He began to rapping in the squares of Asturias almost when «freestyle» was not even called «freestyle» and, since then, Gazir has not stopped taking to the stages of all Spain, and the world, ready to beat his opponents in a duel using the best weapon of all: the word. In Zaragoza he began organizing those commonly known as «cockfights» (a face to face between two rappers who improvise), and in Zaragoza he will face each other this Saturday in one of the most important competitions in the world: the Red Bull Batalla. 13 years later, rap returns to take over the Palacio de Congresos in a competition that will produce the six rappers who will compete in the National and that brings together some of the most important MC’s on the scene.
QUESTION.- Again, you are competing again in a Red Bull Batalla regional in Zaragoza and with only six places for the National Championship. How do you face it after having been at the top so many times?
ANSWER.- I face it knowing that I have traveled this path more than once. Although it looks long and complicated, because it is, I am confident that I can go through it and know what my goal is, but also going step by step. I don’t want to go to the Red Bull Batalla regional thinking about the National Final, nor to the National thinking about the International. I want to take each event with the importance it has, and right now I have my mind on the regional.
It’s still Red Bull Batalla, where there’s a lot of level, and I’m really looking forward to rapping in the regional. Winning the International is the great pending goal in my career, but that will come in the future if I do things well. Right now what I want to do is rap, compete with everyone and win the regional. So I face it calmly, not wanting to rush even though I know why I’m here.
Q.-It’s your third regional and, so far, no one has beaten you in one. Is there pressure?
A.- No. I think I put pressure on myself for every competition since I went to the parks and I wasn’t a favorite at all and I was just starting out. So, now that pressure is no longer just that I put it on myself because I want to demand good results and a good effort to get there, but people can also expect it from me and I imagine that it will be because they have seen me at a good level or have seen good results from me. So, no, I like it, I’m used to living with pressure and it’s not something new that bothers me.
Q.– Zaragoza has not hosted a Red Bull Batalla regional event for years. What do you expect from the public and the atmosphere this Saturday?
A.– Zaragoza is the cradle of rap. In «freestyle» he has not had big events, but several times I have been able to compete there in professional events, when I have been invited by organizations there or once I have organized there in the park. The movement is quite active and has very good organizations, that’s the basis of everything. So, like many of the places in the north, which sometimes have less frequency of events than other more crowded and more centralized places, I hope that people are very eager and receive it very well. Knowing that there is a good audience, that there are people who like «freestyle», and that they will also be looking forward to it after so long, I expect good energy.
Q.- Your jump was very fast: from winning a regional in 2019 being almost a surprise to becoming one of the most important names in Spanish freestyle. How do you remember that change in life?
A.– Well, in fact, the jump was as quick as it was complicated to manage. Now in the long run I am grateful that it has been like this because it made me learn faster, make mistakes faster, be able to draw conclusions and improve from it, have very early victories, important defeats… And that has accelerated my career a lot in those years of becoming consecrated. But, it is true that at the time it was difficult to live, especially because it happened very quickly in a time when your life changes in itself. When you are 17 years old you are finishing high school, you go to university, in my case I went to live away from my parents’ house… It is already a time of many changes and even more so it was added that «freestyle» was changing my life.
«My jump was as fast as it was difficult to manage»
Q.- If there is one thing that characterises freestyle, it is that it is very fast, but the preparation behind it is not so fast. How do you train?
A.- It is very important to ignore that you are in front of thousands of people or, if you can, take it as motivation, receiving a little of the energy that is there, trying to go into a trance and not think: «oh if I am wrong right now there are thousands of people looking at me, they expect me I don’t know what, the others I don’t know what»… The important thing is to focus on you, on your opponent, on what they are saying. To respond in seconds in such a quick way, in the end what helps the most is rapping, rapping and rapping and competing. That gives you agility, you don’t waste time in your mental process thinking about what words rhyme or why they have said whatever it is to you. You are very familiar with attacking another person, with knowing how to play with words.
Q.- What remains of the Gazir that began in the bullrings of Asturias?
A.- The illusion. Obviously it is transforming. First I dreamed of signing up for a competition when there was nothing in my town, then qualifying for Red Bull Batalla and now that dream is to win the International. Since I discovered «freestyle», my curiosity has always been ahead, it is a super wide world, there is no imitation and from there you can get to whatever you want.
Q.– Are you worried that «freestyle» is increasingly measured by viral clips than by complete battles?
A.– It’s not just a problem of «freestyle», it’s that the world right now is measured like this. You can even tell in the songs that are made to have a viral ten-second chorus and that’s it. In this world there are people who have very good, constant battles, but if you don’t have that short «highlight» it doesn’t go viral. It doesn’t worry me because I think it’s something superior to «freestyle», it’s a social trend right now and there’s nothing you can do to prevent it. And it’s also fine, I think that if someone knows how to get those sparkles they can work on their perseverance.
Q.- How has the world of cockfighting changed since you started?
A.- Oops! A lot. What happens is that sometimes it is difficult to discern which changes have been in me and in my process and which ones in this world. AndI arrived in 2019, a year in which it became massive. Then the pandemic came and I started to be a professional in that year, a very different year. I think there was another stage that was professionalization in which the scene settled quite a bit after the «boom», I see it all quite cyclical. You realize how what was fashionable in 2021 perhaps five years later has returned. But it’s always changing, new people are always showing up and that’s the beauty of this scene.
