We Were There - IV: The soundtrack to our story

Kapi, a versatile hip-hop artist who was instrumental in the creation of Montana Colors, has put together a mix of tracks that transport us back to the years leading up to the birth of the brand. He explains the context of the recording that captures the cultural essence of the time.

1992-1994 - THE SOUNDTRACK 

Between 1992 and 1994, graffiti exploded in Barcelona and I felt I was part of that moment. As well as painting like crazy, I started to publish a fanzine - Barcelona Game Over Magazine - to promote our local scene to the world. This was the beginning of our hip-hop store project, which would become the Game Over Shop/Bunker Store: ground zero for the creation of Montana Colors.

BIGGER THAN HIP-HOP 

Even back in the day, Spanish graffiti was looking beyond from hip-hop music. We began to understand that the origins of graffiti were somewhat independent from the rest of the disciplines of the subculture, so it was increasingly easier to welcome and respect those writers who didn’t have links to rap. Nevertheless, the soundtrack of the graffiti jams was invariably rap, mainly from the US, despite the importance that the tracks from France and the UK had in Barcelona.

MEMORY LANE MIXTAPE 

My name is Kapi, I’ve been a consumer and practitioner of the elements of hip-hop since I was introduced to them in 1984. Breaking, graffiti, beatmaking and eventually DJing. But, in the end, it was my interest in documenting graffiti that would dictate my future in the creation and development of Montana Colors. 

This mixtape is a selection of songs that were produced and played over those two years, a personal soundtrack to my early 20s that perfectly suit the stories that we are beginning to tell about the origins of the Montana Colors: We Were There.