Dominican rapper Monkey Black killed in Barcelona bar fight

“I am a rapper, I am an urban artist,” says Leonardo Michael Flores Ozuna, 27, in an interview available on YouTube. In it, Monkey Black – as he was better known to music fans – smiles a lot and jokes about his celebrity status and success with the ladies.

On Wednesday night, the Dominican rapper was stabbed to death during a bar fight in the San Roque neighborhood in Sant Adrià del Besòs, the Catalan town where he lived.

Flores was stabbed at least twice, once in the chest and once in his side. The Mossos d’Esquadra regional police are looking for two men who ran out of the bar leaving behind their unfinished drinks and a cellphone.

His death has triggered an outpouring of tributes on the social networks. Monkey Black was an idol back home, and even Dominican Culture Minister José Antonio Rodríguez expressed public regret over his death.

Flores began singing at age 10, although his career properly kicked off in 2006. He chalked up several hits, including Tienen miedo, although his biggest success was a remix of El sol y la playa with US rapper Pitbull.

We knew he wasn’t doing anything, that he was wasting his time in Europe”

In 2009 he traveled to Spain, where he had plans to launch his career internationally. He got married in Barcelona and continued to record a few songs.

“On January 24, 2012 I interviewed him in his home and he told me about his projects,” recalls Santiago Matías, a writer at Alofoke, a well-known Dominican music website. But by the next year Monkey Black’s aides knew things were not going well.

“We knew he wasn’t doing anything, that he was wasting his time in Europe,” says Matías, who went back to see him in September of last year to try to convince him to return to Dominican Republic and recover his fame.

Meanwhile, Flores was getting himself into trouble. In February he was arrested on the streets of Badalona for disturbing the peace. Soon after he was kicked out of a nightclub after he started making trouble.

“We feared the worst, we thought things would end badly for him,” explains Matías.

The rapper was going through a difficult personal moment after his divorce. Yet despite having no relatives in Spain, he still refused to go back to Dominican Republic even when he was offered a free plane ticket.

Alberto Bragado, who specializes in Dominican artists, managed Monkey Black’s European career. “Right now he was doing nothing in Spain, he hadn’t had shows for a year,” he says, adding that the rapper had been finally considering going home for good.

On Wednesday, Monkey Black was inside a bar called Aparkao, where he got into an argument with two Roma men for reasons that are still unclear.

“I saw him stumble out with his back full of blood,” said one of the bar owners. Monkey Black barely managed to walk a few meters, and tried to ask for help inside another bar. He was unable to open the door, and a few seconds later, collapsed on the ground and died.

But the two women who run Aparkao did not welcome any further questions.

“They know who it was,” said Jellin el nueve, 28, a friend of the victim. Local residents believe the attackers were regulars at the bar.

“If the police don’t do anything we will, because we know who it was,” added Brian Eliel, 27. Eliel said Monkey Black and his killer had had “the odd small disagreement” in the past, although he would not go into details. Rumor has it the fight began over a woman, although this explanation has not been confirmed by the police.

“We want justice. Everyone knows who they are. Either they turn themselves in or we will go after them,” warned another friend of the victim, Ericson Junior.