D.C.’s Empresarios aren’t strangers to remixes. They just dropped a collection of remixes of their latest album El Sonido Mágico last month. You can be sure that pretty much everything they release will be followed by a remixed version soon after. But this one here caught me by surprise.
“Cumbia” in its original version was included in Empresarios’ 2011 debut album, Sabor Tropical, and it’s already been remixed by Nickodemus in a memorable version that was released digitally even before the album came out. So what’s the need for yet another remix two years later, you might wonder?
Well, for starters, “Cumbia” is a dope track, one of Empresarios’ best, and DJs keep playing it in their mixes as if it’s brand new (I know I do). But mainly, The Gaff (a Canada-based DJ and break-beat connoisseur, who also happens to be from D.C.) gives it a whole new unexpected twist. Gaff takes the track in a dubby direction and adds sampled vocals in Spanish, turning it into something completely different and definitely worth a spin.