Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/992522
4 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 10 JUNE 2018 THIS WEEK MUSIC How long have you been in- terested in hip-hop? What led you to decide to try it out on your own, and how did you find the Maltese hip-hop scene to be like when you started out? The Hip-hop scene captured my attention in the late 00's when Missy Eliot was on the rise with her second and then third album, roughly a decade now. From a young age I was always exposed to folk sing- ing (għana) and felt that rap is the contemporary art form to għana with the advantage of possibly putting in more words for the duration of a song. Non-stop upcoming environmental issues led me to try it out during the time when an application for de- velopment in Munxar, Mar- sascala was submitted. This episode was the driv- ing force and inspiration for my writing. Also, one of the main influences was Drinu from the group Marmalja and he produced the beats and led me to the recording along with the help of 141 Records. The Maltese scene was male dominated with a lot of ma- chismo attitude, however, the crowd was thirsty for new ma- terial, so it lent me its ears. What would you say are some of the most notable acts and developments in the Maltese-language hip- hop scene, and how do you see yourself forming part of that? Clearly, some notable acts that embrace the Maltese lan- guage are the pioneer Hooli- gan, Sempliċiment tat-Triq, Marmalja, Digby, Soul Move- ment, Shily and Kapitlu 13, but I don't see myself form- ing part of this scene. Hip- hop calls for competition by its very nature, but I don't think that's healthy for Malta. It leads to a toxic environ- ment, and in my experience it's simply a waste of time. This is why I prefer to work in the alternative and indie rock scene. I started back in February 2016 with a gig at the (now defunct) Django Jazz Bar in Valletta, together with Cryptic Street, later col- laborating with the electronic artist Yews. I'm working with the punk rock three-piece Bila on their upcoming album. Your latest song, and its accompanying video, are a clear dig at overdevelop- ment in Malta. Could you guide us through the pro- cess of writing the song, as well as the production jour- ney of the video itself? After reading a bunch of ar- ticles and engaging in some conversations regarding the current situation in Malta I 'Enough is enough' Having launched a direct missive against overdevelopment in Malta through her debut single, 'Nieklu n-Natura', hip-hop singer, jeweller and radio host Rachelle Deguara – aka REA – speaks to TEODOR RELJIC about why our current relationship with the environment is becoming unsustainable, and the potential of activism-through-art "Hip-hop calls for competition by its very nature, but I don't think that's healthy for Malta" Rachelle Deguara. Photo by Andrew Borg Carabott