After
working together for over 5 years, ecuadorian emcee SAI and belgian
beatmaker Kwervo are teaming up to bring you their first
collaborative album “Pacto de Hierro”. SAI – aka the South
American Immigrant – now living in Hip Hop’s Mecca New York, is
dropping bilingual floetry for the revolutionary masses and the
lovers of real hip hop on the colorful, mostly latin music inspired
instrumentals from Kwervo. The album contains 16 tracks with the
impact of an inca warrior elbow, waking up the listener in an era
where repetitive, simple minded music has taken over the radio.
Representing their crews Demonios Sekt & The Anti-Injustice
Movement, Sai and Kwervo are holding down the underground and
bringing an alternative to the mainstream’s ego circus.
How
did you come to the idea of making an entire album together?
SAI:
Damn, that's an easy one. CAUSE IT HAD TO HAPPEN, WE KNEW THAT IF WE
EVER MADE AN ALBUM TOGETHER THAT IT WOULD BE EPIC.
KWERVO:
I guess I’ll be giving the modest answers. (laughs)
SAI:
"al diablo lo modesto, yo mato a la distancia como un 3 en
baloncesto" (lyrics
from the song Dond’Ta: The hell with modesty, I kill from a
distance like a 3-pointer in basketball).
KWERVO:
HAHA! A huevoooo! (Hell
yeah)
Where
does the name “Pacto de Hierro” come from?
SAI:
I believe that it came from the lyrics of a track of that same name
which goes "mas de lo que habia imaginado, conexion de
soldadura, pacto de hierro, lealtad de perro" (“more
than
I had
imagined,
a connection
of welded
iron,
loyalty of a dog » ).
The thought behind it is that when we finally met in person, an
unspoken strong bond was made, like a pact made by welding
two iron pieces. What
Kwervo and I have is like Eric B and Rakim, like Guru and Premier. We
can do our individual shit, which we do, but if you put us
together...shiiiiiiiiiiiiet!
KWERVO:
No
doubt. I feel like me and SAI have a great connection, both musically
and on a personal level, and that’s what’s makes our pact so
strong. Next to our love for the hip hop culture, we both got a
strong interest in socio-political issues and even made it our jobs
(SAI
is a Human
Trafficking Specialist at Worker Justice Center of NY and Kwervo
works at the Centre
for Equal Opportunities and Opposition to Racism in Brussels).
I think we both got an open mind and a good understanding of the
different sides of the human psyche, we strive for justice without
being hypocrite because we know the struggle of the oppressed. That’s
why our music is as conscious as it is wild.
Tell
us something about the features on this album.
KWERVO:
We
got some of our closest friends from the Sekt on there who are also
sick emcees (Jotaka, Katha, Lenguarmada, H-Erre), some amazing
singers like SAI’s sister La Pedro who has MAD skills, and some
other emcees from all around the world who we’ve built with for
years, giving an international touch to this project. Not to forget,
DJ Joon added some killer cuts to a couple of the songs.
SAI:.
All I can say is that every single one is a lyrical monster, with
unique flow. We got amazing female voices, multiple languages,
multiple types of music, heavy Latino productions and diversity like
no other album.
How
do you feel about the end result of the album and what impact do you
hope it’ll have on the listener?
SAI:
The
final product is simply a masterpiece, for real, it is well thought
through, phenomenal production and most definitely amazing lyricism.
Again, the diversity is insane, we even got a reggaeton track just to
prove a point that it doesn't matter what style of music, the lyrics
can make it hotttt. This is my first album as a member of Demonios
Sekt and I believe it represents our collective flow very well.
KWERVO:
I
was amazed by the lyrics and flow SAI brought to the table, he keeps
raising his skill level, and he pushed me to do the same. I feel like
this is definitely my best work yet, and it tastes like more. I
especially hope the people who’ve been listening to our music for
years will love it, but I also want to take the people who are not
familiar with our shit on a trip with my productions and SAI bringing
them to life. ENTRA!
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