Maná

Photo: Daniel Knighton/Getty Images

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Maná Named 2018 Latin Recording Academy Person Of The Year

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The iconic GRAMMY and Latin GRAMMY-winning band will be honored for their artistic achievement and humanitarian contributions a day before the Latin GRAMMYs in Las Vegas
Jennifer Velez
GRAMMYs
Sep 6, 2018 - 2:41 pm

The Latin Recording Academy has announced Maná, the iconic Latin GRAMMY-winning pop-rock band, as the 2018 Latin Recording Academy Person Of The Year. The group is the first band to ever receive the honor. 

Maná, made up of Fher Olvera, Alex González, Sergio Vallín and Juan Calleros, is a six-time Latin GRAMMY and four-time GRAMMY winner. They will be recognized at a gala that will feature a tribute concert performed by their friends and other artists on Nov. 14 in Las Vegas, a day before the 2018 Latin GRAMMY Awards on Nov. 15.

The band were essential in formulating Mexico's '90s rock scene and have become influential globally in Latin America and beyond for their fusion of pop, rock, bolero and other genres that continue to shape their sound. The band have also been advocates for social justice, global equality and environmental protection—they launched their philanthropic entity, Fundación Ecológica Selva Negra, which protects and preserves endangered species, has an educational component and helps develop community projects.

"Maná (Fher, Alex, Sergio and Juan) is an iconic band with a profound social and environmental consciousness that has created captivating and vibrant music for over three decades," said President/CEO of The Latin Recording Academy Gabriel Abaroa Jr.

The Person Of The Year award honors musicians with an Ibero-American background for their musical achievements and humanitarian work.

"It is a grand and unexpected recognition to an extensive career, a beautiful and passionate one that we continue to enjoy as if it were the first day." said Fher on behalf of the band. "We are flattered that the most prestigious Latin music organization is recognizing us. Undoubtedly, it will be moving to hear our songs performed by talented colleagues and friends. We hope to continue using our voices and this honor to raise awareness about environmental concerns and human rights issues around the world."

Maná has won awards at the 38th GRAMMY Awards, 41st GRAMMY Awards, 42nd GRAMMY Awards, 45th GRAMMY Awards, 49th GRAMMY Awards and 54th GRAMMY Awards.

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Maluca Mala

Photo: J. Grassi/Patrick McMullan via Getty Images

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How Maluca Mala Is Flipping The Script With Her Daring Sound

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Meet the Bronx-born, Dominican singer who has been mixing Latin genres like merengue with dance beats and female-empowering lyrics
Jennifer Velez
GRAMMYs
Sep 21, 2018 - 6:31 pm

Maluca Mala's stage name carries weight. Meaning "bad woman" in Spanish, Maluca took a name that has a derogatory history and turned it into a powerful statement.

"I grew up being called Maluca. It was a very endearing name," she said in an interview with Latina. "But one time I searched its meaning, and I learned that it’s used in Latin American countries to describe a Black woman, or really like a woman in blackface, which is obviously bad and has a negative connotation. But, for me, it’s always been positive, never a way to put me down."

The singer, who is Bronx-born with Dominican roots, paired "maluca" with "mala" or "bad" in English—inspired by urban culture's use of bad as being powerful or "daring" as she told Latina—and became Maluca Mala.

Her sound is daring too. Throughout her career, Maluca has meshed genres like hip-hop, merengue – a musical genre deriving from the Dominican Republic – with electronic dance music and has been at the forefront of other genres like "tropical punk" and "ghetto techno." With lyrics in simultaneous English and Spanish, or Spanglish, she denounces European beauty standards, empowers Afro-Latinas to be confident with who they are, reclaims gender stereotypes or just sings about love with a fun and innovative beat.  

While being in the underground scene for years, Maluca has collaborated with big names in pop culture. She has been associated with Mad Decent, a L.A.based Record Label headed by GRAMMY winner Diplo, and been featured on tracks by GRAMMY-nominated singer Robyn and electro-music project Mexican Institute Of Sound.

Listen to the music below to learn more about Maluca Mala's sound:

"El Tigeraso"

The story goes that "El Tigeraso" was made after Maluca met Diplo at a karaoke bar. The song has a merengue influence that comes together with electro and lyrics boasts to men about "having it all."

"Mala"

Maluca embraces her blackness and her bold personality in "Mala." "I wrote the record as a way to highlight all the negative things people told me about myself," she told V Magazine. "You have bad hair, you're crazy, you're too tough...and embrace them. Yes, my hair is nappy and I look like a witch and I'm crazy, but you love it! I've had self-esteem issues for many years and now that I'm in my 30s I'm just really f***ing feeling myself."

"Trigger"

In "Trigger," Maluca sings about love over a raggeton beat: " Don't care what they all gonna say/ I just want a magnum love everyday/ Coming like a bang and you know I'm not afraid/ To pull that trigger, gonna pull that trigger."                                                        

READ:  Cuban-French Duo Ibeyi Are Leaving Their Mark On U.S. Pop Culture 

 

OutKast

Photo: Denise Truscello/WireImage

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'Speakerboxxx/The Love Below' Turns 15: What's Your Favorite Song?

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This month OutKast's double-disc album turns 15 and we want to know which song was your favorite
Jennifer Velez
GRAMMYs
Sep 21, 2018 - 12:21 pm

When Southern hip-hop duo OutKast dropped Speakerboxxx/The Love Below, we were blessed with a collection that embodied the eclecticism and innovation that only André 3000 and Big Boi bring to the table on their own. The double-disc is basically two different albums; one side features music by André 3000 and the other by Big Boi. Together it gave us bangers like "Hey Ya!" and "The Love Below" and won the duo Album Of The Year at the 46th Annual GRAMMY Awards—the second rap album to do so.

Polls

Which Is Your Favorite Song From OutKast's Speakerboxxx/The Love Below?

This month the album turns 15 and we're celebrating. We want to know which song off the double-album was your favorite. Did the light, funky beats from "Hey Ya!" get you dancing or was it the cool, soulful vibe from "The Way You Move" that got you moving? Or was it "Roses," "Take Off Your Cool," GhettoMusick," or "Flip Flop Rock" that you like the most?

"Hey Ya!"

"The Way You Move"

"Roses"

READ: Deep 10: OutKast's Speakerboxxx/The Love Below

Ibeyi

Photo: David Wolff - Patrick/Redferns

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Cuban-French Duo Ibeyi Are Leaving Their Mark On U.S. Pop Culture

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Meet French-Cuban twin sisters Ibeyi, who mix their Yoruba Cuban roots with electric hip-hop sounds and more, earning them notice from Beyoncé
Jennifer Velez
GRAMMYs
Sep 20, 2018 - 5:48 pm

French-Cuban twin sisters Ibeyi may have been born and raised in Paris, they spent sometime in Cuba too when they were small, but they are leaving footprints in U.S. pop culture in big ways--even if their first performance on American soil only happened four years ago.

Sisters, Lisa-Kaindé and Naomi Diaz, can be seen through the "All Night" video made as a part of Beyoncé's film Lemonade-- Lisa-Kaindé with her hair in a fro and Naomi with looser long curls. This is also the most obvious way you can tell the twins apart. More recently, the sisters can be heard on the third part of Lin-Manuel Miranda's August #Hamildrop Hamilton content series. 

Ibeyi have long known about creating music, however. Their late father, Anga Diaz, was a conga player and a GRAMMY winner. He was a Yoruba, Cuban percussionist who played in Buena Vista Social Club and Orishas. And it is evident that his spirit and culture lives through their music.

To begin to understand Ibeyi as artists, it's important to look at their name. Ibeyi means "twins" in the Cuban Yoruba dialect. Influence of their Cuban and Yoruba roots --Naomi can be seen playing the bata-cajon in performances-- are at the center of their music and mesh with synth beats, soul and hip-hop with lyrics in Yoruba, English and Spanish.

“Batas are religious drums," Lisa-Kaindé told Modern Drummer."So we take that which is from our culture, those songs and sounds that we’ve heard for so long, and we mix them with new music, music that we listen to every day. That’s an important part of Ibeyi—playing with the past and the future, or with the tradition and the new music.”

As teens they were signed by Richard Russell and the duo released their self-titled album in 2015. They released their lastest album Ash September of last year. Watch the videos below to learn more about Ibeyi's sound:

"Rise Up Wise Up Eyes Up"

The #Hamildrop is a music series that draws inspiration from Hamilton, Miranda's rap musical that remixes the life of Alexander Hamilton. We’re honoured to be able to share with you our contribution to the #Hamildrop," Ibeyi tweeted out about the song about consciousness and resilience.

 "River"

Beyoncé put on her followers to Ibeyi via an Instagram post with this song in the background back in 2015. The song is dedicated to the Yoruba goddess of sweet, fresh waters, Genius writes. "Carry away my dead leaves/ Let me baptize my soul with the help of your waters/ Sink my pains and complains/Let the river take them, river drown them/My ego and my blame," the song goes. "We want something that is twisted, we want something that is powerful," Lisa-Kiandé Lisa-Kia told Much about the video in which they had to hold their breath to shoot.

"Deathless"

If you listen closely, death is a theme throughout some of Ibeyi's songs. "Deathless" features Kamasi Washington and is a song about a racist encounter Lisa-Kiandé had with a cop, she told  "Song Exploder. 

READ: Princess Nokia Is Making Space For People Who "Don't Have A Voice Yet" In Music

Princess Nokia 

Photo: Burak Cingi/Redferns

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Princess Nokia Is Making Space For People Who "Don't Have A Voice Yet" In Music

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Meet Princess Nokia, an Afro-Latina rapper making space in music for women with intersecting identities
Jennifer Velez
GRAMMYs
Sep 19, 2018 - 3:59 pm

More than a rapper and singer, Destiny Frasqueri aka Princess Nokia is a fighter. The story behind her journey into music says it all. Her re-birth as a music artist transpired thanks to the moments after she left her abusive foster mother. She was in her mid-teens and had just three dollars in her pocket – "That was really the start of Princess Nokia," she says in Destiny, a documentary about her by The Fader.  

Musically, Princess Nokia embodies energy that derives from her Nuyorican, Bruja—or witch in Spanish—and her queer identity with beats that will make you move. Her "all the girls to front attitude" at her shows is just an ounce of the kind of artist and performer she is. Flowing from rapping to singing, Princess Nokia's music is about taking up space as a woman with intersecting identities and reflects her musical adaptability. "I'm that Black a-Rican bruja straight out from the Yoruba/ And my people come from Africa diaspora, Cuba," she raps in her song "Bruja."

Through three albums – she has also released music under a former moniker, Wavy Spice – she has continued to carve out a space for herself. Her album 1992 Deluxe peaked at No. 25 on the Billboard Heatseekers chart, which tracks up-and-coming artists, and she has played major festivals including Coachella and Afropunk.

"I felt it was time to speak my truth and represent an identity and an intersection that many people like myself don't have a voice yet in hip-hop," she told Noisey.

Her latest album is a dive into emo music and just goes to show how there really are no boxes for Princess Nokia's sound. Learn more about her music with the videos below.

"YAYA"

Under a different moniker, Wavy Spice, Princess Nokia paid tribute to her Taino, a group of Indigenous people that inhabited the Caribbean, roots with "YAYA." She mixes a rap beat with a Native sound and features lyrics both in English and Taino. "In my heart I feel something/ No one can deny it/ History can tell you something/ But they‘re always lying/ You must know I came with something/ So don’t even try it/ Warrior blood, got warrior blood/Hear my people crying," she sings.

"Brujas"

As Princess Nokia, Frasqueri continues to make music that reflects who she is. In "Brujas," she honors her Yoruba, a faith and a people descending from West Africa, roots and family tree, which includes grandmothers who were witches. She paired the song with a video she co-directed with Asli Baykal, in which she lets her curly fro shine and begins with an indigenous song.

"Tomboy"

Princess Nokia continues to rap about what makes her her in "Tomboy," her self-love anthem. With a bouncy beat, Princess Nokia embraces her breast-size and unapologetic, non-conforming style that sometimes includes her hoops, baggy pants and Timberland boots. In the video she wears oversized sweaters and a gold plated chain with "Destiny" it. 

"Your Eyes Are Bleeding"

It may not be obvious, but Princess Nokia is a huge alt-rock fan. As Remezcla points out, those who follow Princess Nokia on social media, may know how much she loves the likes of Blink-182 and Paramore. "Your Eyes Are Bleeding" is one single out of A Girl Cried Red, her latest album in which she goes all out emo. "I wanted to write a mixtape that was about falling apart and being a fucking mess," she said about the album in a live Instagram chat.