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He didn't know he was going to be released, though he sensed there was something odd in the air. It was November 17, 2020 and Kung Fu OmBijam (35) sent a message to his partner, Viki (Virginia Sequeira, rapper): "Something is going to happen, I have no idea what." The rapper was not in his best mood, he felt anguished. The authorities at the Punta de Rieles prison had removed him from some programs, such as work, and without explanation.
What finally happened was that a judicial notification arrived: Kung Fu Ombijan —the artistic name of Federico González— would be released.
“There were two levels of energy set sail and contrary. One very negative and one very positive. I didn't understand what was happening to me. What's more, a couple of days after I was released, at one point I thought I had to go back to jail, as if I was on a temporary release. It was weird. Until I got used to it, after a couple of months.”
When the notice of his early release arrived, Kung Fu sent text messages to his partner and his colleagues from the NGO Nothing Grows in the Shadow. He wanted to surprise her mother, so she didn't tell him. Then he began to walk until he reached Camino Maldonado, where Viki went to look for him. It is remembered that the first greeting and wish for good luck was that of a policeman. “There is love and affection. We are people."
They were nine years in prison. She had begun serving a 16-year sentence for robbery and robbery on August 18, 2011. It was the fourth time she had entered the prison system. He says that when he more fully understood the scope of his sentence, he began to review many things.
—How are you feeling now? You were quite a bit younger when you started your sentence. —When I entered 2011, the world was different. It wasn't that technological. Between that year and the current one, that took a lot of presence in all environments and more now in the pandemic. Luckily, I always managed with those tools and that helped me a lot to be attentive. In addition, the Punta de Rieles prison system allows you to use a telephone, at least so far. You can inform yourself, you are not as caveman, as they are in other establishments. Imagine being 10 years without communication to the outside.
Kung Fu was in various prisons, such as Comcar and Canelones. But getting to Punta de Rieles was like the beginning of many things. Among them, the now artist connected with worlds that had not previously been part of his existence, such as theater. Or the radio, which he and other prisoners did for several years from jail. Rap, meanwhile, was part of his life but had not taken the present preponderance. “I had spaces to be able to develop that and the cultural was key for me, to reduce violence. I was violent and ultra-possessive, in the sense that I wanted to own things," he recalls now. But what was a decisive milestone for him was starting to do yoga. “That's why I added Ombijam to Kung Fu, which was already my nickname. Because Ombijam is called the yoga space in prisons directed by Pamela Martínez”. Entering that world shocked him, he says. He says that when he arrived he found a space of great peace and tranquility. “It struck me and I began to learn the essence of breathing, of valuing elements that one did not think about, such as air, earth, water... I connected with the first thing that exists: the four elements. I felt a balance and began to see the world in a different way”. The notion of "balance" seems to permeate part of the Kung Fu personality. As if the yin and the yang disputed part of his character. Or as if he had adopted, as one of his mottos, Uruguayism “not very very, not so so”. When he talks about drugs, for example, he says that he doesn't “kill” himself like he used to. But it's not like he's become a teetotaler either. Two times three smoke marijuana or drink beer. He remembers how yoga made him discover aspects of his body and spirit that he had not paid attention to. But neither did he become an ascetic nor did he get into the frenzy of sports development of the body. He goes, yes, to a square near where he lives to exercise. Everything with apparent measure and sobriety; no extremism.
That balance also seems to radiate from her body language and the way she speaks. When she chats with Domingo in one of Styrka's places —a place where you learn pole dancing and which is run by her sister-in-law Serrana—, she transmits comfort from the chair, with the canine puppy in her arms. His voice, meanwhile, rarely makes big jumps in volume or incurs in extravagant modulations. Those vocal quirks, it seems, he saves for when he grabs a microphone and starts rapping.
Rap and hip hop culture have been familiar to him since he was a teenager. He would have been 13 or 14 years old, he says, when he found out that people like him used to hang out in the Plaza de los Bomberos, who liked rap and went to "battle" armed with his rhymes. There, he adds now, he saw Viki for the first time, although it would take approximately two decades for the two to connect as a couple.
When I listened to rap, I didn't understand what the biggest artists in the genre at the time were saying, like Eminem (see His Stuff), because I wasn't fluent in English. But there was something rhythmic, something in the way of saying certain words, that drew him. Also, the hip hop culture gave him a sense of cultural belonging. It wasn't just the rhymes: it was the baggy clothes, the accessories, the graffiti... At one point, he went from listening to, as he says, "throwing words." He tossed and tossed and those around him reacted approvingly.
Recently, it was confirmed that Kung Fu Ombijan will be part of the Masterchef culinary competition program, which will air on Channel 10. He himself tweeted the news from his personal account. “They called me and I said yes to one”, he comments between laughs. "Perhaps now, that I have a manager, it would take me longer to answer and surely I would have to discuss it with him before defining it, but at that moment it seemed to me that it was a good idea."—Why did you think it was a good idea?—It is a cheeky program and it's good that this audience can see me, that they can see someone like me there.—And do you know anything about cooking?—No (laughs). I'm better at cleaning the kitchen afterwards than cooking before. But it can be a lot of fun. He doesn't sound nervous or insecure. That's probably because Kung Fu has some mileage on it media wise. When he released his first album, Desahogo cultural, he began to have a media presence that, he believes, accelerated his freedom: “I think they let me go because it was too much in the press. It was like 'are you going to have someone who is practically rehabilitated in jail?'”
—Certain rap artists sometimes seem to bring a certain glamor to a life of crime. You lived outside the law and you were a criminal. How do you see all this? —In my case, it goes through common sense: I, for wanting to be a criminal, did not have a good time. Monetarily yes, but affectively and sentimentally no. I had a lot of loss. I don't want a life of luxury, although I can get it, great. But my interest is to be physically and mentally well, well with my affections. I do not say: "Hold on with the kilos of merchandise that I have to sell." Not crazy.—A current of opinion in society thinks that those who commit crimes should experience the worst possible while they are deprived of liberty. What would you tell them?
—More than those people, what I would like is to tell the Ministry of the Interior, the National Rehabilitation Institute and all the authorities to identify those people who want to do things well. Just as I wanted, there are many others who want and who are doing things well to live differently.
The conversation about the prison world continues. Has he ever had to come across someone that he has classified as unrecoverable? “No, because before judging someone, I look in the mirror. All people have things that they can develop, like I was able to develop radio or theater”.
What are your next steps? Continue making music and return to prisons but as part of the Nada Crece a La Sombra team, to give workshops and provide a point of view based on the direct experience of several years as a prisoner. “I go in strong to do things that can possibly help other people. We do everything: we plan and carry out socio-educational workshops (write, talk about different forms of violence, how to resolve conflicts) and I am convinced that I can contribute a point of view to encourage others”.
an album The Slim Shady LP Kung Fu recalls his adolescence, when he would go to the Plaza de los Bomberos to share with others like him the passion for rhyming with a rhythm as his livelihood. Among his peers, and before starting to live outside the law, he discovered Eminem. A friend gave him the first album and, as he now says, his head “exploded”.a placeA square A particular square or any square? Kung Fu thinks: “Any square”. By? “I love the squares. Because it is a place where art is linked and where there are many people. It's like people who go on a bus, but enjoying themselves (laughs)”. A clothing brand Pollos Medias “There is a Uruguayan DJ called RC. I know him and he makes some tights that I really like, the 'chicken tights', because of the colors he uses”, he says and it seems evident that Kung Fu pays attention to those details. “Sometimes, you grab a pair of colored stockings, wear purple, and you can combine that color with a hat. And that's it”.