1977 (Ana Tijoux album)

Background

In October 2009, La Oveja Negra in Chile released 1977, her second solo album, with the name coming from the year Tijoux was born. It is a return to her Hip-Hop roots, an homage to the "golden age of Hip-Hop", and largely auto-biographical, exploring mature themes from her own life, from the death of a close friend to having a creative crises, friendship and bad luck, amongst others. It is simple and straight to the point, this being emphasized by her leaving behind a lot of the singing she had been doing previously in other more pop collaborations, and concentrating on rap, both in Spanish and French. After years of sharing the spotlight with her group, collaborating with other artists, and trying to find her way as a solo artist, Tijoux finally arrived in her own right; a raw, direct, mature MC.

Recorded between May and September 2009, the new album was produced by Hordatoj, Foex y Tee (of the label Potoco Discos), together with Habitación Del Pánico. Guests on the record include the saxophonist Agustín Moya with whom she worked with in Aluzinati, Andrés Celis, Solo Di Medina, Bubaseta, Stailok from the group Movimiento Original, DJ Dacel, Quique Neira from Godwana, Cómo Asesinar A Felipes, and the Detroit-based MC Invincible, whom she met over MySpace and did a virtual collaboration for the song "Sube".

The album and its first single "1977" were an immediate hit in the underground rap circles of Chile, where she was welcomed back after a bit of a stray. The record was amongst the top 10 of 2009 for the blog "World Hip-Hop Market", and it was soon picked up by the US-based Latin Alternative label; Nacional Records, who released it in April 2010. She was invited to attend the prestigious South By South West Music Festival in Austin, TX, in March 2010, and from there went on to her first ever North American tour.

The single '1977' gained further attention when it featured in the EA Sports video game, FIFA 11. The same song was again in the spotlight in 2011 when it was used in Shotgun - the fifth episode of season 4 of AMC's Breaking Bad.

Critical response

The album received generally favorable reviews, with critics complimenting Tijoux as "an artist with the promise to cross borders and genres." Critics also complimenting the production for the album, writing "The production suits Ana nicely as well. Combining steady boom-bap drum sequences with organic vinyl scratches and a flare of Latin American influence, the production varies between spicy and soulful, all with an overarching affinity for old-school hip-hop."

Phil Freeman of Allmusic gave the album 4 out of 5, saying "The music behind her is [...] mostly funky and occasionally lurching, these are jazzy beats firmly rooted in the tradition of DJ Premier, DJ Cam, DJ Krush, and other '90s classicists" and "like New York rappers of a prior generation like Jeru the Damaja, she'd rather get listeners thinking than soundtrack their parties."