Argentinean Paulo Londra began to emerge in the midst of new artists in the urban genre and it was a promise of reggaeton, but one day he stopped producing songs and his voice stopped being heard in collaborations, concerts and the entire music scene. Many people wondered and until today they are wondering what happened to Paulo Londra? Why did he stop producing music? He retired? That is why we will answer all the questions below.
WHY DID PAULO LONDRA RETIRE
The singer born in the city of Córdova does not release songs from 2019 due to a legal conflict with the label and producer Big Ligas, which belongs to Colombian producer Daniel Oviedo, known as Ovy on the drums and Cristian Salazar, known as Kristoman.
Colombian producers argued that Londra had personally broken the contract that united them, while the Argentine one indicated that Colombians engaged in fraud and negligent representation.
It turns out that the Cordovan claimed that Big Ligas, a producer with whom he worked, demanded all musical rights, including songs, lyrics and even the voice until 2025.
PAULO LONDRA GIVES HIS VERSION
After months of silence in music, in 2020 the Argentinian decided to bring to light the reasons why he stopped producing singles and did so through an open letter that we will show you below.
“It all started when I was finally able to make myself known in Argentina, thanks to touring squares and competitions, and being able to win “at the face of a dog” something I dreamed of [...] I kept uploading songs alone and even J Balvin was surprised by my song “Full Moon”.
“Then a youtuber contacted me and told me that she wanted to introduce me to Kristo (Cristian Salazar) and Ovy (Daniel Oviedo), who were nominating him to me as one of the best Latin producers, and it's not to be undeserving of anything but they didn't exceed 5,000 followers, and to be honest I didn't know him, I was still surprised with all the projects and I trusted them, rejected other contracts because they said they weren't the best thing for me. I was excited, I thought all the best possible was yet to come. I told them to call ourselves “Big Leagues”, because we are going to grow so much independently that they will admire us. I made music like a madman; at 19 months I went to Colombia and recorded non-stop. I could do up to 6 tracks per day, all thanks to this discipline that I had of freestyle.
“[...] After releasing Condemnado Para El Millón, a topic we brought up because we wanted to show how far we were going to get, Kristo came with some photocopies, an expensive pen and a filmaker, and she told me that we were going to make a video to upload to the networks and then she made us stand on our backs and told me to sign some photocopies while they were filming us, I thought it was a simple video and I never thought that was a contract that they would assert in such a deceptive way.”
“After making the video they told me to look at the sheets and that tomorrow we were going to have a talk with lawyers Stephanie Chopurian and Matt Greenberg and I, alone in Colombia. [...] That night Ovy, who had earned my trust like no one else, told me that what I signed was worthless, if I was dissatisfied, that paper could be broken or reviewed at any time, and the way he told me and in the context that it was, I would only believe him.”
“[...] The next day, Stephanie Chopurian and Matt Greenberg came by video call and explained to me about numbers that I never understood and about a contract that is difficult even for a lawyer to understand. The explanation was so short that it only lasted half an hour, I could not and did not want to accept that they had made me sign something without seeing, without a lawyer by my side, and without the possibility of discussing it with someone close to me.
“I succeeded with “Doomed for the Million”, with “Damn Baby”, with “Tell Me”, with “Paranormal Girl”, etc... Until I did “Adam and Eve”. And they told me that the best thing was to make a deal with a label with such a song. I thought it would be to break with what we were doing, which was to be independent.”
The song was released and as time passed they told me about an album offer. I also doubted... I wasn't sure I would accept but I remember being in Mexico, hours after my first show there, and Kristo calling me on the phone telling me that there would be complications if we didn't accept the album with Warner Music. That time my patience broke out, they had said that we were going to modify the terms of our agreement by which I did not agree. That didn't happen and they wanted me to sign a new agreement.
It wasn't long before Matt Greenberg sent a letter of intimidation to me and my father (a lawyer who supposedly looked after me), where he showed us the true face of the contract I signed with Ovy and Kristo, where I wasn't a real partner/artist. Matt Greenberg's letter said that I could be harmed by anything that causes the company to lose, and that I should sign if it could not have serious economic consequences. At that moment I realized that we were not a team. And again I have nothing left but to put my head down because of the threat made to me, supposedly my own lawyer Matt Greenberg, and accept the deal made with Warner. I delivered songs and videos on time, and then Ovy telling me how much authorship we would give Kristo, and I didn't understand why give her authorship of a song in which I wrote and Ovy did the music.
[...] They always wanted to appear in the videos, they always told me what to say, I couldn't decide anything. They stood in front of me and received everything from other artists other proposals and nothing came to me or knew or only knew what they wanted, it was very frustrating. Even so frustrated, the only thing that kept me standing was the support of those who listened to me and encouraged me, then I never bent anymore and I always fulfilled my responsibilities and did my best.
FACT: The trigger for Paulo Londra's separation with Big Ligas was the claim for authorship between the collaboration of the Argentine and Ed Sheeran. According to the freestyler, Colombians wanted to receive profit and popularity despite not having produced the song in lyrics, composition and more. Paulo was forbidden to produce music without Big Leagues' confirmation.
#FREEPAULO
Upon learning about Paulo's situation and the version of both sides, various artists did not hesitate to show solidarity with the rapper and in 2021 they created the hashtag #FreePaulo showing their support for the artist. Among the colleagues who publicly supported him were Duki, producer Bizarrap, Tiago Pzk, Lit Killah, among others.
CURRENT DEMAND SITUATION
After years of back and forth, angry fans and more, both sides reached an agreement to end that legal battle. The Argentine artist is free to produce, create, compose and record songs and today is the release of his first song after two years of silence.
Plan “A” is the title of the song with which he returns to the music scene.
LATEST SONG BY PAULO LONDRA
His last song was Party, along with rapper A Boogie, released in September 2019.
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