By José Gandue @spinning zone

Let's start with the obvious: Come, an album made by the Franco-Chilean artist Ana Tijoux in 2014 and published by the North American independent label National Records, It is undoubtedly one of the best albums in the history of Latin American hip hop And, if we remove the straitjacket and avoid the inconveniences of inferiority complexes, We can include it among the most outstanding publications of the genre worldwide in the last two decades. It's a well-rounded production, perfectly balanced in every aspect, innovative in its sound and execution, rich in its nuances and references, and, to top it all off, tremendously successful in terms of numbers., with millions of views on digital platforms around the world. A publication that, a priori, any executive of a multinational record company, and even more so ten years ago, would have questioned, using its variety of textures as excuses, her political discourse, the personality of its author, It is the work of a woman outside the commercial mold, and for a whole lot more reasons.

You can tell me if I'm exaggerating, but I feel that what Tijoux has done, in some way, It opened the door (at least let the light in through the hinges) to today's references like Wos, Trueno, Niña Dioz, Hispana, Rabia Rivera, Ximbo and a bunch of examples that were cultivated on our continent.  They owe him something, don't they?. Come, Furthermore, it's a seventeen-track album that's not to be missed, which, although it mainly relied on singles like We Are South, My Truth, Antipatriarch And the very recording that gives the publication its title; one cannot ignore wonders like Downstream (my favorite cut), Black gold o Everything solid melts into air. Fifty-four minutes without flaws, without production failures, with many high points and with a resounding richness that few have achieved on this side of the world. 

Now comes the difficult question, one that speaks more to the present times than to the genius achieved ten years ago by Tijoux: How would it go for Come What if it had been released in 2024? This raises several questions for me, especially when thinking about today's youth, who, to a large extent, have lived through the pandemic and, in many cases, have been seduced by charismatic figures who have become their leaders., It seeks emotions that are easier to assimilate, with simplistic texts about partying and excess. Sure, rebellion still exists out there, but how many take seriously (beyond the repetitive, fashionable proclamations) social struggles, injustices against minorities, the discourse against massacres, the vindication of rights? How many people today want to shout out loud what Tijoux said in 2014?

We dream big, let the empire fall
We shout it out loud, there's no other way.
This is not utopia, it is the joyful rebellion of dance
Of those who are left over from the dance that exists today
Let's stand up and say enough is enough
Neither Africa nor Latin America is auctioned
A mud with a helmet and a pencil to tap out the fiasco
To cause an earthquake in this whole puddle

Let's be honest: Come, Ana Tijoux's album was the exception, not the norm in the record market.. It remains a masterpiece and helped break unfair patterns that can't be reinstated. I don't know how many people were looking forward to this album. In some ways, it reminds me of what happened a few years later (a hundred times over) with The Bad Will, by Rosalía. Albums that are a necessary slap in the face, earthquakes that shake structures and warn the entrenched leaders of the music industry that something more interesting is happening beneath their feet. Luckily, there are artists who go further and insist on demonstrating that there is a permanent need to kick lazy attitudes. Come, Now available in a special edition vinyl,  It was (and still is) a clear example that proves there are far more people than we think willing to listen to the surprising versus the repetitive., risk versus bland security, poetry over verbal nonsense. Perhaps, as we said before, we doubt it now, living what we are currently experiencing, but the last thing to be lost is not hope, but rather curiosity., And geniuses like Ana Tijoux know what that beautiful quality is all about.