Yung Beef: “Sometimes you think you need drugs to keep going, but in the end they just destroy you” | Culture

Yung Beef, pioneer and godfather of trap in Spain, has had seven lives. He has burned several cartridges in his career since he started with the Granada collective Kefta Boys, formed the group PXXR GVNG, and launched his solo career in 2013. He is the author of songs such as Ready to die, Metallica, If you go, The disco shines, Tropical either MultiorgasmicHe has rebelled against the music industry by founding the independent label La Vendición Records, a springboard for promising young artists. He has been an actor and has even paraded on the catwalks of Paris in a Calvin Klein underwear campaign. He has toured Latin America, where he will soon return with tours that have influenced artists on the continent, and has taken his flow to Japan where he lived for half a year. Now he is preparing for the Infierno Festival that will be held in Salobreña (Granada) on June 28 and 29, and where more than 13,000 attendees are expected. But Fernando Gálvez Gómez (34 years old, Granada), hardened in the streets and on the stages, is also a humble person, who goes to the meeting at the Montealmirana detoxification center in Malaga, where he has been admitted for just over two months. He arrives escorted by his friend Isha, a faithful squire who accompanied him throughout the process. A rebirth from the ashes that he narrates with the impudence and self-confidence that characterizes his lyrics.

Ask. At what point did you decide to stop and take a break, not only from drugs but also from the vortex you were exposed to?

Answer. I had been trying to quit drugs for a long time, my life was upside down in many ways. I was neglecting things because of drugs, such as my children, the people I love the most, or my friend Isha. When I went to Japan I took it as a desperate attempt to get away from the whole circle in which I have always been. Drugs and a bad life are the daily bread. In Japan I tried, but I didn’t succeed because I realized that it is not simply about stopping using, but rather addressing the problems that make you use with professionals. In the end it is because of our ignorance, we are not born taught. It’s good to let ourselves be helped, but sometimes because of our stubbornness we refuse. One of the most important things is to let yourself be helped when you have a problem. In Japan I was not using for a while, but I had very strong monkeys and I saw that my brain wanted to use every time I returned. He came to Spain and fell again. One of the days when I felt worse, I had to be with my son and I was at very high levels of consumption, I was not in a position to give him good care. Talking to Isha on the beach, that’s when I realized that I couldn’t do it alone. He helped me find a center because I was not fit and three days later I was here.

Q. How has this process been internally, what have you worked on the most?

R. Instead of going to the problems I had at that time, which were many, I decided to go to the traumas of my childhood. In one of the therapies, which was quite tough, I went the other way, but I ended up connecting with my inner child in strong situations and I realized that this was the way.

Q. I have heard him say that to be at the top you have to be calm. Do you think you are stronger now to face new challenges?

R. Well, yes, the truth is, and I’m finding it out. When your mind is strong and well in some ways, because we are always human and there are some weaknesses, you can cope better with all that pace. It’s confusing, sometimes you think you need drugs to keep going, but in the end what they do is destroy you. It’s something that is deeply rooted in my life because in the end I grew up surrounded by drugs, with my whole environment like that, but if you want to reach an adequate pace of responsibilities you have to be well in body and mind.

P. He acknowledges in his interviews that he has been using since he was very young, even that he has sold drugs at some point in his life and defines trap as “sex and cocaine.” How will this transition affect Yung Beef?

R. Positively, because trap is not really consuming cocaine, but trap is selling cocaine. And you to sell drugs, I’m not saying that I’m involved in that, but to represent all that, you can’t be consuming. It is not the path, in the end when I was younger, even if it was related to drugs, I marked my distance from them and I knew how to move, I took it responsibly, but the music and the rhythm that they assumed led me to make the mistake of starting to consume. We already know that there are countries in which marijuana is legalized and has therapeutic uses. I prefer it to be legalized, but in my experience the best thing is to be in connection with yourself.

I have grown up surrounded by drugs, I have grown up with my entire environment like that, but if you want to reach an adequate rhythm of responsibilities you have to be well in body and mind.”

Q. A trial by fire is approaching, his first performance since leaving the center. The Infierno Festival on June 28 and 29 in Salobreña, with artists of the stature of Metrika, Ñejo or los Yakis. How do you get out there?

R. I go out with great enthusiasm, I feel indebted to my audience, to the people who have supported me, I consider that I was not doing things well. I am very grateful to the center and to the therapists Míriam and Irene who have helped me a lot. I still have insecurities and fears. But I really want to pay my debt.

Q. Would you bring a therapist to assist you at your concerts?

R. Of course, if everything goes as it should, they will be there as part of the team.

P. How do you see your career now?

R. I would like to see myself being faithful to what I have always been, but I think that because of the years I have been here, because of how the movement has grown, I would like to reach a first league level. Although I have always represented what I have always been, I am not the only one who can do it. undergroundthe lowest of this music because it is what I like and it fills me with fire inside, I want to carry the underground to compete with the most artists mainstream of the planet.

Trap is not about consuming cocaine, but rather trap is about selling cocaine.”

Q. In his last song Cocotazo flirt with sauce. In his penultimate, a lot of beef with Mucho Muchacho mixes his style with hip hop. Is a change coming?

R. I don’t like to pigeonhole myself, when I started I did reggaeton. I like all the rhythms of the street, of the underworld. And the street is changing, it is evolving and I want to evolve too.

P. What projects are coming in the short term?

R. In the short term I have an album, the Plus 3which my people have been waiting for for a long time. Although a lot of the material was recorded during some pretty tough times in my career and life, I’ve been giving it a clearer vision and I think it will be one of the most important albums. Afterwards I have to finish a project with Cookin Soul, my little brother, I love them very much, it’s going to be a hip hop classic. There is another project: Dog of Death 3 with Favela, who is another of the Puerto Rican producers that I love the most with reggaeton, more Caribbean. I have another album, Brain Trauma 3, what is more emo, more rock and I’m in the process of another album of mine, All these rachets on my i cant feel my soul V, which is the fifth saga in a series of solo albums. Afterwards, a round of collaborations are planned with artists from Mexico and Chile, the hotties of the world from the most popular neighborhoods. hot.

Q. Let’s talk about your family. She has two children. Are the two-headed creature that Yung Beef and Fernando represent well defined?

R. They have always been very close, to be honest. That has been one of the problems, I have not known how to control the monster and it has led me to very difficult situations. So I am learning to introduce another figure: my inner child and I think that my child is the one who will control both of them.