I was sitting at home one night, sifting through Soundcloud, when I came upon Audri Nix and her remix of 18+’s “Crows”. I had always enjoyed the song for its beat, but with Audri rapping in Spanish over it on her remix, I was completely in love. From there, I spent the next hour digging through her website, social medias, and Soundcloud trying to know everything about her. Who was this gorgeous Latin girl making, quite honestly, some hard ass Spanish rap music? I needed to find out.
It wasn’t until my good friend DJ Fourth Drop approved of her music that I decided I should inquire about getting a chance to talk to her. So, I wrote up a little email, translated it into Spanish (s/o Google), and sent it away, not sure what would happen. The next day, I woke up to a very kind and cheerful email from Audri saying she was extremely down to do an interview. All I needed to do now was decipher what she was rapping about so I could ask questions accordingly. Now is when I would like to thank my Nike co-worker Sergio for helping me translate Audri’s lyrics.
Audri Nix is a 20 year old rapper from Puerto Rico. Her debut EP, “El Nuevo Orden Vol. 1”, is in the works and should be released soon. Her unique sound and impressive style is bringing light to the growing Puerto Rican hip-hop scene, while she creates a lane for young, upcoming female artists to have a voice through their art. As a music journalist and avid music listener, I can truthfully say that I believe Audri is a special talent with an amazing future in front of her. You should probably jump on board before you hear her latest single blasting out of cars whizzing past you.
When did you first get into music? Was it something you practiced as a kid or did you start later in your life? How long have you been making music?
I started in music when I was a kid. I honestly feel that I was born to do music. I spent most of my time singing or dancing, always on the school talent shows, and competing in singing competitions since I was 10 years old. I remember my grandparents bought me a microphone with a speaker when I was like 8 years old and I was always putting shows together for my family. At some point in my life, I stopped until I was older maybe 15 or 16 but music followed me everywhere. It was like something that was going to hunt me if I didn’t do it, so I started producing my own beats and experimenting with hip-hop. I’ve been making music for 4 years now.
Have you always made rap/hip-hop or did you start with another genre? Take me through your musical evolution.
My music taste has always been so diverse. I started playing piano, guitar, listening to rock and electronic music at the same time I was very into pop music like Madonna, Lady Gaga and other popular artists. Since I was very young, I’ve surrounded myself with all kinds of music. I could listen to M.I.A and then Steel Pulse, like it was totally normal for me to be listening to all kinds on genre (yes I love reggae). My musical evolution never really happened. I started doing hip-hop and rapping, never thought about doing something else.
As a Puerto Rican rapper/musician, how do you see the state of rap music in your country and around the world?
Puerto Rico is the new Latin hip-hop/rap home. We are creating the new NEW you know… we take the American sound and make it our own. We do hip-hop in Spanish for the world. In a few years, the rest of the hip-hop scene and I we’ll be taking over. That’s what we are working for. All of Latin America has their eyes on us right now.
As someone who knows very little about the Puerto Rican music scene, fill me in on some of the best musicians from your country right now.
Hip-hop has always existed in Puerto Rico from No Mel Syndicate (who started this) to Fuete Billete with the beginning of a new movement in the Puerto Rican rap. More trap and a different flow of hip-hop has been changing and getting better with the years. Now we have artist like Joyce Santana (with who I’ll be releasing a song with very soon), Alvaro Diaz, Skeptic, Steez Poetic, Robertito Chong, and so many others. We are starting the new music era of the island. We have producers like Overlord, Young Martino and so many others that I can compare to any producer around the world. We have WORLD CLASS sound.
Describe the first time you heard rap/hip-hop. What song was it? Who was the artist?
That’s a hard question. Hip-hop has always been around my life, always present and waiting for me to ride along with it. The first time that I heard hip-hop, I can’t remember but I do remember I felt that we had a connection listening to local radio shows that played local hip-hop. I remember listening to it and feeling my tongue moving as if it wanted to jump out of my mouth and rap. I was 15. Since then I couldn’t stop searching for my place in hip hop, listening to Biggie, Nicki, Lauryn Hill, and many other rap legends that made me feel that I could be the next one.
What types of influences do you take from American rap and hip-hop?
Everything. Everybody I listen to. I love The Refugees, Biggie Smalls, Kanye, Asap Rocky, Kendrick Lamar, Danny Seth, Azealea Banks and many more.
You seem to work very closely with your producer, Overlord. How did your relationship come to be?
My relationship with Overlord started with me as a fan, listening to his beats on Soundcloud. I was in high school when I fall in love with hip-hop and his sound. I found him on Facebook (we had friends in common). I talked to him and let him know that I was a big fan and that I was starting to rap but he really didn’t paid much attention until like a year later when he played for me on my birthday and we had a deeper connection. After that we started working on summer of 2014 until now. Overlord is a genius and one of the best producers in the island right now. He is the shit.
Your song “Veneno” seems to be about despair and love lost while your other songs seem to have a more positive, romantic feel to them. Was there a specific occurrence that compelled you to write that song?
Yes, I wrote “Veneno” when I was heartbroken. I was betrayed by somebody who I gave my all and end up being played. I felt that I was full of venom which for me is like anger. I needed to get it out of my system and let the world know that somebody fucked me over but I was going to use that as fuel to fire up my talent and ability to rap. Everybody has been betrayed at least once in their life, so “Veneno” it’s for anybody who is angry but still knows what they capable of.
Who are some of your favorite female emcee’s right now and of all time?
Mala Rodriguez, Ana Tijoux, Lauryn Hill, Lil Kim, Little Simz, Angel Haze, Nicki Minaj Elliphant, Azalea Banks, LeiKeli47 and myself (haha).
What are your top 3 dream collaborations?
Right Now, Elliphant, Kali Uchis and Mala Rodriguez.
Do you ever find it hard to get people to take you seriously as an attractive, female rapper? If so, how do you deal with these types of situations?
It happens to me all the time, people think that because I am “pretty”, I ain’t capable of playing in the the rap game. I often see and hear people saying that the only reason why I am going to be popular is because I am a girl and I am pretty, but you know what? I really don’t care what people say. I will always stand for what I believe, and I believe that I have real talent not just a cute face, but since I ain’t ugly , I’m going to use it in my favor. That’s money right there.
What is your lifelong dream, aside from succeeding in music?
I want to do so many things. I see my life as a work of art. Soon I will be releasing my own clothing line, I will produce music and will make art. I want to be a business woman (I am currently studying business) and have real profit from my creations, expand my talent to everything I can.
You can find out anything and everything you want to know about Audri Nix on her Soundcloud page and website.
