Eliecer Márquez Duany, artistically known as El Funky, is a Cuban rapper born on November 14, 1981, in Havana, Cuba.
The influence for his music comes from English hip hop (Tupac, Dr. Dre, Redman, among others). Funky began to identify with these alternative genres thanks to the rap gatherings that took place at the Casa de Cultura in Old Havana, very close to his home, where he had his first encounters with Cuban rap.
At 16, he wrote his first song, which was a salsa piece influenced by the Cuban music that was most popular on the island, thanks to groups like La Charanga Habanera and los Van Van. A few years later, he was already rapping his own lyrics.
Despite the fact that Funky continues to release his songs, the well-known practice of beef typical of urban genres also includes in his repertoire love compositions.
Known within the Cuban alternative music scene for his presence on hip hop stages, he released his album El Funky presents: The Zombie Flow in 2014, in which he blends rap with Cuban rhythms.
That same year, he participated in the corresponding edition of the "Puños Arriba" awards, which aim to showcase and promote the emergence of new talent and help them establish themselves in the market for alternative records. The public received some of the tracks from that album that Funky presented with great success.
The impact of Funky is beginning to grow both within and outside the island due to his collaborations with the rapper Maykel Osorbo, with whom he has recorded tracks such as Diazcarao, Yamila, and The aletazo de Alpidio.
Maykel Osorbo is one of the faces of the San Isidro Movement alongside fellow artist Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara. Both have become symbols of the resistance of young Cuban artists in their struggle against the government to seek change on the island.
El Funky was a member of the Cuban Rap Agency, and due to the songs he has recorded with Osorbo, this agency asked him to voluntarily resign, an option that the young man declined.
In February 2021, El Funky made headlines again when he recorded the song "Patria y Vida" alongside Maykel Osorbo, Yotuel, Gente de Zona, and Decemer Bueno, which garnered over half a million views in less than 72 hours. The impact and reception among Cubans both on and off the Island have triggered an excessive reaction from the Cuban government, which has attacked the artists. The song promises to become an anthem for freedom in these times.
