Sinaka

Sinaka is a Chilean urban artist from Quilpué who has been framed as part of a new wave of local reggaeton with a deliberate focus on early-2000s sonics. In January 2024, he released his second album, “Kema”, described as a love letter to reggaeton from more than two decades ago. His personal story is tied to a musical upbringing shaped by what played in his family environment, later expanded through discovering Chilean hip hop references recommended by people close to him.

His connection to music was built through street culture in Chile’s Fifth Region: he describes starting out rapping in public squares and moving within graffiti and skate scenes that effectively became his first stages. Through his early-to-mid teen years, he took part consistently in rap battles, traveling on weekends to Valparaíso and also attending Santiago circuits such as competitions held around Parque Bustamante—experiences that helped sharpen his vocabulary and flow.

On the recording side, his earliest steps were homegrown, using DIY home studios with friends’ gear, which pushed him to learn how to produce with limited resources. His catalog includes tracks such as “Cuanto vale” and “Nohayley”, and he points to 2020 as the moment he decided to approach his project with more planning and seriousness. During the pandemic, that approach leaned into a more irreverent trap phase that boosted his visibility online before he shifted more clearly toward reggaeton.

“Kema” is made up of ten songs and was intentionally released for the summer of 2024, with an aesthetic that favors a clean vocal without autotune, heavier drum programming, and beach-leaning atmospheres built from minimal samples and loops. In his view, reggaeton lets him show more personality and humor, and his method aims for memorable lines and call-and-response dynamics designed for live performance. He is also presented as an artist tied to decentralization through connections with talent outside the capital, and as someone who studies the genre with a “nerd” mindset—looking at pioneers and thinking strategically about where trends will move next.