Back in October 2020, when the country was still under mandatory isolation and shows with audiences were a sad distant fantasy, Acru gave a master class at the FMS. In just 42 seconds of presentation he left a free minute for the story and a phrase that would become part of the cultural capital of local hip hop.
And yes, the national hip hop is on the back of Agustín, who this Friday will take him to the venue that knew how to be the temple of rock and that, with the times that we are living, may end up being resignified as an urban temple: the Obras.A. Stadium that double sold out does not arrive empty-handed: we already have a glimpse of what will be “YANTAZ”, a surprise EP that precedes his long-awaited album “EL DON”, and whose first cut “D1SPARO” has just come out.
“This easy play is a color that appeared recording ‘EL DON’. It was to discover a microworld that I realized it would be good to exploit it and capture it in a little capsulite”, he confides to Filo.News from the armchair of a palermitano bar. With his Adidas camperón and a few hours of sleep but a lot of parsimony, he explains: “From the proposals of the songs, the games that it has, the concept that encompasses them and the visual development that there is … I feel like there are jobs that every so often help you raise the level and this is one of them so I’m very happy to have achieved it.”
Veeyam, Acru and Nacho in progress | Photo: Instagram @veeyam
“YANTAZ” was born from a three-day trip with Veeyam as producer and Nacho Maquieira as sound engineer: “Sometimes you get picky and the idea was to stop going around.” That’s also how express was the filming of the video clips that accompany the tracks. Acru speaks and is noticed focused, 100% in charge and aware of every aspect of his work: “I put a lot of energy into bringing all the edges of the project together and leaving it in a better place. I was drawing for the projects, getting into the visual part, into the photography, into the production. You have to understand art projects as a world.” The last material we met him before “D1SPARO” is “DHARMA”, an exquisite boombap that from beat to lyrics demonstrates the leap in quality that hit both the MC and the team around it. The song, which is part of the tracklist of his upcoming album, was presented live at the Lunfardo Festival last March before its official release and, as happened at the time with “MONOBLOCK”, the public received it ecstatic.
“After that many wrote to me asking me ‘che, when does the Lunfardo song come out?’. I don’t usually play the songs before they come out, and the fact that I tried it and saw that people received it like that, that they connected and harangued, was nice. Sometimes you create you lose some confidence because you go through new processes and places, also sometimes you demand more and you can’t get to those places. I think that song was a kick to keep building. That people received it like that made me very excited.” Another of his latest releases was “CUAL HAY” with a bombshell duo and super respected in the scene: Urbanse and Veeyam himself.” Over time you see who your friends are. There are amazing people out there who aren’t your friends out there. And Urbanse and Veeyam are my friends; they are people who have come home, have eaten with my family, have shared, are people I write to in the week to see how they are going. That kind of friend,” he confesses. He continues: “Making music with them is very special: Veeyam is a person who is in an incredible moment; I wish the new jobs he’s doing come out because for me he’s making a very particular sound and he deserves the best for all the work he puts in. And Urban is like a bigger brother, I when I was a kid listened to a lot of his songs, a lot of them, and nowadays being friends is re flashero. He has a lot of respect for this music and for leaving it as high as he can be from here.” Another upgrade that Acru brings with it in this new stage is the implementation of a complete band, today composed of Haze as DJ, Tomi Sainz on drums, Mati Varela on bass and Facundo Cassetari on guitar.
From “Abril” -the first song in which he was shown with a band- to the present day, the 24-year-old rapper says that the live show grew a lot. And it shows. “‘Abril’ was a song destined for a live session with Miguel Groove, a group with which I had the pleasure of immersing myself in their world and putting together a proposal contributing my imprint. Now it’s the band playing that sound and mine”, says Agustín.Sobre el team that accompanies him says that “they play barbaric” and “they teach him a lot, from his touch to his person and his way of working”: “They are people who are 100% dedicated and have a lot of respect. They want things to go as well as I do and that’s what motivates me. We laughed at each other, it’s crazy.” With band included, Acru is not closed to anything. Not even reggaeton: “The first rappings in Spanish I heard were reggaeton. Over time I began to take notion of the impact on Spanish music that this genre had. I think the American rappers with rap achieved something very fucked up, that maybe that click here we live with reggaeton.
“I have a lot of respect for that move and I learn from its sound and the different types of games that that genre uses -continues- Nowadays I think if I threw free on a reggaeton beat or whatever it was, super I would leave my mark. I don’t feel like I would change my speech or have “reggaetonero speech” because I’m rapping on a reggaeton track.” I’m super open to rhythms and learning. That switch of having allowed me that musical range made me grow and enrich me as an artist. I am happy and satisfied. I don’t know what I’ll end up in music but hopefully I can go through every rhythm at least once,” he adds. The Throw Up Sessions are the reflection of that long-running search for Augustine, ranging from boombap to R&B. Now, in addition to a reggaeton could even be added, a chacarera?
“A chacarera or a zamba could be. I’d like to give the music back a little bit of the feelings that those genres gave me when I listened to it. I listened to a lot of reggae, rock, folcklore, recently I started passing data of electronica as well. I don’t want to be an MC and rapping, to deprive myself of living what I can feel by touching those textures and colors.”
This experimentation coincides with a local scene that does not stop crossing genres and inventing fusions as attractive as enriching: “I think that all this that is happening nourishes a lot and at the same time claims a certain sound. I can delve into a lot of sounds, and when I go back to a rap artist it’s, ‘hey, what do I ask of this artist? Che, I want this blow to sound like that, I want this kind of sample, this kind of forcefulness.’ I can get more objective about what I want because I can say ‘This is the track’, I can see a little better and regain the taste of that place you live in.”
“Great artists allow themselves to soak up everything to nourish their music and return to the place they belong to with a little more information”
The patience and purity with which Acru expresses himself gives the feeling of being able to discuss any subject with him for hours. But, unfortunately, for today it is cut off here. Before finishing, be honest with Filo.News even a little more: “I would very much like to play in the crowded Luna Park. Since I passed by, both as a spectator and a lap accompanying Wos, it’s one of the little dreams I have.” And visibly moved, just before the farewell, he pulls: “Just by thinking about it I get excited. For me it would be historic.”
