LIT killah

At the core of Argentina’s wave of talent in the 2020s, rapper LIT Killah refined his skills in his country’s influential freestyle competitions before breaking out with 2018 single “Apaga el Celular.” Through the early 2020s, he racked up major hits with rap-heavy singles, soon finding his first number one hit with the 500-million-stream ballad “Entre Nosotros.”
While many of the Argentinian rappers that rose to prominence towards the late 2010s honed their abilities in the country’s renowned rap competitions, few matched the rapid rise of Mauro Román Monzón, a.k.a. LIT Killah. Having gained substantial attention at local shows, Román Monzón made his main-stage debut across several days of the scene-defining El Quinto Escalón (2016) before winning his first competition by defeating Duki and Beelze at El Campito Free VIII later that year. After winning two consecutive days at 2017′s El Quinto Escalón, he began to release music independently, debuting later that year with the breakneck-paced trap of “De$troy.” His next single, 2018′s “Apaga el Celular,” proved a breakout moment for the Argentinian star: fusing his potent rap skills with a heavy autotune, the infectious track racked up 40 million streams in just three months of release, surpassing 100 million by year’s end. Emboldened by this breakout success, he followed it up with the gold-certified singles “Búfon” and “Tan Bien” before making an early appearance on Argentine producer Bizarrap’s freestyle show.
After a quieter 2019 — which nonetheless produced gold reggaeton hit “Eclipse” — Román Monzón found colossal success throughout 2020, issuing the number 11-charting and platinum-certified Bizarrap collaboration “Flexin’” as well as the number 20-charting “Cerca de Tí (Remix)” with an Argentinian all-star roster of Tiago PZK, Rusherking, Seven Kayne, Bhavi, and Tobi. Following an appearance on FMK’s platinum single “Yo Se Que Tu,” Killah found his first chart-topping hit with the Tiago PZK collaboration “Entre Nosotros.” A shining example of the musicians’ versatility, “Entre Nosotros” swapped rap for breakup-driven, back-to-back balladry, securing over 500 million streams in just a year of release. With a plethora of hits under his belt, LIT Killah continued his genre explorations on his debut album, MAWZ. With features from close collaborators including Duki, FMK, and Tiago PZK, the project saw the musician venture into a variety of pop subgenres alongside the rap and Latin styles that had defined his career thus far. In 2022, Killah and Tiago issued a remix to “Entre Nosotros” with Nicki Nicole and Maria Becerra — it also debuted at number one on the Argentinian charts. ~ David Crone