Erik Urano, the rapper who defeated failure: “The concept of success is a black hole of ego that you will never finish filling”

2023-10-10 12:24:58

If respect could be quantified, Erik Urano would have quite a few zeros in his account. The rapper from Valladolid, a leading figure in the genre, amasses more transcendence than numbers through songs designed from a gray present that glimpse a black future. “I see my music as more hopeful, with an aura of struggle, perhaps somewhat defeatist in the face of a future that I don’t like,” he points out in conversation with this newspaper.

Without following any logic, since Erik Urano is part of the music industry but moves – and thinks – without corsets, he made an unusual decision last week. His concert in Barcelona on October 13 at the Apolo room became free due to the low ticket sales. The manual would say that this could not end in any other way than with a cancellation. That this is a situation to hide in the culture of gimmicks and ‘sold out’. “I’m not a Castroite at all, I don’t care about giving a concert for 40 people… I’ve been doing these things my whole life, something like that won’t happen to me again,” he comments once the disgust has passed. “Thank goodness I have that artistic self-esteem left, that I am aware that what I do has a cultural weight and an artistic validity that can compete with any proposal,” says Erik Urano, 37, a man who has He has a long and coherent career behind him (he was part of the group Urano Players).

The response from his colleagues and the public has been overwhelming: after the announcement that entry became an invitation, the almost one thousand seats flew in 48 hours. Before, he looked for the causes of the low ticket sales, he went through the calendar (the concert is in the middle of a bridge, after the avalanche of summer festivals…) and ended up at “the mother cause of everything.” “Being a medium-low artist, it is very difficult to find a place in so many social media algorithms for people to reach your poster,” she considers. “Much of the cause of this final ‘sold out’ is due to the rebound effect… It was shared [el cartel] since nothing of mine has been shared in my life and, probably, it had not reached many people who would have paid for my concert,” he says.

Without romanticizing precariousness

The Valladolid native had already invested in production, thought about the new live show, and listened to “that most basic drive of the artist” who needs to “give space” to what he does. Erik Urano was able to move forward with the free proposal due to the support of his label, Sonido Muchacho, and because he has another job that supports him financially. “I don’t want to romanticize the precariousness of artists, things have to be paid for and people deserve to get paid for their work,” he warns.

Erik Urano, who after Barcelona will perform in Madrid (October 27), highlights the importance of not hiding this situation in which he has found himself. “I wanted to make failure visible,” he responds forcefully. “I think it is very important for people who make music to show failure as an opportunity for change. It does not take you out of the circuit or your cultural concern as an artist,” he adds after pointing out the falsehood that exists on social networks where “only triumph, success is shown.”

The one from Valladolid, who has also performed at large festivals such as BBK or Primavera Sound, acknowledges that yes, that sometimes “it is frustrating to try to channel or even monetize that respect” that he knows he has in his union, public and critics. . Now, a year and a half after his excellent latest work with producer Merca Bae, ‘Qubits’, he has 11,000 monthly listeners on Spotify, for example.

The dictatorship of streaming

Thus, it is evident that Erik Urano does not congregate with the culture of ‘sold out’ and ‘streaming’ platforms, which are articulated through the dictatorship of the ranking, something that is difficult to escape, and that tends to a a certain homogenization of what is widely heard. “The factory effect, of chain production, is being created a bit. Everyone is looking for excessive productivity that results in success or profit,” he points out. But for the Valladolid native, “the great melon” to open is the concept of success that currently prevails: “Many times it is the fault of the artists themselves, who instill in kids an erroneous concept of success. Far from what personal satisfaction is, the concept of success is right now a black hole of ego that you will never finish filling and “It will only end up generating frustration.”

“In the end, what we are talking about is art, and what has always had to escape has been this commercialization to go in search of transcendence,” he says. Erik Urano, the artist who faced failure and won.