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.
This Thursday, July 24th, catch the kick off of Remezcla’s 8-city Cultura Dura tour, where you can see Füete Billēte and Álvaro Díaz make their NYC debut at Santos Party House alongside Venus X and Brenmar.
You can learn more about the boricua hip hoppers in Remezcla’s new feature documentary, highlighting the growing scene that is throwing parties, dropping albums, and overall generating more excitement than anything else in Puerto Rico’s underground. In the meantime, we’re kicking off our Essential Facts / Essential Tracks series to showcase all of the artists involved in the Cultura Dura tour. Next up: tonight’s headliners, Füete Billēte and Álvaro Díaz.
Essential Facts
Known as: In the Remezcla feature “Trilligan’s Island,” Marlon Bishop puts it best: “Whatever they are, Fuete Billete arrived to shock and awe the Puerto Rico hip-hop landscape with their potty mouth party rap. But they’re not the only ones causing a stir. A new generation of Puerto Rican hip-hop artists is rising and dramatically changing things up. Rappers like Fuete Billete, Alvaro Diaz, Mike Towers, and Jazz Bandana are all different kinds of artists, but what they have in common is that each is breaking the mold for what audiences expect Latin rap to sound like. And it’s working – this new wave is throwing parties, dropping albums, and overall generating more excitement that anything else in Puerto Rico’s underground right now. Welcome to the new Boricua hip-hop.”
Background: Live and direct from la Ciudad Amurallada, Puerto Rico.
Sounds like: The band’s mission is “to bring explicit rap back to PR” through “catchy hooks, 808 drums and tales of hustlin’, weed smoking, fucking strippers, and of course, money”…so, take that as you will.
Why they’re Cultura Dura guest artists of honor: Whether they’re absurdist artists messing with us or a bunch of party delinquents out of San Jaun, we’re not really sure. What’s important is that they’re challenging us to step outside of our expectations for Latin rap, and are ruffling some hip hop feathers and seeing the world doing it.
Mega-Bono Fact: Keep an eye out for a Remezcla video piece explaining what their slang “la trilla,” “bien guillao,” and “pacas” mean.
Essential Tracks