Canserbero

Canserbero was an underground Venezuelan rapper, singer/songwriter, and activist from Caracas. He became famous in his own country, and later throughout South America, the Caribbean, and Mexico for his underground hit “Es Epico.” Tyrone José González Oramas was born in Caracas, Venezuela, in 1988. His family moved to Maracay when he was young, and his life was informed by trauma and tragedy: his mother died when he was eight, and at 12, Canserbero’s elder brother was murdered. Canserbero began freestyling and working on reggaeton rhythms at the age of 11. In 2002, he met Black Kamikase (Manuel Galvis) and producer Afromak (Leonardo Diaz). They formed the group Códigos de Barrio, modeled after their great influences Comando 57 and Supremacy Hip Hop Clan. They played regional hip-hop concerts and eventually recorded three songs. In 2004, Canserbero met Lil Supa. The pair delivered several songs that were featured on a mixtape entitled Bas.y.Co, Base y Contenido in 2006, spotlighting emerging Venezuelan hip-hop acts. Its tracks were circulated exclusively online. The pair followed it with their own full-length, Indigos, Can + Zoo, in 2008. Canserbero’s interests weren’t limited to music. He worked as a claims analyst in Maracay and at the University Institute of Technology Experimental Victoria. He also studied law and political science at the University Bicentennial Aragua, but ultimately left school to focus on music and social activism. He released Guía Para la Acción as a free digital download in 2008. A year later, he followed it with the independently released gritty, imaginative album Vida. The record blew up the Internet in Venezuela as well as underground radio. It spread his reputation as far as Spain and won him the Dixtorxión Award for Best Rap Album in Venezuela. During an interview in 2011, he eschewed the influence of modern rap, reggaeton, and ’90s hip-hop; he was deeply influenced by classic and hard rock, citing influences such as Jimi Hendrix, Black Sabbath, the Ramones, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, the Rolling Stones, the Beatles, and Queen. The production on his 2012 album, Muerte, underscored those influences. Considered revolutionary in its creativity, it was distributed free on his web page, where it was downloaded some 300,000 times. Baysco’s Randy Acosta moved to Barcelona, which opened a way for Canserbero to play shows and eventually to work with Rapsusklei, Aniki, and Mala Rodriguez on her 2013 album, Bruja and, back in Venezuela, he collaborated on the album Apa y Can with Apache. The latter was produced by Baysco’s Kpu (Leandro Anez). Canserbero toured Venezuela and neighboring countries alongside the band Zion TPL in 2009 and as a solo act by 2014. He was advancing plans for an album, as well as playing large-scale festivals in places like Costa Rica, that would showcase a wide variety of artists. Neither happened. On January 20, 2015, Canserbero attended the birthday party of bassist Carlos Molnar’s daughter. Molnar invited Canserbero to stay with him and his family for the party. While there, the rapper allegedly had a psychological break (his family claims he never suffered from mental problems), picked up a knife, stabbed Molnar to death, then jumped from the building to his own death. This account is widely disputed. Molnar’s wife claimed to have witnessed the entire incident, but said she couldn’t intervene to save her husband. She then fled the country, allegedly with $5,000 of Canserbero’s money. The truth may never be known: she committed suicide a few months later. ~ Thom Jurek