Hidden Gemz: Azomali

Whether Azomali is taking in Colombia’s beauty, while admiring ancestral sounds or stepping through New York City streets, he stays keeping it true to both sides. Although he raps in Spanish with flare and sprinkles in English, his tongue whips back and forth between the Colombian ancestors and NYC legends. He speaks of this in our interview “bridging urban and farmland, a double life.” This is what he does, taking Colombia influences to New York sound.

This brings our attention to Azomali’s most viewed music video on YouTube, “Guacamaya”. Filmed in Colombia, we see Azomali pushing a cart of Mangoes (his logo, a representation of self-love and growth, a reminder to slowly learn how to love yourself). Flexing his rap flow (legit doesn’t take a breathe or break at one point in his flow!) while paying homage to the beautiful, vibrant land of love and hustle.

His bridge of Colombia and New York thrives in his video “Guanaco (icytwant remix)”. A dark night somewhere in New York, spitting Spanish with flashes of English and the native language, Nahuatl (spoken by the Aztecs and their neighbors), in a grimacing aggressive manner.

Azomali has been writing contagious rhymes to awaken the mind’s 3rd eye since age 11. His first album goes by the name, “WHERE THE MANGOES GROW” released in 2018 on SoundCloud. This twelve track can be best described as lyrically rich with historical knowledge droppings and medicine for your eardrums. Azomali’s musical influences can be heard through his projects, they include Colombia’s very own Etelvina Maldonado and Patrona Martinez, mashed with New York sounds of Nas, Lauren Hill, and Mos Def.

His poet persona shines and glimmers in tracks like “Aloe Vera”, “Uranium”, and “Old English”. “Aloe Vera” may be one of my top five favorite tracks from Azomali. This track is lovely, slow, and warm, all while still throwing rapping flows at yo’ soul.

Azomali’s 2019 album “GUAYABA MIXTAPE” is a must listen. Apparently, it was uploaded at an Internet cafe somewhere in Medellin, the second-largest city in Colombia.

New projects are in the works for Azomali. One going by the name, you guessed it, “MANGO”, it will reflect his experience in Colombia. The album by the name of the all famous year of the New World, “1492”, will reflect on where we are now in this post-colonial time period while paying homage to the Natives of these lands.

Can you keep up? With these links you can:

Instagram: azomali1994

SoundCloud: azomali