they learn the ins and outs of the music industry, are trained to handle interviews and even design their own album artwork. Both Maya and Trey are passionate about helping people grow in the hip-hop community.

Another interesting facet in Maya’s career is her involvement with Channel [V]. She’s currently the host of a new show called “Freestyle” where she travels the world interviewing the best artists hip-hop has to offer, with some up-and-comers thrown in. It’s definitely worth checking out – here’s a YouTube teaser:

If your thirsty for more Australian hip hop, check out the Oz Hip Hop website :
http://www.ozhiphop.com/

For links within text:
Maya’s official website: http://www.mayajupiter.com/index.htm
Maya’s Channel [V] page: http://channelv.com.au/V/Article.aspx?id=916

In my last post about Mexico, I wrote about a group called Control Machete that most people in the US haven’t heard of, but because of a massive Levi’s advertising campaign many people are actually familiar with their music and don’t know it! In beginning my research on Spanish hip-hop, I realized that even though I wasn’t very familiar with many Spanish artists, I have heard the work of one particular artist, La Mala Rodriguez in many of my favorite films. But first, a lil background on Spanish hip-hop.

Hip-hop came to Spain in the late 1980s through break dance crews who showcased their talents alongside American hip-hop recordings. Local emcees began to showcase their skills for small, underground audiences and many Spanish rock bands, such as Os Resentidos, Kortatu and TDK began to integrate hip-hop into their music. In 1989, the first Spanish hip-hop LP entitled Madrid Hip Hop was released. It featured two cuts each from four different bands. These included DNI, Estado Critico, Sindicato del Crimen and QSC. That same year, another compilation entitled Rappin Madrid was released featuring more solo artists. Although not terribly commercially successful, these compilations helped to establish hip-hop as a viable genre in Spain and led to the founding of the first Spanish label that specialized solely in hip-hop: Zona Bruta. Here is a track from Spanish artist Frank T – one of Zona Bruta’s current artists.

mp3: “Frank T: Skynet”

Having moved to Seville at the age of 4, Marîa Rodriguez, professionally known as La Mala Rodriguez, grew up in one the epicenters of the Spanish hip-hop scene. With promising career opportunities present, La Mala relocated to Madrid at the age of 19 and released her debut album, Lujo Ibérico, in 2000 on Universal. Known for avoiding stereotypical Spanish hip-hop cliches, La Mala’s signature is her flamenco inspired beats and clever rhymes that speak on subject matter such as outcasts in society and problems facing women today. Selling over 50,000 albums and earning gold status, the album included the popular song “Yo Marco el Minuto,” which was featured in the Spanish film Lucia y el Sexo and and “Afila el Colmillo,” a collaboration with Titan which was featured in the Mexican film Y Tu Mama Tambien.

mp3: “La Mala- Yo Marco El Minuto”

Following the success of Lujo Ibérico, La Mala released her sophomore album Alevosia in 2003. When the single “La Nina” was banned from Spanish TV for the depiction of a young woman dealing drugs, La Mala cemented her notorious reputation. The album matched the sales of her debut. La Mala waited four years to release her most recent album, Malamarismo, this past year, but she kept busy during the interim collaborating with artists such as Mayuscula, R de Rumba, Full Nelson, Akon, Vico C, Kultama, Antonio Carmona, and Calle 13. In 2006, the non-album single “Por la Noche” was featured in the Spanish film Yo Soy la Juani. La Mala also has a track featured in the French movie L’Auberge Espagnole (one of my all-time favorite movies). With the release of Malamarismo, La Mala has cemented her reputation for taking stylistic risks and incorporating outside influences such as Reggaeton and Mexican pop.

mp3: “La Mala Rodriguez: En La Hoguera”

Our next featured femme de France is not exactly unknown. Diam’s, or Diamant, is more than just a popular French rapper – she was France’s best selling artist, period, in 2006. This makes for a bizarrely diverse fanbase; at her concerts you can find preteen pop fans mouthing her political lyrics, regular hip-hop heads nodding along, and even families enjoying the music. Not too shabby, when Common’s shows are merely host to “coffee house chicks and white dudes.”

mp3: “Jeune Demoiselle”

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I told a friend of mine the other day that I was writing about Diam’s, and he reacted with a comparison. “Oh yeah! She’s like, the French Missy Elliot!” I offered a faint smile, inwardly acknowledging my musical superiority. Unfortunately for my ego, he seems to be right, though I’m pretty sure he didn”t mean to be, so we won’t count it. Regardless, she has compromised a bit of her talent for commercial singles, but her albums are still composed of some very interesting and even experimental music. For example, she’s recorded a couple of songs with nothing backing her voice other than piano improvisations. And, to make the Missy comparison complete, she’s got a video where she sports a jogging suit, is accompanied by prepubescent breakers, and raps while standing on fake, oversized boom boxes. Maybe she is Missy Elliot – with a French, political twist.

Before we move on to our next nation, I’d like to give a quick shout out to YoLaLa.org. It’s a French Rap podcast with English commentary, and has a lot of really great material. I tried to contact the dude who runs it directly, but his email addy was having errors. I found a lot of the info for this week’s posts on his podcast and website. So subscribe; I did, it’s dope.

One of the largest hip-hop scenes outside of the U.S., France has been doing it’s damn thang since the early 80’s when the New York City Rap Tour brought Afrika Bambatta, Grandmaster DST, and Fab 5 Freddy across the Atlantic for some break beats and freedom fries. Now, in 2007, names like MC Solaar can hardly be described as “foreign” to the ears of hip-hop heads within the states; we here at 808 had to do some real digging to find some new, fresh faces. And what did we come up with? Women. French women. Oh yes we did.

First up, Princess Anies. Anies makes up ½ of the co-ed group Les Specialists, a French hip-hop duo boasting longevity but little stardom. She’s half Asian, half White, and even has a bit of that Brother Ali-preacher-delivery (at times).

mp3: “Si J’etais Un Homme”

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“Si J’etais Un Homme,” or “If I Were a Man,” features Anies’ speculating in regards to how her views would be different if she were a man. Would she understand why the majority of men are homophobic? Would she recognize women as the weaker sex? Would she be able to admit that Princess Aines, a chick, has one of the dopest flows around?

In addition to the truly innovative subject matter, the production on this track is nothing to sneeze at (a polite French sneeze, of course) either. The drums are heavy-hitting and the violins make me want to smash my own violin over a car or someone’s head. (To be honest, I’ve been trying to get rid of that violin for years. Anyone looking to buy an instrument that almost single-handedly ruined my youth?)
And, for your added listening pleasure, here’s a track by Les Specialists.

mp3: “La France”

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You might recognize the sample from this goodie.