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Home , DJ Muggs, Latin hip hop, Latin pop, Latin trap, Sen Dog

20 Established 1961 Lifestyle Music Sunday, April 21, 2019

In this file photo Puerto Rican singer Ozuna performs during the 19th Annual in Las In this file photo Mexican singer Alfredo Gonzalez Gonzalez In this file photo Puerto Rican singer performs on stage at the Vegas, Nevada. — AFP photos plays accordion with the band Los Tucanes de Tijuana on Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in Indio, . stage at Coachella Music Festival in Indio, California. has US grooving more and more in Spanish

ust two years after the lilting mega-hit eted spots. Many experts attribute the US “” captivated the globe, Latin industry’s rapid growth to a par- Jstars are cementing their place in the US allel streaming explosion. According to the mainstream, moving beyond scoring a one-off Recording Industry Association of America, smash to headline festivals and permeate the Latin music saw its second consecutive year charts. An unprecedented number of Spanish- of double-digit growth stateside in 2018, language acts are performing at this year’s jumping 18 percent from the year prior to Coachella festival, where a second weekend of rake in $413 million. shows begins -a sure-fire sign of their Paid subscription platforms like Spotify’s mounting influence in a country where 41 million premium service meanwhile saw nearly 50 per- people claim Spanish as their mother tongue. cent growth in revenues. The trends are feeding They are not just guests of top-billed acts or off each other, according to RIAA chief opera- appearing on lesser stages-stars like tions officer Michele Ballantyne: “Any conversa- revolutionary and Puerto Rican trap tion about the Latin music market starts with artist Bad Bunny are winning key time slots on one word: streaming.” “Latin music’s transfor- their own. And they are singing in Spanish, mation from a physical-based business to a eschewing the “crossover” label often slapped streaming-driven one is even faster than the singer Mon Laferte shimmied through her In this file photo Spanish on their A-list predecessors like , overall US music market’s turnaround,” she said. primetime set. and . Bad Bunny-the 25- Indeed, YouTube said last December that in singer Rosalia and Laferte went on after Los Tucanes de Colombian singer J Balvin year-old face of , a that fuses 2018, eight out of its top 10 most-viewed music Tijuana-one of Mexico’s most famous narco- reggaeton with elements of from the US videos worldwide belonged to Latino artists, perform on stage at the ballad bands-got the crowd swaying to its Coachella Valley Music and south-lit up Coachella’s top stage during week Afro-Latino star Ozuna appearing in four of accordion-heavy anthems. “When they went one and is set to perform again Sunday. “I’m them. The Dominican-Puerto Rican recently Arts Festival in Indio, on, I got so happy, like, ‘Where are all my California. very proud of what I represent, of the Latino vowed to continue performing in his native Mexicans!’ said the 25-year-old Castillo, who community that has come far speaking the lan- Spanish, telling Billboard that “all the time, it’s is from San Diego. “It was honestly pretty guage they speak,” he said in Spanish to the ‘English, English, English.’” “If I have the oppor- emotional.” For balladeer Laferte, 35, the invi- throng gathered to see him. tunity of having so many followers, and helping tation to play on Coachella’s top stage shows to take Latino artists and culture to the main- that “language is not something that’s separat- Streaming influence stream, I’m not going to selfishly throw it away ing us anymore.” ’s J Balvin brought his unique ver- because I learned English and can ‘cross over.’” In this file photo Chilean singer Mon Laferte performs on Speaking in Spanish to AFP, she called sion of reggaeton-a massively popular Puerto music a “common language that makes dis- stage at Coachella Music Festival in Indio, California. Music a common language Rican-born amalgam of Caribbean beats and tances smaller.” Laferte said the waves of neg- hip-hop influences-to the California festival’s The Latin music boom in the is ativity against Latinos-some of which can be main stage, the genre’s first ever full showcase noteworthy particularly in light of Donald traced back to Trump statements about immi- there. “It took 15 years for reggaeton to get to Trump’s hardline stance on the country’s south- grants-actually “generates a bigger opposi- Coachella. We are here!” the boundary-pusher ern border, with the US president insisting the tion.” “There are many people who... embrace “Where are all shouted to launch his history-making perform- nation has been overrun by migrants. For us, and are very kind, and want to speak our ance, as the crowd vibed and waved flags rep- Coachella attendee Andrea Castillo, the growing language,” she said.—AFP ping countries from throughout . stateside presence of Spanish-speaking acts In another landmark moment, the 33-year- symbolizes that Latin culture has become more my Mexicans!” old Balvin will in August headline Chicago’s and more ingrained in US society. “Our genera- Lollapalooza festival, becoming the first tion is fighting for what we want, and that Spanish-language act to nab one of the cov- includes music,” Castillo told AFP as Chilean

views in 24 hours with 74.6 million hits. The track is also the band’s first ever British Top 15 single, chart- K-pop phenomenon ing at number 13 on Friday. The band, known for their boyish good looks and meticulously choreographed dance moves, will play BTS first Korean act two sold out nights at London’s iconic Wembley Stadium, on June 1 and 2. Earlier this year the septet, whose name is short for Bangtan Sonyeondan, which to top UK chart translates as Bulletproof Boy Scouts, became the first K-pop band to top the US album charts. Some -pop sensation BTS scored another record on 800,000 tourists were believed to have chosen South Friday, becoming the first Korean act to top Korea as their destination last year because of BTS- KBritain’s album chart. The floppy-haired seven- more than seven percent of the total visitors to the piece’s latest album “Map of the soul: Persona” went country.—AFP straight in at number one, days after their single “Boy With Luv” broke the YouTube record for the most

Rapper Kodak Black arrested in

Member of the hip-hop group Senen Reyes, Lawrence DJ Muggs Muggerud, Eric Bobo Correa and Louis New York on drug, weapons charges B-Real Freese are honored with star on The Hollywood Walk of Fame in Hollywood, California. — AFP photos

said Muggerud, with bandmate Louis Freese, aka B-Real, apper Kodak Black was released from custody including CNN. Video footage from local media outlets at his side. “My brothers saw something in me and put on by the New York State Police on Thursday after showed Black leaving the jail holding a fan-like spread Latin hip-hop group the path to music and we formed Cypress Hill.” The band’s being arrested on drug and gun charges while of cash over his face. name was inspired by a neighborhood street where the R members grew up. They sold more than three million coming across the Canada-US border near Niagara CNN reported that he had been scheduled to per- Falls, police said. Black, 21, was stopped on Wednesday form at the House of in Boston on Wednesday Cypress Hill unveil copies of their second album, “Black Sunday” in 1993, evening by US Customs and Border Protection agents night and his lack of appearance angered waiting fans. while their latest album, “Elephants on Acid”, was released at the Lewiston-Queenston International Bridge headed TMZ reported that Black’s show at the Foxwoods in September last year.—AFP back into the United States from Canada, the New York Resort Casino in Mashantucket, Connecticut, scheduled State Police said in a release. for Thursday night was also canceled. The rapper and ‘Walk of Fame’ star Black’s real name is Bill Kapri, and he is a resident of songwriter, signed to Atlantic Records, has become one Miramar, Florida. Black, who was driving a Cadillac of the biggest artists of hip-hop. He is known for his hit he Latin American hip-hop group Cypress Hill on Escalade, and three other Florida men following in a singles “Zeze”, “Roll in Peace”, “Tunnel Vision”, and “No Thursday unveiled a star on Hollywood’s “Walk of Porsche were arrested on drug and weapons charges. Flockin”. TFame” in , the city where they formed Black was charged with second-degree criminal pos- Black has had a number of run-ins with the law over more than three decades ago. “It’s totally surreal,” session of a weapon, a Glock 9mm pistol, and unlawful the last few years, mostly over weapons and drug Lawrence Muggerud, aka DJ Muggs, told AFP. “We possession of marijuana, police said. charges, multiple media accounts say. He recently walked here as kids, we looked at the stars. We never The other three men face similar charges from angered some fans by expressing a romantic interest in thought we’d have one. “We represent hip-hop, Latinos, weapons and drugs found in the Porsche. A representa- the girlfriend of late rapper Nipsey Hussle, who was music, dreams. It’s wonderful to celebrate with the family,” tive for Black was not immediately available to talk to shot to death outside a clothing store he owned in Los he added, 30 years after the formation of the first Latin Reuters on Thursday evening. Black was released on Angeles last month.—Reuters American group to have a record go platinum in the US, or Thursday afternoon from the Niagara County Jail on sell more than one million copies. $20,000 bail, multiple media accounts have reported, “Before music I was in a gang, and there are not many Cypress Hill’s just unveiled Hollywood Walk of Fame Star is ways out as you know-either prison or the graveyard,” pictured during a ceremony in Hollywood, California.