Bocafloja

Bocafloja
Bocafloja performing in New York City, 2012
Background information
Birth name	Aldo Villegas
Born	(1978-07-12) July 12, 1978 (age 38)
Origin	Mexico City, Mexico
Genres	Hip hop, spoken word, world
Occupation(s)	Rapper, spoken word artist, poet, lecturer
Years active	1995 – present
Labels	Quilomboarte
Associated acts	Quilomboarte, Cambio, DJ Ethos, Para la Gente, HACHE st, Danny Hoch, SieteNueve, Actitud Maria Marta, Eternia, DJ Disco Wiz, Blitz the Ambassador, Gabriel Teodros, Favi Estrella
Website	Official website

Aldo Villegas (born 12 July 1978), better known by his stage name Bocafloja, is a rapper, poet, spoken word artist, and outspoken social communicator from Mexico City, Mexico. Bocafloja began his musical career in the mid-1990s with the groups Lifestyle (1996–1998) and Microphonk (1999). As a solo artist since 2000, he released his demo EP album Lengua Insurrecta in 2002. Bocafloja burst on the Mexican hip hop scene with the release of the his debut album, Pienso Luego Existo, in 2003. Followed by the successes of Jazzyturno in 2004, A Titulo Personal in 2005, El Manual de la Otredad in 2007, and Existo: Matriz Preludio al Pienso in 2009, Bocafloja has transgressed into one of the most revered icons in the hip hop scene in Mexico. Lyrically Bocafloja critically addresses topics such as institutionalized racism, social and political oppression, mental slavery, colonialism, and other human conditions. Bocafloja's most recent album Patologías del Invisible Incómodo, released in 2012, is a concept album which narrates the experience of the body of the oppressed as a vehicle of transgression to hegemonic structures. Bocafloja is projected to release by 2014, a music video for each of the albums 16 tracks.

Bocafloja is recognized in Mexico as the pioneer of the utilization of hip hop culture as an alternative tool to create awareness, developing a different form for political participation that reaches and is more relevant to marginalized youth. Bocafloja lives in New York City.

Bocafloja, like many other young people in Mexico, was first exposed to hip hop thanks to immigration patterns between the United States and Mexico. Bocafloja was drawn to rap music from a young age even without fully understanding hip hop culture. His initial musical influences were completely varied, referencing hip hop artists from the United States, given at the time Spanish language rappers were limited if not non-existent. In 1993 groups of young people who were fans of hip hop in Mexico City began to come together at small house parties. The number of youth that were associated with the hip hop scene during the early 1990s was relatively small, most of them knowing each other personally.

In 1995 Bocafloja began to write his own rhymes but did not start recording until 1996. His first tracks were recorded in rudimentary home studios. Bocafloja's early rhymes reflected his adolescence and state of maturity, mimicking the excesses of commercialism: money, women, etc. It was not until years later as Bocafloja passed through a process of political awareness, in 1999, when the content of his lyrics dramatically changed as a natural product of personal transformation.