C. Tangana Spanish Rapper With 1.7M Instagram Followers

C. Tangana is the stage name of Antón Álvarez Alfaro, a Spanish rapper and singer born on 16 July 1990. He began in hip-hop, moved through urban music and later worked with flamenco and other Latin styles. He has also moved into film, as a producer and as a director. His honours include several Latin Grammy Awards and a Goya Award.

Early life

Álvarez was the son of a journalist who co-founded a communications agency and of a former preschool teacher. He has a younger sister, Ana. He spent his childhood in the Madrid districts of Latina and Carabanchel, and as a teenager his family moved to Pozuelo de Alarcón. He attended the school Colegio San Viator and later studied philosophy at the Complutense University of Madrid.

Career

As a schoolboy he rapped under the name Crema. His freestyle demos circulated online around 2005, and that year he put out a seven-track EP, Él Es Crema. Two more short releases, Madrid Files and Septiembre, followed in 2006.

In 2011 he formed the group Agorazein with friends. The group released its first album, Kind of Red, that year, and he adopted C. Tangana as his own name after a release under that title. He also self-published solo records in 2011 and 2012 and issued the EP Trouble + Presidente in 2014. He supported himself with jobs at a fast-food chain and a telephone call centre until 2015, when he left work to devote himself to music. Agorazein released its last album, Siempre, in November 2016 and has been inactive since.

In 2016 he began working as a solo artist under contract. His first release in that setting was "Antes de morirme", a flamenco-pop duet with Rosalía. He worked regularly with the producer Alizzz. In 2017 he signed with Sony Music and released his debut studio album, Ídolo, on 5 October. Its single "Mala Mujer" reached the top five in Spain and was named song of the summer there. That year he was named best new artist at the LOS40 Music Awards.

The mixtape Avida Dollars came out in April 2018 and included "Llorando en la Limo". Later that year he released "Bien Duro" and a collaboration with Becky G, "Booty". In November 2018 he won two Latin Grammy Awards for co-writing "Malamente" by Rosalía, in the Best Alternative Song and Best Urban Fusion/Performance categories.

His 2019 singles included "París" and "No te debí besar", the latter made with Paloma Mami, as well as "5 Stars" with Duki. In 2019 he relocated to Los Angeles for a time. In April 2020 his song "Nunca Estoy" became his first number-one on the Spanish chart. The release Bien:( appeared through Sony on 14 May 2020 and debuted at number one in Spain.

His album El Madrileño, released on 26 February 2021, marked a change of direction toward flamenco, rumba and other Latin forms. It was preceded by the singles "Demasiadas Mujeres" and "Tú Me Dejaste de Querer". The latter set a record for streams in Spain within a 24-hour period. El Madrileño became the best-selling album in Spain in 2021. A reissue called La Sobremesa included a song recorded with the Cuban singer Omara Portuondo. In 2023 he composed "Oliveira dos cen anos" to mark the hundredth anniversary of the football club Celta de Vigo.

He also moved into documentary film. He starred in and produced This Excessive Ambition (2023), and in 2024 he directed The Flamenco Guitar of Yerai Cortés, his first feature as a director. The work "Pienso en tu mirá – Cap 3: Celos" is also credited to him among his notable projects.

Recognition

For the work on "Malamente", C. Tangana won Latin Grammy Awards in 2018. He received further Latin Grammy Awards for Best Alternative Song and Best Pop/Rock Song in 2021, and for Record of the Year and Song of the Year in 2022. In 2025 he won the Goya Award for Best Original Score and a Premios CEC award. He has also received a Premios Odeón award.