Tropicalbass is happy to bring you an Exclusive interview with LOS RAKAS.
TB: Hola guys!! It is great to have you back with a new EP! In your opinion How has your sound changed since the early days ?
LOS RAKAS: Thanks a lot for the support!
As far as our sound, we don’t know how our sound has changed. All we know is we’re evolving with every project (they all sound different from Panabay Twist
to Panabay Twist 2: La Tanda Del Bus)
SO, the fans are enjoying it – that’s the important thing.
With Chancletas y Camisetas Bordada we worked organically with 4 different producers (Chief Boima, :::i.ameni::::The Beat Man, Hawk Beats, Ned & Grizz) and took our time. My (Raka Rich) grandmother, La Señora Iris Rosa, is on La Chola + Camisetas Borda which was special. We had amazing chemistry with her in the studio. We also decided to do this EP in Spanish fully for the most part.
TB: Your single ” Ta’ Lista” takes a very minimal approach in terms of beats, and it has a great percussion bridge! How was the recording process?
LOS RAKAS: We went in the studio with producer, :::i.ameni::::The Beat Man (who also produced “Soy Raka”). He played us a few beats but when the “Ta Lista” beat came on we were like, “That’s the one!” When we heard it the instrumental wasn’t finished, but we still came up with the hook, then we wrote the verses. The energy was good, we finished the beat & recorded the song all in one studio session.
TB: Coming from Panama, how did plena like Nando Boom, El general and all the pre-reggaeton artists influence you?
LOS RAKAS: They influenced us a lot; that’s all we sang when we were little kids around the hood. Those artists had great stage presence; their performance made all the people have a great time! We took that same energy and put that Panabay Twist to it and made our own lane.
TB: What is your opinion about Panama’s and/or Central America Global bass scene?
Have you had any feedback from Panama public from your new EP?
LOS RAKAS: Turfin’ (style of dancing out of Oakland you can see in the ‘Soy Raka’ video) has become popular in Panama. If you go to youtube you can see kids across Panama dancing – it’s really cool. The feedback from our Panamanian fans is good. They are proud we’re exporting our culture through music. Our fans believe that we are the next Panamanian artists to go global since El General. We feel honored to represent our country and Latinos across the world.
TB: Your song Abrazame was one of the highlights in 2010. How did that uproot andy rmx helped you to reach more public?
LOS RAKAS: Rico originally created that song around the Hold Yuh Riddim after hearing it on a visit to NYC. We felt good to remix a song that big and get recognized. We got a good response so we decided to send it to Uproot Andy, he made a ridiculous beat. When we made it back to the Bay Area we shot the video with video director Aris Jerome to put a visual behind our song and it became a highlight for us. That song was in rotation on La Mega in NYC, Latino 96.3 in LA + KMEL in San Francisco. The video reached over 200,000+ views on Youtube before it was taken down for publishing reasons which are being resolved…but it definitely had an impact. DJs from across the country still tell us how much they love spinning that record to this day.
TB: It is nice to have you guys here, any info about where and how to get your ” Chancletas y Camiseta Bordada”?
LOS RAKAS:
HERE!!
also
WWW.LOSRAKAS.COM & WWW.SOYRAKA.COM & ITUNES, AMAZON, RASPUTINS IN THE BAY + AMOEBA RECORDS IN HOLLYWOOD
wao