Biography

Mauro Ezequiel Lombardo Quiroga (born 24 June 1996), better known by his stage name Duki (stilyzed as DUKI), is an Argentine rapper and singer. He is the lead voice of trap music in Argentina,thanks to his multiple hits with his singles and his particular style of voice and staging.

Duki began to gain recognition for his appearances in rap battles, such as "El Quinto Escalón", which was one of the most important in Argentina, and where he obtained his first share of popularity when he won it in 2016. Thanks to his victory, he was able to record his first single "No Vendo Trap" to pursue a musical career. He then released the singles "She Don't Give a FO" and "Hello Cotto" which garnered him multiple views on YouTube and earned Lombardo a massive following in his home country.

In 2018 he formed an important musical trio for Argentine trap, named "Modo Diablo", with artists YSY A and Neo Pistea. He then released his debut studio album, Súper Sangre Joven (2019), with the lead single "Goteo" being nominated for Best Rap/Hip Hop Song at the 21st Latin Grammy Awards. In 2020 he collaborated in Bad Bunny's album YHLQMDLG in the single "Hablamos Mañana", which was also nominated in the Latin Grammys for Best Urban Fusion/Performance. In 2021 Duki released his second album, Desde el Fin del Mundo, which reached number one in digital albums in Argentina.

Duki participated in his first rap battle in 2013, in which he became victorious. He described it years later as "catastrophic, it was raining, but we ended up wining". During this time, he formed a rap crew called Atuanorinos Tripulación, and participated in a lot of famous underground rap competitions, such as Las Vegas Freestyle or Madero Free.

Around 2015, he appeared for the first time in "El Quinto Escalón", a competition which was celebrated in Parque Rivadavia, a very centric park in Buenos Aires. This allowed the competition to become recognized very quickly, with a lot of young rappers starting to rise to a massive following, such as Paulo Londra, Lit Killah, or Trueno. Duki became one of the most praised and recognized MC's due to his flow and strong staging. In 2016 he won it for the first time, beating rapper Nacho in the final.

The prize was a session in a music studio to record a single. This made Duki record his first single, "No Vendo Trap", in November 2016. The official video was uploaded on YouTube, and it gained two million views in just two weeks. Due to the success of the song, the producer of the sample Pa$ha decided to strike the video for copyright, and the platform took the video down. This did not stop Duki from recording more singles that led him to gain a massive fan base, mostly coming from his battle days.

In late 2016 and early 2017 Duki continued to appear in El Quinto Escalon, now one of the most important competitions in Argentina and South America. Several of Duki's battles, along with his partner MKS, gained many views on YouTube, some of them becoming the most viewed battles in Spanish in history. Thanks to his increasing fame, Duki was signed to MUEVA Records, and released the singles "She Don't Give a FO" and "Hello Cotto" with producer Omar Varela to launch his music career.

The first one was certified gold by Spain's PROMUSICAE, and both singles suprassed a 100 million views on YouTube, establishing Duki as one of the most promising trap artists in Argentina. Two weeks later, he participated in Khea's single "Loca", featuring rappers Cazzu and Bad Bunny, which ranked 45 in the Hot Latin Songs chart and went gold by the RIAA

During 2018 Duki formed a trap trio with YSY A, the host of El Quinto Escalón, and Neo Pistea, another promising trap artist in Argentina. The trio published the singles "Quavo" and "TRAP.N.EXPORT", gaining a lot of views in YouTube. In March they performed in the Grand Rex theater, which was sold out. During May, Duki performed his single "Rockstar" with a live orchestra at the Premios Gardel awards, a performance that received a harsh critical reception, with artist Charly Garcia saying during his acceptance speech that "autotune should be banned". However, Duki didn't mind Garcia's criticism, stating that "he could say I'm a scumbag and I'd be happy anyway. I love him, I went to one of his concerts when I was younger. I respect him so much that I didn't even respond to him.

During this year, Duki continued to release singles to reach further popularity. His singles "Si Te Sentís Sola" and "Hijo de la Noche" reached the top-10 of the Argentine rankings. However, during this time, Duki began to have anxiety attacks, and started a drug dependency, while living in a residence called "The Mansion" with the other members of Modo Diablo. Duki decided to leave the house, and was helped by his family to recover.

At the end of the year, Lombardo refused to sign with Sony and Universal, and was part of the jury of the Red Bull Batalla de Gallos contest, held in Argentina and won by fellow rapper Wos. He was also the cover of the Rolling Stone magazine in Argentina. In December 2018 he released the single "Sin Culpa" with singer DrefQuila, that peaked at the sixth position of Billboard's Argentina Hot 100, the highest position reached so far by Lombardo.