Medellin – Warriors Lost

Article by Robin Finley

The late Andres Felipe Medina

Here in Medellin, Colombia the translation for dangerous, as in a bad part of town, is “caliente” or hot. Recently people have been saying that Medellin has become quite hot, and they aren’t talking about the weather. Mind you every city has its gang fights and turf wars, yet here in Medellin the lack of resources amongst the city’s poor, complicated by a long standing drug trade, has made for lasting instability in the city peripheries. Much of the danger is generated out of the Comuna 13 sector of the city and last week gang warfare led to the temporary closing of Medellin’s darling MetroCable.

Sadly in the past two months a few stalwart pioneers in the Medellin hip hop community have been killed and we wanted to pay homage to the efforts they have made in creating positive alternatives within the “hottest” of Medellin’s barrios. Sadly, four prominent hip hop artists have been killed in the past 6 months.

Last month, Andres Felipe Medina (pictured above) was murdered and his assailants have not been found to date. Andres was a long time rapper and co-founder of Son Bata, a hip hop group based in Medellin’s Comuna 13. Son Bata was given special recognition  from the mayor’s office earlier this year for their work promoting non-violence and mulit-culturalism.

Then just last weekend, Marcelo Pimienta Sánchez, aka MC Chelo was murdered in the Floresta barrio of Medellin by unknown assassins. He was vocalist and producer of the 6 year old group Eskalones. His hard-line anti-violence and peaceful activism made him a notable figure in the community. He was known also for being a master of improv and was informally crowned several times for being the master of improv hip hop. Here is a  signature Eskalones track: smokey and smooth.

Both of these hip hop groups are part of the much larger hip hop collective called “Hip Hop Elite” which is a 200 member strong group in Comuna 13 dedicated to sharing resources, instruments, and recording equipment. Our deepest thanks go out to these warriors lost who are now in the heavens of hip hop. To understand more about where the hip hop community is today check out this 2010 video made by Babblefish Productions. This mini-documentary shows how Medellin’s hip hop community has put together several “hip hop academies” where dance, art, and performance are taught as an after-school alternative to gangs, drugs, and crime on the streets. If anything the hip hop community in Medellin is facing it’s biggest challenge to date. With a string of national and international press over their conscious raising, anti-violent message, they are now tested to move forward, practicing what they preach after loosing a handful of peaceful warriors.