September 16, 2005

SANO INC.
Interview by C.Delgado

Carnegie, Rockefeller, Morgan . . . tycoons, who would come to be known as robber barons, kicked open the door and set the stage for big business in the twentieth century. Never far from the lips, or minds, of rhyme spitters with monumental aspirations (what up Jigga), the position of hip-hop top cat is always in the sights of the ballsy few. With reggaeton slowly moving to the back burner and Latino hip-hop getting bumb rushed from back alley to pent house, the power struggle commences to see who will end up with the biggest piece of the pie. Meet Victor Rosa a.k.a. Sano In, a Dominican emcee, executive producer, label owner, promoter and all around hip hop street soldier who has not only been in the trenches, he’s also been making the cannons and organizing the troops. The self proclaimed “Rap Impresario” who has rocked crowds from Brooklyn to Brazil launched the Latin Connection, a reggaeton & hip-hop monthly series at S.O.B’s, a popular night club in NYC, in 2002 and has never looked back since.

LHHR – How would you describe Sano In to people who are just now getting interested into Latino hip hop who might not know who you are?

SANO-IN - I would describe myself as a hip hop junkie, you know? I say that because I started collecting hip hop from other nationalities, like if I would hear about a Honduran rapper, I needed to find him. If I heard about it, I needed to find them to make collaboration or to connect with the person. It started getting out of hand ‘cause it was too many countries. I think it’s over 21 Latino countries. So I describe myself as that, a Latino hip hop junkie, ‘cause I’m just with that.

LHHR – Corporations definitely have an eye on what you’re doing and what people in our positions are doing to push Latino hip hop forward, do you think that within the next year this is going to blow up?

SANO-IN – It could, but if we don’t get a grip on it, which I’m very on top of, and allow them to divide and conquer us then it could vanish, it could go away. [Then] it could be portrayed in the media as a trend, as something that was just temporary. They’ll give us our fifteen minutes then, “Have a nice day”; you know what I’m saying? If we don’t get a grip on it, then yeah corporations can turn the switch on us. Like they did with Enrique Iglesias, Shakira, and Ricky Martin at a point in the beginning of the year two thousand I believe. At the end of the nineties with pop music, Latin music, everybody wanted to make is seem like it was only a Latino heat wave coming out, like it wasn’t here to stay. Those guys only lasted like five seconds. Now we’re here with the hip hop and if we allow them to just run around and do all this bullshit and label the whole thing and divide us then you gonna see the whole thing going down. That’s why it’s so important that reggaeton mix with that Chicano rap. It has to mix, in order to stay up! Because reggaeton is a part of the whole Latin hip hop movement, it’s just that they have a different name for it.

LHHR – How do you feel when a station like Power 106, in Los Angeles, instead of saying “Power 106 Hip Hop and Reggaeton” , like they used to, is now saying “Hip Hop, Reggaeton, Chicano Rap . . .” and they divide it into subsections?

SANO-IN – I got another word for that and I want people on your website to know what’s up. I call it, Latin related hip hop. I’d rather just call it that because whether it’s samba, hip hop, or banda from the west coast, or meringue hip hop, or reggaeton, it’s [all] hip hop influenced. People is rappin over the shit, so I just call it Latin related hip hop. Which means that anyone who is an interracially mixed Latino, let’s say for example AZ or Drez from Black Sheep, they could do Latin related hip hop. They either related to the culture or the music. So that’s a better word for me to say. That’s the smartest way, in my opinion, to put it. Cause once you start putting all these labels on it you divide everything, but when you say Latin related hip hop it’s sort of like saying Latin connection. That’s why I started Latin Connection cause I don’t really care if they rhyme in Spanish or English or Spanglish or a Latino who don’t even speak Spanish. I just put ‘em in, as family. That’s the difference. That’s where I see the connection with east/west.

LHHR – Last time we talked you mentioned some things you wanted to address in regards that you’d like the public to know that you weren’t with certain labels.

SANO-IN – I came out in 2003 [on] Hip Hop En La Calle Ocho. People thought that I was down with Don Dinero or Universal. There was [also] another compilation I was featured on, [called] Latin Kraze, Hustle Town Distribution out there in Texas. They thought I was either down with Hustle Town Records, or that other label Universal Latino, but I’m not.

LHHR – And you just wanted to make that clear cause a lot of people assumed that you were signed to Universal Latino?

SANO IN - Yeah, the other rumor started when I was featured on a remix with Tahlia, Alguien Real remix. It was supposed to be [released], but the label never put it out. A few DJ’s got the copy of it and they thought I was down with EMI, and that’s basically what happened. That’s why people thought I was signed to one of these labels and that’s how things started spreading around but I was never down with none of ‘em.

LHHR – What’s your opinion about the state of hip hop in regards to how it started as a revolutionary movement in comparison to where it is now, dominated by giant corporations . . . and where do you think Latino related hip hop falls in that?

SANO-IN – They do that ‘cause they want to target markets with artists. They want to find what the niche is for the artist, you know? Some artists got it all in the package, like let’s say 50 Cent that’s bringing something for the ladies and something for the street, you know? Then you have your Nelly’s and your LL’s, and you have the Latino version of Nelly which is like Daddy Yankee, singing, rapping, selling the image and all that kind of shit. Sometimes it’s like a job, they gotta comply.

LHHR – But do you necessarily agree with that?

SANO-IN – Naw! Absolutely not! Let’s say for example my boy Immortal Technique, he chose to just target one market. There’s a market for everything. That’s by choice. It has to do with people’s choices. It’s planted in people’s heads, “I want to be the next guy”. But some guys are just so screwed up in the head [that] they want to do everything, and sometimes that messes an artist up. They step to a label and allow the label to manipulate them and find an identity for them. You have to do your own search, and come up with your own identity and claim it and live up to your image, but sometimes people don’t have they head in the right place. If they mind is so empty that they just go in there, of course they gon’ just paint pictures in they head. [It don’t matter if] the guy is fat like Biggie Smalls man, if he’s nice he’s nice. It’s not like a label is gon’ say, “You know what, you gotta go jogging every morning and lose about a hundred and thirty pounds”, to look more sex appealing and all that crazy shit. But you know Biggie Smalls didn’t give a fuck, he was an emcee. Sometimes people gotta know what the fuck they doing. A lot of Latinos in the rap game need to get that shit in they head. They need to understand that, “You know, I’m somebody, I’m this and I’m that, I’m proud of myself, I’m an artist, and I stand for this or that”. Now if the label want to deal with that then that’s ok, but trust me they gon’ spot the phony. They know when somebody’s phony like, “Oh, we can manipulate this guy”, but they can’t do that shit to Sano. I know what the fuck I’m doing.

LHHR - What can we expect to see from Sano in 2006?

SANO-IN – I have my own album that’ll hopefully be out by the label willing to put my package out. As far as distributing it, I’m not even going to get into distributing my own album. I have the complete package I did my job. They distribute, I make the music. I got my own label; I got Welcome to La Casa Entertainment. It’s a long ass name but it’s the name I use for my company to throw parties and stuff. Through that entertainment company I’m putting out a label as well. The name might change. I’m working on all those things right now to get more incorporated.

LHHR – O.K., one last question. You know what it is. Your worst chancleta story.

SANO-IN – Ha, ha . . . Yeaaahh maaaaan! That shit went down. I think it was a way for them to get their point across. For me to understand what they wanted me to do and what not to do. I feel good about it though, it was a good way to discipline me. They never abused me. It was just like, “Coño no toque eso”, and give me a cocotaso, un pescoson, you know!