ArtistInfo

Phalo Pantoja

sax, *1977 FR, Saint Denis
Musician of Hip-Hop/Rap

Phalo Pantoja was born on 1977. He spent his youth in the old streets of Saint-Denis, near Paris. In 1991, he began to sharpen his writing after he listened to a friend rapping on a “Saxo” joint. His obsession for rap started at this moment, while he was watching the French classic Rap TV shows such as Sidney’s “Hiphop” or Rapline on M6 Channel. This Spanish Peruvian rapping French froggy has been influenced by most American artists : Pete Rock, A Tribe Called Quest, Primo, Spinna, Jaydee (RIP)… His addiction to crunchy sounds pushed him to use more and more vinyl samples and to use old vintage musical keyboards such as Prophet, Minimoog, Jupiter and Matrix synths, a long time before the hype for vintage gears crossed the street, leaving the sidewalks garbage to high end music shops racks… He also wanted to make a tribute to his influences because he thinks that a good artist must be proud and unbeatable about his roots. « Knowledge and culture are the biggest weapons of creation, that’s why Jazz, Soul and Funk will never be old school”.

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