Goyo’s Rise to Fame Has Been a Win For Afro-Latine Artists

In our Q&A /function sequence Tell Me Más, we ask a few of our favourite Latine artists to share some inside information about their lives and habits, revealing the whole lot from their most up-to-date learn to the songs that get them hyped. This month, Grammy-winning artist Goyo, a member of legendary group ChocQuibTown, drops in to discuss her newest flip as a solo act, Afro-Latine illustration, and what she’s obtained in retailer for us in 2024.

As reggaetón, afrobeats, and entice grow to be world, their distinct sounds and formulation grow to be extra cemented. However, rapper and singer Goyo has all the time defied the confines of a single style. As a member of the award-winning group ChocQuibTown, the sound that she helped craft alongside along with her brother Miguel “Slow” Martinez and Carlos “Tostao” Valencia, mixed components of conventional African percussion, Colombian folks, hip-hop, dancehall, and reggaetón. Now, as she continues her musical journey, this time as a solo artist, Goyo nonetheless finds it tough to put a label on precisely what her sound is.

“The truth is that it’s difficult for me to classify myself as one single thing . . . I can easily do a song that’s straight hip-hop or a song that’s straight folkloric. It’s part of what I am,” says the artist.

When she first arrived on the scene, it was simply as tough for the business to classify her and her fellow group members. They gained their first Grammy underneath the rock/different class for the track “De Donde Vengo Yo,” as there was no urbano class at the moment. But since that point, the style has exploded permitting younger artists from barrios throughout the globe to chase their desires and permitting feminine emcees to present what they’re able to.

Yet, regardless of this inflow of recent expertise, there’s a fluidity and maturity to Goyo’s sound that instantly units her aside.

“Within the urbano movement, hip hop, rapping, singing, that’s where I feel most comfortable,” she tells POPSUGAR.

For long-time followers of ChocQuibTown, this could come as no shock, as Goyo’s expertise for melodic hooks and exact lyricism has been evident since ChocQuibTown’s debut album “Somos Pacifico” in 2006. However, now that the highlight is solely targeted on her, she’s ready to totally embrace her versatility, crafting songs and exploring ideas that spotlight a extra private journey.

“With ChocQuibTown, what we wanted to do was put Chocó on the map, to vindicate our culture, and in some way say that ‘hey, we’re here.’ We’re representing our hood.”

“With ChocQuibTown, what we wanted to do was put Chocó on the map, to vindicate our culture, and in some way say that ‘hey, we’re here.’ We’re representing our hood,” Goyo shares. “The difference now [as a soloist] is the experience, everything that I’ve lived, showing everything that I am as a versatile woman.”

It’s a journey that has many parallels with a sure hip-hop legend and one in every of Goyo’s idols: Ms. Lauryn Hill. Both have been the only feminine members of powerhouse rap teams. Both burst onto the scene to quick acclaim and never solely may harmonize and supply R&B components to praise their male group members’ raps, however they have been additionally powerhouse spitters in their very own proper. The similarities aren’t misplaced on Goyo as she admits to trying to Ms. Hill, not solely as a supply of inspiration however a instructor of kinds, serving to her construct confidence as a younger emcee.

“For me, she’s a teacher in the way that [listening to her music] was able to rid me of a lot of fear and allow me to be myself when it came time to write [my verses],” Goyo says.

Along with Hill, Goyo mentions Foxy Brown, and Rah Digga as main influences. On the Latin facet of issues, artists like Tego Calderon, Celia Cruz, and Grupo Niche have all had a super impression on her.

“I grew up surrounded by music, my mother and my aunts always singing in the house. So while I was growing up influences would always come to me from all different sides,” she recollects.

These totally different sides have been one thing she obtained to showcase within the HBO particular, “En Letra de Otro,” the place she put her spin on traditional songs like Don Omar’s “Otra Noche” and Tito Puente’s “Oye Como Va.” But do not get it twisted, these weren’t simply Goyo’s interpretations of classics. She really made them her personal, rearranging them with utterly authentic lyrics and beats.

Now, she’s prepared to observe up that challenge with a new album of all authentic tracks. And if the primary two singles are something to go by, Goyo is utilizing the deep waters of the urbano style as her playground.

“Tumbao” provides reggaetón de la vieja vibes with its easy dembow and conventional percussion components. Insomnia then again is a full 180. Produced by hip-hop producer IllMind, it begins with a heavy rock riff earlier than main into some snappy snare drums and driving a Jersey-style bassline over which Goyo flows between a melodic refrain and extra pointed raps with ease.

“Within the creative process, it’s important to have a concept, a beginning, and an end,” she says.”But in rap, sometimes you’ll have a punchline that doesn’t have anything to do with the concept but you can make it connect with the next verse. It’s a beautiful game and it’s the thing I most enjoy, that it’s not rigid. That I can start a song melodically and when I get bored, switch to rapping.”

But regardless of the expansion that she’s undergone and regardless of her profession getting into a new chapter, Goyo affirms that she’s nonetheless the Goyo her followers have been launched to again in 2006. And as an Afro-Colombiana in a style that, regardless of its Afro-Latine origins, has grow to be more and more whitened, she understands that the illustration that she’s championed ever since her ensemble days is simply as vital now because it was within the earlier days of her profession.

“I think that the process [by which Afro-Latines find success] is a process that takes time, that maybe in my generation, I won’t see as many changes as the next generation will, but [the work is being done],” she says.”And the important thing is that we are conscious of that work . . . that we understand where we come from and take beauty from that … so that we can keep advancing and make the load lighter for [future generations].”

When it comes to lightening the load, Goyo has performed a vital position since stepping onto the world stage. Not solely did she assist put the traditionally Black neighborhood of Chocó on the map, however her continued success helped to make room and supply a blueprint for the following technology of Afro-Latine artists, displaying them that industrial and significant success is feasible whereas nonetheless staying true to your sound and the place you come from.

Yet, for an artist who has already achieved a lot and stands as an inspiration to her individuals, Goyo desires her followers to know that she’s nonetheless obtained extra to obtain at this stage of her profession and is trying ahead to bringing them alongside for the trip.

“We’re putting a lot of love into the album, “La Pantera,” and I hope that the fans like it and connect with [it] . . . ,” she says. “Something I’ve always wanted to achieve is to have a solo album — to perform, to tour as a soloist and reconnect with the fans who have followed us and also to find along this new route more people to accompany me in the process. Now, I’m able to materialize that dream.”

Now that we have you hyped for Goyo’s upcoming challenge, maintain studying to get the deets on who she’d like to collaborate with, what she’d be doing if she wasn’t rapping, and what she does cuando la insomnia se la pega.

POPSUGAR: Where is your completely happy place?

Goyo: Wherever my household is.

POPSUGAR: What track would you play to get the celebration began?

Goyo: Blessings (Remix) by Victor Thompson.

POPSUGAR: What do you do when you possibly can’t sleep?

Goyo: Write. Read.

POPSUGAR: Who’s your most listened to artist proper now?

Goyo: Fridayy. I’m loopy about Fridayy

POPSUGAR: Which artists would you want to collaborate with sooner or later?

Goyo: Don Omar. Tego Calderon. And Eladio. He goes tremendous arduous.

POPSUGAR: If it wasn’t music, what ardour would you dedicate your self to?

Goyo: Writing.

POPSUGAR: What was the perfect factor about being in a music group?

Goyo: Being the one lady.

POPSUGAR: What was probably the most tough factor?

Goyo: Being the one lady.

POPSUGAR: Finally, how would you outline the phrase “Tumbao”?

Goyo: Tumbao is that particular one thing that I’ve and that you’ve however is totally different for everybody.