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Q&A Interview: Los Rakas Speak On Why Oakland and Panama Are Central To Everything They Do

November 25, 2014 By Ivan Fernandez

Oakland-based "Pana-baynian" hip-hop duo Los Rakas. Courtesy photo.
Oakland-based “Pana-baynian” hip-hop duo Los Rakas. Courtesy photo.

It’s impossible to know Los Rakas and not respect, or at the very least appreciate, their hustle. Behind what many fans see as glitz, glamour, and the rockstar lifestyle lies a work ethic that’s taken them from the youth centers of Oakland to festivals worldwide in just eight years.

Los Rakas signed to Universal Latino earlier this year and marked the occasion with a double-album debut, something a group like Outkast was able to do only after they’d already cemented their careers. They also signed a partnership deal with Hennessy and have toured nearly non-stop this year with appearances in intimate venues as well as large festivals. As if that weren’t enough, the duo has kept up an incredible pace releasing something new every two or three months like clockwork for the past two or three years.

I caught up with Los Rakas last month at the afterparty for NCLR’s ALMA Awards. The duo was scheduled to perform a brief set that night as a warm-up for their set at the inaugural Supersonico Festival the following day. We spoke backstage where they spoke about their work ethic, how they’ve evolved as performers, and how growing up in Panama and Oakland shaped their music.

I noticed you’ve released A LOT of music in different formats regularly over the past couple of years.

Ricardo: We write a lot of music. We stay in the studio all the time. One thing I say to a lot of people, and I don’t mean to sound conceited or anything, but our work is seven years strong and probably 10, 7 years ahead of the game. Plus we stay trying different things, experimenting with other producers and it sets us apart from what everybody else is doing. It’s not like we can’t do what everybody else is doing in the same genres and styles of music but we really love what we do. When we get in the studio, we’re not thinking about what everybody else is doing. We’re just going in and taking it a step at a time. Sometimes these songs don’t happen as fast as people think. Sometimes it takes six months or two years to finish one song.

Dun Dun: We got songs stacked up. Some songs that we put out maybe even tomorrow, they’ve been in the vault like six months ago.

R: Or longer, let’s be honest. We had songs we just released that we’ve had since 2009.

D: With the last album, a lot of them, like, four or five of those songs are like five year’s old. We also wait for perfect timing. Probably, if we had dropped some of the songs that we dropped when we did them, people probably wouldn’t have understood it. We’re letting our fans grow with us. When we feel it’s the right time to drop it, we drop it.

Was signing with Universal Latino part of that philosophy of waiting for the right moment?

D: Yeah, and it wasn’t like that was the first time a label approached us. Many labels approached us before that but it wasn’t the right time or the right label. With Universal, we felt comfortable and they understood our vision. They want to help make that vision bigger. It wasn’t like the other labels that would come like “I like you guys but I think you should start wearing this or start singing this.”

Or “it’s too experimental” or whatever. They wanted something more Top 40-ish like, say, Pitbull.

R: Yeah, not that there’s anything wrong with Pitbull, but why limit yourself to just one genre of music when you have so many others to experience? Really, we do it organically because that’s how we grew up listening to music. We listen to all genres of music and we don’t do it to try to be cool…that’s how we grew up in our household. Even if I didn’t want to listen to that style of music, that’s what I’m going to listen to because that’s what our tia’s playing.

D: In the beginning, we didn’t even think of it. A lot of people would tell us “you guys are different.” On one of my verses, I say we’re “original por accidente (original by accident).” It’s not like when we started writing we were like “ah, we’re going to make something original and we’re going to have our own sound.” It just happened naturally.

R: The people were the ones that brought it to our attention. Like, “you guys are different” and we got to thinking “you know, maybe we are.” Sometimes you do gotta give yourself some props because, sometimes, you need to in order to keep getting better and better.

Yeah, you gotta step back for a second and see your work for what it is. Thankfully, your musical experiments worked out fine in your case.

D: Exactly! Thank God our whole experiment sounded good because it could’ve been bad too! There’s a bunch of experimental out there that is like…uuugghhhhh!

R: Yeah but our stuff might not be for you too and there’s nothing wrong with that. I guarantee you this though: out of all of the songs you might not like, there will be one that you will like even if you don’t listen to this style of music or that style of music.

How long have you been together?

D: Eight years ago. In 2006, we put out our first mixtape out of the youth centers over there in Oakland. That’s really who helped us become Los Rakas.

R: For those who don’t know who we are, we are from Panama originally. Our ethnicity is Panamanian and we started doing music in the Bay Area, in Oakland, in San Francisco. That’s where our music comes from. It wasn’t born in Panama. It was born in the Bay Area and that’s why we stick out from anybody else because there’s never been nothing like that. Usually Caribbeans that come from these places usually go to New York. When we ended up in Oakland, we stuck out because when you think about Panama, nobody knew where Panama was until we were like “yo, we’re from Panama” and everybody’s like “where’s that?” Now when you know or meet somebody from Panama, they go to Los Rakas.

Keeping your home country on a map is a nice side-effect of your music.

R: Putting Panama on the map and the Bay Area to Panama because a lot of people, when they think of California, they think about L.A. Even people in the United States do that! Now, we be wearin’ the Raiders’ stuff, representing the Bay Area and now if you go to Panama, you see people wearing the Raiders’ outfit.

How does it feel to see that with your own eyes?

R: It feels good because it’s something that we never expected and it just shows how much influence we have in what we do and our craft. People like what we do and it’s a good feeling. We were just doing music but now it became a fashion thing too. It becomes so many other things that you never thought of.

D: Even with the word “Raka.” In Panama, it was to describe somebody from the ‘hood in a negative way. Ever since we started using the word and telling people that just because you’re from the ghetto doesn’t mean you’re a negative person. If you’re a raka, be proud of being a raka. Since then, a lot of people in Panama have been saying “I’m a raka” like Raka Felipe or whatever.

Going back to what you said about putting the Bay Area on the map, your work has also put a positive spin on Oakland.

D: There’s a lot of good things that come out of Oakland and we’re the perfect example of that. There were like three youth centers in Oakland that helped us become who we are. There’s a lot of positive things going on in Oakland.

R: We want to inspire the people from Oakland and that come from Oakland. We’re from Panama and we came to Oakland and we saw opportunity and took advantage of it. Look where we’re at now. That’s why we always rep where we’re from.

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Austin: Los Rakas will perform at the Sahara Lounge on Wednesday, Nov. 26 with Orion & Pagame of Peligrosa and Benzo of Dub Academy. RSVP on Facebook here. Hear more music from Los Rakas on bandcamp here.

Filed Under: Events, Features, Slider Tagged With: hip hop, interview, los rakas, rap, the sahara lounge

Profile: Monterrey’s Newest Urban Music Wonder MC Davo

September 15, 2014 By Ivan Fernandez

MC Davo promo
MC Davo. Photo courtesy of Digital Girl Inc.

I have no idea what so-called Hip-Hop purists have to say about MC Davo’s work but they shouldn’t scoff at his work ethic and hustle. The phrase “started from the bottom, now we here” may be a cliché nowadays but it still holds true for guys like Davo.

Davo, with longtime producer Meny Mendez by his side, can easily be considered a king of Facebook and Youtube where he has over 2 million followers and over 100 million video views. It’s this popularity that lead to a record deal with Warner Music.

Davo’s hometown of Monterrey, Mexico was long known as a hotbed for Hip-Hop and Rap in the nation thanks to groups such as Control Machete who ruled the charts during the late 1990s. The turn of the century brought a shift in the area’s music scene with the birth of tribal guarachero (3Ball MTY, etc.) at the hands of numerous DJs including Machete’s own Toy Selectah.

The Hip-Hop and Rap scene, however, never truly went away and young guys like MC Davo are now leading a resurgence in the genre thanks to his popularity on Youtube. Unlike the previous generation of harder and politically-inclined artists, Davo’s music is much more Urban (mixing in as much R&B and Pop as Rap) along the lines of the cats in Young Money/Cash Money than Death Row.

That much is immediately evident on his new single, “Andamos De Parranda.” The song and video live up to its title with Davo celebrating the glasses-up-shots-everywhere nightlife with loads of sexy chicas as far as the eye can see and sweet, expensive rides galore. There’s also a shout-out to that drunk guy at every party who cries about his ex-girlfriend before puking his guts out.

The single is the first off his major label debut, El Dominio. “It’s got a lot of variety,” says Davo of the album. “It has party anthems, it has corridos, it has love songs, and songs that’ll make you think of a lost love.”

It’s a far cry from the Gangsta Rap work of Eminem, Dr. Dre, and Snoop Dogg, three artists who fomented his love of Rap music when he was

just 12 years old. However, their influence on him was never about emulating a specific lifestyle.

“I learned different things from all of them,” he explains, “like how to create a style of flow. I loved their work and their production style.”

At age 16, Davo took the first steps in his Rap career by recording and releasing two songs with the help of friends. Soon after, he met the Dr. Dre to his Snoop Dogg in producer Mendez, who is all over El Dominio.

“We actually talked about that the other day,” he says of the comparison with a chuckle. “He’s also a fan of Eminem and we clicked immediately.”

The two have hustled together in Monterrey’s Rap scene for years beginning with Davo’s debut EP, Haciendo Lo Imposible, where Davo began making the impossible possible. Mendez helped him write a track and the album led to invitations to rap battles in the Barrio Antiguo. His victories on stage led to studio time at Howse Records where he recorded his second album, Lo Dejo A Tu Criteria. Later, in 2009, Davo conquered Myspace in Mexico with a #1 slot thanks to his large fanbase and song streams.

MC Davo’s album El Dominio is currently available in Mexico & iTunes and should be available in the U.S. next year.

________

Watch MC Davo’s music video for “Andamos De Parranda” below.

Filed Under: Events, Slider Tagged With: hip hop, interview, MC Davo, mexico, monterrey, rap

Austin Vida + Blastro2 Video Interview: Los Rakas

May 21, 2013 By Austin Vida Staff

Oakland-based "Pana-baynian" hip-hop duo Los Rakas. Courtesy photo.

Los Rakas are a Panamanian rap duo by way of Oakland, California. No stranger to Austin, the group was a featured performer on this year’s Pachanga Latino Music Festival and was here in March for South by Southwest. The Latin Alternative Music Conference “Discovery” award winners will soon be back on the road for a touring with the incredible Ozomatli and later with Mr. Vegas in support of their upcoming double album titled Soy Raka Presents: ‘El Negrito Dun Dun’ & ‘Ricardo’.

During Pachanga Fest our friends at Blastro2 worked with our editor-in-chief, Ian Morales, on some great video coverage and on camera interviews. Morales caught up with Los Rakas at Fiesta Gardens for a brief chat about life as underground stars, their infamous Raka Love EP and their love for their home city. Watch the video interview below.

Filed Under: Events, Slider Tagged With: blastro, hip hop, los rakas, video interview

Spanish-Bolivian rapper Hector Guerra to release ‘Amor’ in December

November 14, 2012 By Austin Vida Staff

Courtesy Photo

Hector Guerra doesn’t stay within the traditional urban Latin realm. With his roots as a founder of the Spanish hip-hop collective Pachamama Crew, Guerra decided to try his luck in Mexico. The Spanish-Bolivian MC and producer fuses rock, hip-hop, reggae, electronica and traditional Latin rhythms to create his own style. Currently residing in Mexico, Guerra joined the AHO Colectivo, a group of artists committed to defending the Cheran and Wirikuta indigenous territories. Members of the group include Rubén Albarrán (Café Tacvba) and Roco Pachucote (Maldita Vecindad / Sonidero Meztizo) among others.

Just in time before the new year rolls in, Guerra will release his second album as a soloist, Amor/Desde El Infierno. It won’t be an ordinary album, but a double album. The first part of the album is set to drop on December 4. The 12 tracks on Amor are filled with mixture of hip-hop, Andean music, dance hall, banda, reggae and cumbia. His first single, “What Up?,” is a preview of what’s to come as Guerra raps over traditional banda music from the Purépecha region of Michoacán.

Watch the “What Up” music video below:

Filed Under: Events Tagged With: amor, desde el infierno, hecto guerra, hip hop, video, what up?

Watch: “Robin Hood” by Tego Calderón

September 7, 2012 By Austin Vida Staff

Reggaeton superstar Tego Calderón is back this month with a new and original video for his song “Robin Hood”. Directed by Kacho Santiago Lopez, the video is the next installment from a special series of music videos being launched from Calderón’s mixtape, El Original Gallo del País – O.G. El Mixtape (The Original Rooster of the Country – OG The Mixtape), which was launched in June.

Calderón was very involved with the director in the creation of the concept for “Robin Hood”and had the final input for the recording, location and treatment of the video. The video “Robin Hood” contains a preview of the song “Si Yo Fuera Usted” (If I Were You), which belongs to the genre known as “bomba,” folkloric music native to his homeland Puerto Rico. The video focuses on several sociopolitical and economic themes such as the immigration of Dominicans to Puerto Rico. Watch the video below.

Calderón will be participating in the next Jiggiri Records release called La Prole: Con Respeto a Mis Mayores (The Family:  With Respect to My Elders), a folkloric “bomba” album that will be released October 2, 2012.  His own commercial  follow-up album El Que Sabe Sabe (He Who Knows, Knows) is due out March of 2013.

Filed Under: Events Tagged With: hip hop, reggaeton, Tego Calderón, video

Cypress Hill and Rusko confirm ‘Cypress X Hill’ release date

May 31, 2012 By Austin Vida Staff

West Coast rap group Cypress Hill meets English dubstep DJ Rusko to create the up-tempo hip-hop heard in their awaited collaboration project. Hill, with more than nine albums under his name, fuses melodic deep bass lines with hard rock riffs transcending genres from hip-hop, alternative, ska, to rock and Latin earning him a place at Lollapalooza and Woodstock among others. Mean while, on the other side of the world, Rusko made his mark with his debut O.M.G! and established himself in the dubstep bandwagon invading the dance floors.

The duo comes together to make Cypress X Rusko dropping digitally on June 5 and physically on June 17 via V2/Cooperative Music.  The five-track EP brings out each artists’ trademark sound yet shows a different side from each giving the EP a range mix of music from high-energy club anthems like “Roll It, Light It” to Damian Marley’s dancehall feel in “Can’t Keep Me Down” and even a grim track that replaces the drums with gunshots in “Shots Go Off.” The duo let fans unlock the “Lez Go” video after spreading enough Twitter shares, revealing performance from the 2012 SmokeOut performance with special guest Travis Barker.

Watch the “Lez Go” video below:

Filed Under: Events Tagged With: hip hop

Watch: “Bang Data” music video

February 6, 2012 By Austin Vida Staff

Bang Data really keeps true to its Latin roots as they mix just enough reggae, cumbia and samba with alternative hip hop to get people up and dancing. It all started three years ago when MC Deuce Eclipse, also known for his collaboration with Zion I, and musician/producer Juan Manuel Caipo decided to form Bang Data after previously working together with DJ AmpLive to produce Eclipse’s solo album. Since then, the duo has performed with Calle 13, Ozomatli and Novalima all while adding their own sound to the alternative music scene in the Bay Area.

With Bang Data’s upcoming release of their debut album, La Sopa, they give us a taste of what’s to come with the music video of their first single “Bang Data.” Although the song is included in their EP, Maldito Carnaval, with its irresistible beat, the track as well as the name Bang Data is impossible to forget. It’s no surprise that the song was featured on the T.V. drama Breaking Bad.

Watch “Bang Data” below:

Filed Under: Events Tagged With: hip hop, video

Download: “Pimpin’ Smokin’ Dro” mp3 by Los Rakas

January 31, 2012 By Austin Vida Staff

Los Rakas know how to shake things up in hip-hop with their Panamanian twist. Yes, their sound includes the typical heavy bass, but their music is slightly different, and sometimes a little unexpected, especially with their hints of folk and Latin beats. The Panamanian-American cousins Raka Rich and Raka Dun have been taking the Bay Area for a ride with their constant rhymes since 2006. The duo is the first urban group to win the Latin Alternative Music Conference’s Discovery Artist award. They have also performed alongside Outkast, Nas, Damien Marley and Ice Cub among many others.

Ready to keep rolling just after their first official EP, Chancletas y Camisetas Bordada, was released last August, Los Rakas show a different side and prove they can rhyme just as well in English as they can in Spanish with their recently released single “Pimpin’ Smokin’ Dro” featuring rapper E-40.  The song will be included in their mix tape Panabay Twist 3 due later this year. It will feature collaborations with other Bay Area hip-hop artists. Look for them in Austin during the week of South by Southwest.

Listen to “Pimpin’ Smokin’ Dro” and download from the bandcamp player below:

Filed Under: Events Tagged With: hip hop

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