Eliecer Márquez Duany, artistically known as El Funky, is a Cuban rapper born on November 14, 1981, in Havana, Cuba.
The influence on his music comes from English hip-hop (Tupac, Dr. Dre, Redman, among others). El 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, inspired by 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 with his songs, the well-known practice of beef typical of urban genres also includes love compositions in his repertoire.
Known in the Cuban alternative music scene for his presence on hip hop stages, he released his album El Funky presenta: The Zombie Flow in 2014, where 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 audience received some of the tracks from that album presented by Funky with great success.
The impact of Funky is starting to increase both inside and outside the island due to his collaborations with the rapper Maykel Osorbo, with whom he has recorded tracks such as 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 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, he was asked to voluntarily resign from this agency, an option the young man declined.
In February 2021, El Funky made headlines again when, alongside Maykel Osorbo, Yotuel, Gente de Zona, and Decemer Bueno, he recorded the song "Patria y Vida," which garnered over half a million views in less than 72 hours. The impact and reception of the song by Cubans both inside and outside the island have provoked a strong reaction from the Cuban government, which has attacked the artists. The song promises to be an anthem of freedom in these times.
