Regional Mexican: Urban Regional Digs In

Young artists who boldly fuse hip-hop sounds and attitude with traditional rhythms are driving a new urban movement within the regional Mexican genre.

But this new movement has had its share of growing pains. Urban regional acts face obstacles including a lack of effective promotion and marketing and elusive radio play.

Yet success is possible, as such new groups as Akwid, Mexiclan and Kumbia Kings have proved.

Record company executives use the term "urban regional" to refer to new acts that infuse traditional norteño and banda rhythms with hip-hop and urban elements.

The movement ranges from the cumbia-dance grooves of the Kumbia Kings and ATM to the hardcore banda/norteño/hip-hop fusion of Akwid, Mexiclan and Lil J. On the fringe are a variety of artists from hardcore Latino rappers like Chingo Bling and

SPM to Latino R&B balladeers like DJ Kane, Baby Bash and Amanda Perez.

The hip-hop culture is also influencing mainstream norteño/banda acts like Los Razos, Chuy Jr., Big Circo and Yolanda Perez, who are now including one or two rap/hip-hop tracks on each album.

The rise of this style is not surprising, says Bird Rodriguez, veteran DJ at regional Mexican KLEY San Antonio, which plays ATM, Quinto Sol and DJ Kane.

"Whenever the radio isn't giving the kids what they want, they are going to find it somewhere else, even if it means they have to create it," Rodriguez says. "The new kids always have to find their own identities, their own styles."

The fusion of urban and traditional rhythms is a natural evolution, says DJ Khool Aid, who is heard on Los Angeles-based syndicated radio show "Pocosperolocos.fm."

"This music has been on the street for 10 years," he says. "Some label guys just gave it a name, but it really is more like Latin hip-hop. The music works because the kids get the hip-hop they like mixed with the Mexican music they grew up listening to, like Ramon Ayala and the other oldies. So right away you feel good, because it's the hip stuff with your early influences."

GETTING THE WORD OUT

Yet getting this "street culture" into the mainstream has not been easy.

"It's been difficult to work our group Mexiclan at radio," says Abel A. De Luna Jr., president of A&M Music. "The stations consider the music too regional Mexican for pop formats and too urban, too edgy for regional Mexican stations."

Undaunted, De Luna, like executives at other indie labels, has resorted to word-of-mouth, street promotions and other guerilla marketing as well as reaching out to flea markets, municipal garage sales, low-rider shows and other nontraditional venues.

"We use whatever we can, from TV campaigns to appearances on hip-hop shows like 'The Roof' on the MunDos network," De Luna says. The label also schedules promotional events and relentlessly circulates all press reviews and interviews of the group.

As a result, Mexiclan, like Akwid, has slowly begun to gather steam.

Akwid in particular has enjoyed a successful run of its debut CD, 2003's "Proyecto Akwid," a fusion of traditional Mexican norteño and cumbia rhythms and hard-core rap and R&B that took off and earned the act a Grammy nomination.

Akwid received a major boost when regional Mexican KBUE Los Angeles PD Pepe Garza began playing the duo's music last year.

A major part of the appeal of urban regional is its underground cachet. It is rarely heard on mainstream radio, which makes Akwid's sales all the more impressive.

So why didn't the style catch on before?

"Probably because people didn't think it was real music," says rapper Sem "Leon" Vargas, half of Los Angeles-based duo Mexiclan. "They probably thought it was just ruido [noise]. I know, for sure, there's been people that have been trying to do this for a long time, more than 10 years probably.

"But it wasn't taken seriously, or the music was too 'street' or too violent," he adds. "They probably said, 'There are too many bad words in that music' or too much violence. But we're just teaching them that this is real music. There's also music in urban and hip-hop styles, and youngsters also like the Mexican music, so we add everything together."

EMBRACING THE STREETS

Label executives have realized that, as with the punk and rap movements, street marketing is essential for urban regional acts. Street teams work out-of-the-way clubs, college radio and small-market and local access TV shows to reach audiences.

Contraband Records, based in Los Angeles, has been promoting its Latino hip-hopper Reazn in a non-conventional fashion. Label head Jesus Torres says his staffers have previous experience in tagging, a type of graffiti where individuals write their name all over the city—on fences, sidewalks, overpasses—for street fame and visibility.

"Although they no longer participate in such activities, their experience allows them to carry a wealth of knowledge for identifying locations for promotional product placement," Torres says. "If you want to be seen in an urban environment, these guys are the experts. Where majors see concrete, we see opportunity."

The urban regional movement also has influenced other Tex-Mex artists who have begun to inject varying degrees of R&B, funk, pop, rap and hip-hop into their music. These include San Antonio's DJ Kane and Stefani, Corpus Christi's La Conquista, Houston's Lil J and the Kumbia Kings offshoot Kingz One from Dallas.

Stefani unveiled a new R&B/hip-hop/cumbia fusion on her new CD, "Takin' on the World." In a packed showcase April 22 at San Antonio's Arjon's International Club, Stefani, joined by a rapper and two dancers, unloaded a gripping blend of cumbia-funk grooves on "Baila," the CD's first single. She used electronica effects on "Ritmo Chido," which echoed her mid-'90s hit "Baila Conmigo."

More hip-hop and funk came through on the winning English-language pop tunes "Promises" and "Get'cha Groove On."

The new R&B/hip-hop/cumbia hybrid is just a continuation of a cycle in which music reflects culture and culture reflects music, Stefani says.

"We definitely used more R&B and hip-hop on this album because we are really trying to appeal to the youth," Stefani says. "But the main focus is still on our dance cumbias."

The urban regional scene includes several other artists of note.

Austin's unsigned Grupo Chevere, currently gaining attention from several labels, is a seven-piece fronted by 19-year-old singer Sonia Bass. The group's signature sound is a fresh fusion of reggae, cumbias, hip-hop, funk, rap, dancehall and Tejano.

Its single "Ensaname," a bewitching cumbia with crisp melodic hooks and singalong choruses, is getting airplay in Austin and San Antonio. Ex-La Sombra Rey Talamantez, who plays sax and keyboards, also manages the band.

THE EXTREME FRINGE

One extreme fringe of the urban regional scene are the hardcore Latino and Chicano rappers like SPM, Mr. Capone-E, Scrappy Loco, Brown Boy, Don Cisco and Hispanic MCs. Many of these comprise the Chicano rap division of Pomona, Calif.-based Thump Records.

In Houston, Chingo Bling is touring the familiar circuit of flea markets, low-rider shows and festivals that SPM pioneered in the late '90s. Chingo Bling's latest CD, "The Tamale King," features more than a dozen guest artist/rappers, including Baby Bash, 5th Ward Weebie, Fade Dogg, Mike Jones, Paul Wall, Russell Lee, Max Minelli, Mello and Risky.

Chingo Bling's single "Walk Like Cleto" is getting airplay on rhythmic top 40s KBBT (92.5 the Beat) San Antonio and KPTY (104.9 the Party) Houston and on the "Pocoperolocos.fm" syndicated radio show.

And on her debut CD, "Dejenme Llorar," Yolanda Perez has been tapping the urban regional style and gaining radio play thanks to the amusing song "Estoy Enamorada," featuring rapper DJ Cheto.

A fan of Tupac Shakur and Alicia Keys, Perez says she wants to add more R&B and hip-hop to her next album.

"I would really like to include my R&B tastes on my next album to let people hear the inspirations in my music," she says.



Ramiro Burr is a music reporter for the San Antonio Express-News and author of "The Billboard Guide to Tejano and Regional Mexican Music." He can be reached at rburr@express-news.net.