His love for dogs gave him his street name, C-Kan, and though he is one of the most important hip-hop artists of his country, the rapper does not forget his poor and violent upbringing in his hometown of Guadalajara, Mexico. A place where he lived armed with a 9mm pistol to defend himself every night, before standing in front of a microphone at a makeshift studio, with a beat that exposed the experience he lived surrounded by drugs and violence.
But C-Kan—who at age 12 became the man of the house after his father’s death—is not a victim of his environment, but a spokesman of his daily, cruel reality, in a country that ignores those marginalized.
Silence is not an option for C-Kan, who demands the government not to hide this reality to a global society. He is not shy to accuse the president of his country, Enrique Peña Nieto, for the repression of his people on the hit “Semillas,” nor does he hold back on reproaching and correcting the leader of the first world, Donald Trump, for the mistreatment toward the vast community of immigrants looking for a better life, on the song “Soy Ilegal.”
“The president, the rich, what do they know about growing up in the hood? Everything is given to them. They get for free what we desire and work so hard for.They don’t know what it’s like to see a 17-year-old girl having an abortion because the baby’s father disappeared. They don’t know about the domestic violence everyone somehow lives. Those situations make me write my songs. I am proud to be part of these people, of my neighborhood. Proud to have lived those experiences,” C-Kan says.
His lyrics of social exposure have been chanted by thousands of fans who have made him a prophet in his own land, and who have catapulted him to international stardom. But in his new album, titled ‘Dias d Sol,’ C-Kan explores a softer side of his heart, exposing the feeling of love that awakened him to become a father for the first time. The album also pays tribute to his true homies, who have remained faithful to his neighborhood and who to this day, defend the streets he grew up in.
“I go back to my neighborhood every chance I get. I still have family that lives there and who face that cruel reality every day. I feel social responsibility to let the world know that these injustices do exist and go unnoticed. I hate censorship, therefore I try to be specific in my messages making a song that sounds violent, without being violent, through intelligent lyrics,” he adds.
C-Kan is currently the most prominent Mexican artist of his kind, with more than 50 official videos on VEVO, some of which exceed 100 million views. He has headlined worldwide music festivals such as Urban Fest, Prudence Fest, Revolution Fest, Budweiser Made In America Festival, High Time Magazine: Cannabis Cup and SXSW, among others. In addition, he has collaborated with international artists such as Baby Bash, Frankie J, Lil Wayne, South Park Mexican, Alika and Kevin Gates, among many more.
But that is not the limit for the rapper, whose songs have hit the big screen in movies like Compadres, and who proposes an armistice toward equality. “Seeing the people’s response to my music, it made me realize that I can use my life to create something that thrives for a very long time.”