Old Guns / Medellín, Colombia

“What’s up with tomorrow? Will you lead? Will you follow? Improve your values, education is real power.” — Nas, My Generation

Hip hop has always been about the message. It gives a voice to the unheard, so it’s no surprise that some of the most fertile rap movements rise from the streets in places like Syria, Sudan, and Medellín, Colombia. 

Hip hop collective Oldguns rose from the famed narrow alleys of Medellín’s Comuna 13 in 2016. The neighbourhood has a well-documented past as one of the most violent parts of the city, but Oldguns is one of many local groups looking to lead their community in a new direction. More than just a musical group, they are an art-pacification organisation using the power of art to pull young kids away from dangerous options and inspire them to participate in a burgeoning creative economy.

Oldguns offers music production workshops, an obvious draw for local kids in an area that lives and breathes hip hop. They also provide training in photography and video production; further, most rappers in the collective are also barbers, mechanics and carpenters who share their experience and training through real-world vocational workshops. This is all provided in a caring environment that includes professional help in dealing with emotional stress, as many of these kids deal with the ongoing trauma of violence in their homes.

In a creative twist of neighbourhood beautification, the workshops are funded by donations of cardboard and plastic - the trash that used to litter the streets of Comuna 13. These collected items are then recycled by Oldguns and converted to resources that are then poured right back into the community.

This remarkable creative energy has also been a heroic force during the Covid-19 pandemic. Food insecurity grew even worse during the lockdown, since many local residents work as street vendors, maids and construction workers in the city’s informal economy. In response, Oldguns partnered with local and international organisations to create a community kitchen that helped feed over 750 people during the height of the pandemic.

These efforts deliver immense hope to the residents of Comuna 13. Hope that groups like Oldguns will lead the new generation down a fresh positive path, and hope that they will inspire others to do the same. It also serves to forge a new identity for rappers, who are often viewed as little more than street thugs perpetuating the scourge of drugs and gang violence. Would a street thug write something like this?

“My life is a song written line by line. I leave my skin on paper, the voice of a sensitive heart.”
– Oldguns, Somos Libres (“We Are Free”)

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