Cultura Dura is a Remezcla and Mike’s HARDER content and event series highlighting emerging Latin urban culture. We’ll be exploring scenes that haven’t really gotten any coverage anywhere else – from block parties and street art to underground sports and raw, young artists making movements pa’ la calle.

After signing to Universal Music earlier this year, MLKMN could now be considered a major label ambassador for the border town mentality processed through hip-hop filters– an encounter of sounds rooted in his upbringing between Monterrey and Laredo, Texas, where 808s and booty bass gloriously collides.

As a beat maker and lyricist, at the heart MLKMN roots his inspiration in formative party-hopping experiences at quinceañeras that doubled as sound clashes, where the DJ could fluidly hop between el General and “El Tiburón” to classic Southern hip-hop from UGK.

In this #CulturaDura exclusive, MLKMN gives us an insider’s view into his “beast mode” studio practice– a video portrait of the young producer as he’s on the brink of reaching a much wider crowd with his first major label release about to drop. Perhaps better known as an emcee at this point, here MLKMN gets to show off his production chops– which were recently leveraged by a big name rapper whose name we can’t yet disclose.