In her waning year, she has been very productive when it comes to music. Nevertheless, 2023 will be remembered as a jubilee year - 50 years since the creation of one of today's most popular cultures - hip hop. This genre, which found its roots on the streets of the Bronx in 1973, is now flourishing all over the world, and the expansion of hip hop in the Balkans is increasingly recognizable, and it is slowly becoming the epicenter of musical creativity and self-expression, crossing borders and connecting generations.
The pioneers of this direction in the Balkans are certainly the band TBF (The Beat Fleet) from Split, which quickly became a synonym for authenticity and quality. Founded in Split in 1990, they won the hearts of the audience with their unique sound, combining elements of rap, rock and electronic music. Their album "Dances with Wolves", released in 1999, remained unforgettable, laying the foundations for the further development of rap music in the Balkans.
Their path to stardom was not easy, it was the post-war years that brought different trends.
"I'm in '73. year, and throughout high school I was the only one in my class who listened to rap. The MTV channel was playing all day and night. That was my love. Later I infected the rest of the department and we all got into it. It was a moment, even at that time rap was something more than music, a moment where the world changes. The Berlin Wall fell, democratic changes took place, we thought we would all live in a perfect world. In the end, we live in a perfect world, but we produce too much garbage, so sometimes there is more treasure in that garbage than in what we think is not garbage", one of the founders of TBF, Saša Antić, recalled in an interview with "Vijesti" that he himself met with hip hop culture.
When, as he says, he started his professional career, he chose hip-hop.
"It wasn't commercial back then, it wasn't a trend. TBF was completely against everything. And as it was then, it is the same today," emphasizes Antic.
Unlike the rappers in the Balkans at the time, TBF was different at the start because they didn't perform with matrices, but the rappers were accompanied by a band. With that, they set new standards.
"We started working with the band at the beginning. Once you feel the energy of the band on stage, it's hard and impossible to go perform songs with DJs. And on the other hand, we loved that hip-hop. If we're going to go a little deeper into hip-hop culture, it wasn't the rapper who was in charge, the DJ was in charge. It was the rapper who was more there to animate the crowd. As there were no good DJs, we did not go in that direction at all. Split's music scene has always built that guitar sound, and it was innate to us. That's why we started that way, and we always flirted with funk, soul, reggae sound. There was punk, after all, because we, as rappers, identified with the punks because, like them, we were 'against everything'", notes Antić.
They tried to show rebellion through rhymes, and to record what society is currently facing through verses.
"Our lyrics were a protest, it was a rebellion," he adds.
And from the beginning of TBF until today, there are more and more reasons for rebellion, and those who deal with socially engaged topics through songs, do not lack them.
"We are already old people, what can I say, but we know how to find ourselves in that position to criticize even today. Sometimes it seems as if you are constantly in puberty. I often think about what they would rebel against and where we could direct the 'blade'. However, then I realize that it's all good, compared to how it was. We fought for some freedom, because they tried to dictate what we should think, what we should say, now there is no such thing. You can think and say what you want. Today, the boundaries of freedom have been moved, and where it is today is a very difficult matter. There is no more censorship, it's just that it's much harder to reach an audience today. In our time, when we release a song or video, it would be played on television immediately. There was no internet, no mobile phones, no other platforms. There was a 'Hit Depo' show on Croatian television, which follows the scene and when you reach the first position on the list, it's a success. You know you succeeded", he says and says that nothing is the same anymore.
"Kids think that success is hunting, but that's a total misconception. If you fall into it, you always come back to what I said. We didn't get into the music industry to make money. You have some idea at the beginning - fame, street respect, that's the rapper's moment, commitment and that's it. But this whole story about some success, that you will earn some money with it, it is a complete big misconception", believes Antić and advises that young rappers better take care of it in time.
"I don't want to tell anyone anything. I love music, I'm still learning, I'm looking ahead and what I'll create next, I live for it. I don't live from music, I live for music," emphasizes the rapper.
He also looked at the subgenres of rap, as well as the texts and messages that get through today, because they are no longer rebellious, but tasteless and unpleasant, and that's exactly what younger people listen to.
"I'm trying to put it in the context of the nineties, when we had that dance movement in Croatia. It was all very superficial, stupid, so it's kind of on that level for me. I'm waiting for something to happen, there are good things, there always are. But the media is always key. At one point, MTV decided that Nirvana would be the best k-band. It actually happened, MTV started promoting Nirvana and they became a world band even though they were a combination of everything alive - from the groove that was tense to the message, they were rebellious, they had that touch of protest, and rock and roll, and blues. So I think the media is the most powerful," the rapper believes. However, most of the media do not play such music, but it still reaches the audience.
"I think most people don't listen to those texts. Groove is important to them. That music has eroticism in it, those basses, it's very erotic and that's always important. Even rock 'n' roll is erotic," concludes Antić.
TBF is the main thing, the solo career is more of a valve
Antic has been building his solo career under a pseudonym for years Alejuandro Buendia, and it is with this step that he additionally illuminates the rap scene. His unique approach to music and lyrics, imbued with deep social and personal messages, make him a prominent figure not only in rap music, but also in the wider music world.
"It's solo what I do, it's just the way it is," said Antić modestly.
"As a soloist, I don't have many performances. TBF is still the main thing, it's still in the first place, it's family, I vent a little in other directions along the way. The band I'm working with is more psychedelic rock and roll, with a bit of metal, so I describe it as heavy rock," he explains the difference between what he does solo and with a band.
"TBF also has those moments, but they are not studio moments. We have songs like that, but we don't often play it live. I love heavy sound, I love Pantera, I love Queens of the Stone Age. I like a heavy sound, raga, so it's kind of a valve for me. I'm sorry I can't do it anymore, but it is what it is. There are too few hours in the day and days in the year," says Antić, who has collaborated with numerous performers across the region under his solo pseudonym.
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