From a home studio in the suburbs of Buenos Aires, a young Argentine producer nicknamed Bizarrap has spent the past couple of years transforming the landscape of Latin music. Biza not only innovates the sound itself with a playful combination of trap, EDM and cinematic moods, but also the way songs are presented, consumed and dissected among his millions of social media fans.
His BZRP Music Sessions on YouTube drop unexpectedly every couple of months (he began the series in 2019, and is currently on No. 55) are followed and anticipated on a global scale. Each session features a new guest on vocals — most of them rappers. Biza provides the backing track, and the guest does the rest. The videos follow the same setup: a Spartan home studio, with Biza in the producer’s chair, arms flailing, while the guests stand in front of the mic, looking directly into the cameras documenting the performance. The visual aspect is so closely associated with Bizarrap’s mystique, that the set has been duplicated in every minute detail whenever the sessions take place outside Argentina.
Gonzalo Julián Conde will be 25 in August, and Time magazine recently selected him as one of its Next Generation Leaders. He continues to stir things up on the recently dropped session No. 55: his first foray outside the urbano genre, a música mexicana track with emerging star Peso Pluma.
Here are five key sessions from the past four years that sum up the Bizarrap phenomenon.
Session No. 36: Nathy Peluso (2020)
The first session to generate more than 300 million YouTube views, Bizarrap’s collaboration with fellow Argentine Nathy Peluso found the producer face to face with an artist as formidable as she is multi-faceted. Based in Spain, Peluso began her career as a rapper and evolved into an eclectic singer/songwriter who can ignite the dance floor with her authentic salsa jams, then move you to the core with an organic ballad about missing Buenos Aires.
Peluso’s hip-hop roots are deep, and this session brims with her demented sense of humor, the use of syllables as a powerful rhythmic device, and her subtly menacing, rapper fatale persona. Biza spices up the track with hypnotic electro beats, then autotunes the chorus to brilliant effect.
Session No. 53: Shakira (2023)
In strict musical terms, Biza’s tandem with Colombian diva Shakira treads similar ground than some of his previous sessions. But this is much more than just a song. A vitriolic revenge fest against Shakira’s former husband — soccer star Gerard Piqué — the track reveals the singer as a vulnerable, yet empowered human being. It connected with the zeitgeist of 2023 and became a cultural phenomenon.
Followers of Shakira’s personal life have savored the many subtle and not-so-subtle digs and references, some of which are notoriously mordant (the way in which she sings "clara-mente" in reference to Clara, Piqué’s current girlfriend, is delightful).
Session No. 51: Villano Antillano (2022)
In interviews, Bizarrap has affirmed his intention to never censor guests in any way — they can do and say whatever they please. Inviting transfeminist Puerto Rican rapper Villano Antillano was a nod to inclusivity, and gave Villano a much deserved global platform for her dazzling skills.
Her rhymes are brilliant, quoting Rihanna, literary vampires, the cast of Friends and Chilean poet Gabriela Mistral. Biza is in high form, peppering the backing track with flashy touches of EDM and screeching the beat to a halt in the bridge. Don’t miss the colorful portable fan that appears in Villano’s right hand at the 2:11 mark — her playful smile and eye batting are priceless.
Session No. 54: Arcángel (2023)
Strangely enough, Biza’s collaboration with iconic rapper Arcángel boasts a relatively anemic (for Biza, anyway) 75 million views. A pity, because it’s one of the wittiest Latin tracks of the decade.
The pair had already collaborated with Argentine trapero Duki on "Bottas," a vertigo-inducing track off Arcángel’s 2022 album Sr. Santos. The rapper makes a hilarious reference to that previous outing, and imitates Biza’s South American accent. The rhymes are inventive throughout, with nods to pot, Argentine soccer players, Roman gladiators and something about straightening out the Tower of Pisa.
Biza’s ominous, sustained synth notes complement the MC’s high-pitched flow, and Arcángel hams it up for the camera.
Session No. 39: Snow Tha Product (2021)
If there’s one session that showcases Biza’s framework as a space where artists can let their virtuoso tendencies soar, this is it. Born in San Jose, California, Mexican American rapper Snow Tha Product was already known in the Latin hip-hop community for her formidable flow. Biza’s session allowed her to elevate her skills to an almost surreal level.
Everything here is calibrated to perfection, from Snow’s speed, Spanglish rimas and stage presence to the producer’s raw bass lines and EDM climax. Following the track’s viral success — 220 million views and counting — the rapper posted a pinned message on Biza’s YouTube page expressing her amazement and gratitude.
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