‘A revolution without death’: hip-hop as a weapon against violence

Abstract

Casa Kolacho is an art and culture centre located in Comuna 13 in Medellín, Colombia, that opened its doors in December of 2013. Since then, it has become an international benchmark for ‘artivism’ conveyed through hip-hop culture, with high-impact initiatives such as the Graffitour, which—until the pandemic arrived—promoted community tourism and circular economy as an alternative way of life in this marginal neighbourhood, victim of violence of all kinds. The name ‘Casa Kolacho’ is a tribute to a rapper killed in 2009 in the war between drug ‘combos’ after the Pablo Escobar era. This conflict dates back to 2002, when President Uribe’s Operation Orion, carried out by paramilitaries and law enforcement, triggered an escalation in state violence justified with the targeting of guerrilla groups and resulting in hundreds of civilian deaths and disappearances. In response to these repressive policies, as well as to criminal gang violence, the new generation of Comuna 13’s rappers joined together using music and art as weapons against (political, structural, daily and symbolic) violence in the neighbourhood. This text focuses on the testimony of Jeihhco, one of the promoters of Casa Kolacho, whose life story—personal, collective and social—can be read as a metaphor for the changes in Comuna 13, centred on a leitmotif that gives this essay its title: hip-hop as a strategy for a ‘revolution without death’, and as an effective form of violence reduction and prevention.