Nilo MC

Along with los Orishas, Nilo MC is among the leaders in Cuban hip-hop, an unsanctioned music so deeply underground that just expatriates have a lot of a potential for being heard. Given birth to Nilo Castillo in the tough Marianao area of Havana, he was raised in an creative family (his mom danced in the Tropicana cabaret) and in the beginning produced his living like a painter. He paid attention to Cuban music developing up, but was galvanized by an encounter with General public Enemy’s Concern with a Black World album, and started composing his very own raps in 1989. In 1992, equipped with a notice of suggestion from a skill gallery, Castillo journeyed to Ecuador, where he documented an album known as Hora Cero in 1995. Under no circumstances officially released, it continues to be available only being a bootleg cassette circulating in Havana’s musical underground. Castillo afterwards visited Germany, where he installed with manufacturer Bernd Kunz (of trip-hop work A Forest Mighty Dark). Both visited Madrid in early 1998 and documented the demo record Coconuts (which, once again, had not been officially released). Splitting time taken between Madrid and Berlin, Castillo proved helpful part-time being a DJ in the last mentioned city, and produced some cable connections in the former’s hip-hop picture, including manufacturer Juanjo Valmarisco. With Valmarisco on the helm, Castillo finally released his initial official record as Nilo MC, Guajiro del Asfalto, on Virgin subsidiary Chewaka in early 2002; it had been nominated for Greatest Rap/Hip-Hop Record at the 3rd Latin Grammy Honours.