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 years old, he wrote his first song, which was a salsa 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 Funky continuing with his songs, the well-known practice of beef typical of urban genres also includes love compositions in his repertoire.
Known within the Cuban alternative music scene for his presence on hip hop stages, he released his album El Funky presenta: 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 promote and highlight the emergence of new talents and help them establish themselves in the alternative music market. The public welcomed some of the songs from that album presented by Funky with great success.
The impact of Funky is becoming greater both within and outside the island due to his collaborations with rapper Maykel Osorbo, with whom he has recorded songs like Diazcarao, Yamila, and El 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 resistance for young Cuban artists in their fight against the government to seek change on the island.
El Funky was a part of the Cuban Rap Agency, and due to the songs he has recorded with Osorbo, this agency requested that he voluntarily resign, an option the young man declined.
In February 2021, El Funky made headlines again when he, along with Maykel Osorbo, Yotuel, Gente de Zona, and Decemer Bueno, recorded the song "Patria y Vida," which garnered over half a million views within less than 72 hours. The impact and reception of the song among Cubans both on and off the island have provoked an excessive reaction from the Cuban government, which has targeted the artists. The song promises to be an anthem of freedom in these times.
