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When you think of the Urban Latin music movement, there are a
number of hot beds in the industry that may come to mind:
Puerto Rico, which has fine-tuned the reggaeton genre
and exported it to world markets in recent years; New York
City, where the gritty urban sounds have given rise to some of
the most notable Latino artists in the game, including Big Pun,
Beatnuts, and Fat Joe.
Also, Miami, where the deep bass sound of the South has
been blended with traditional estilos del caribe to produce
artists such as Pitbull; Los Angeles, where some of
the pioneers of Latin hip hop blazed the trail in the early 1990s
with artists like Kid Frost and Cypress Hill; and
Chicago, where the production deep house and freestyle sounds
have had a Latin flavor for nearly two decades.
How about Detroit, Michigan? If you think not then it is time to
think again.
The night was filled with energy filled performances by a number
of different acts including: Bank Street (Hip Hop in
English), Tavito y Balin, whose sound can be described as
reggaeton with its own unique flavor of traditional sounds
including bachata and merengue, Gueroloco,
who boasts skills in Spanish (though he is not Latino) with an
upbeat flow and taps into numerous sounds, and Final 4our
who, as the name indicates, is a four man crew that does it all
with an alluring blend of sonidos de la calle and a
vibrant stage show including female dancers.
The hype man for the show Raymond “Malcriao”
Delgado of
www.xclusiva.com
brought great energy to the stage to get the crowd involved and
never let a dull moment transpire. Rounding out the show were a
number of special guests including Ithai and
Tuisy among others and, of course, the DJs bringing the sound
together including DJ Ivo (Chicago/Indianapolis),
DJ Los (Detroit), DJ Fres-ko (Pontiac),
and DJ Canny (Toledo).
The artists come from a number of backgrounds; most were natives
of cities in Puerto Rico (Mayagüez, Luquillo, and Caguas), who had
come to the Detroit, Pontiac areas with their families.
Indianapolis native Gueroloco developed his Spanish
skills as a member of the U.S. Marines by enrolling in the
official language school and has since caught the attention of
many in the industry.
All of the artists have MySpace pages, which has become a
huge promotional advantage for many independent artists in the
music game. This was the initial event of the Latin Industry
Connection crew in the Detroit, which has hosted shows
in other cities including Chicago.
According to manager Angela Star, a Chicago native, along
with event planner and promoter Isai Correa, they hope to
continue to host and promote more events in the area. Check out
their MySpace pages for yourself and keep your ear a la
calle and an eye out for these hungry and humble young
artists. |
