Underground

"Underground" is an exploration of Medellín's hip hop community, throughout the city's 16 neighbourhoods or "Comunas". Although rap music and the wider hip hop culture has existed in Medellin since the beginning of the 1980's, it still, somewhat strangely, remains an underground genre. Colombia's music industry is yet to embrace rap as appropriate for radio, and monthly streaming services such as Spotify and Apple Music are considered a luxury, making it hard for artists to gain the exposure that they do in Europe and North America. Furthermore, "going mainstream" is an uncomfortable notion for most local rappers who consider that rap should embody and represent the reality and struggles of everyday life. Despite this, the hip hop movement in Medellín is a large one, spanning multiple generations. From January to April 2017 I spent time with many local rappers, all the while photographing what role hip hop plays in their life.