Mogli the Iceburg is a rapper and producer from Middle Tennessee, and part of the indie tribe collective, made up of nobigdyl., Jarry Manna, and himself. Blending a diverse sonic pallet, with ambient and alternative rock fused with industrial cloud rap, Mogli seeks to redefine hip-hop with not only his sound, but his message.
rapzilla: Mogli the Iceburg is one of these racially in between guys. He can identify with multi-ethnicities, feel accepted and unaccepted, and look out of place all within five minutes of walking in a diverse neighborhood.
Mogli is biracial.
His dad is mostly German with a bit of Mexican and his mother was mostly Mexican with a little bit of Western European. So while that makes him at least half Mexican, and half white, he doesn’t really appear to be either.
“My father has Mexican in him but he’s very white looking. I have his last name and I’m tall,” said Mogli, who’s actual last name is Horenburg. “People label me as Middle Eastern because they see my darker complexion and beard. Also, I’m head and shoulders taller than my Mexican family.”
“I still get misidentified, some think that I speak Arabic
Heard it all before from towel-head down to a terrorist
The butt of all your jokes
I got my hand up on a bomb trigger
But sometimes it gets brutal
‘Boy you just a stupid sand n*****’”
“As I got older, my mom wanted to really embrace our Mexican and Latino identity more and more,” he shared. “One time we moved and my mom straight up Mexicanized the house. We painted all the colors, we took out the wallpaper and painted things bright yellow and bright red and the stucco in the kitchen.”
Unfortunately, Mogli’s mom passed right before he turned 12. He wound up living in Tennessee with his father, which was a bit of a culture shock.
“There’s no Latino influence, living with my dad who doesn’t really culturally embrace that stuff,” he said. “I’m kind of on my own little island where I don’t even necessarily fit that same cultural mold as my dad but I no longer have that influence of my mom or the cultural community. I am Mexican but I’m not Mexican, I am white, but I’m not white.”
He continued, “All my life I struggled with this and it’s only recently I discovered that I’m not white or brown. I’m what I am, and that’s cool. We shouldn’t have to feel like we should pick a side. Be an individual and be comfortable just exactly who you are.”
“After all of the years that young Mogli wore a frown
I finally learned that it’s okay that I’m not white or brown
And though the people lookin sideways drive me crazy
You can’t take my pride from me I’m cool
With the way God made me”
Nick Chow, founder of CHHToday.com: “Mogli’s last project, Drevmcvtchr, was a treat for fans, but synesthesia. will leave you feeling like he took a few more steps into the deep end with content, concepts, general production, transparency, and emotion.”
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