They’re back! Last year we got all excited when Dante and Emmanuel announced they were getting back together, ten years after their break up. Since then, they’ve been touring again as Illya Kuryaki & The Valderramas and they locked themselves in the studio to record a new album, to be released next month. And here it is, finally, the first single out of that still-to-be-named album.
“Ula Ula” is a hard-hitting old school funky jam with irresistible rhythm and simple but effective party-igniting lyrics with huge potential to become a hit the size of “Coolo.” It shows the Argentine rapping duo comfortable doing what they do the best and noticeably more mature (long gone are the fake chicano accents and slang).
A lot has happened since their never-officially-announced breakup in 2001. First, Dante Spinetta became some sort of born-again Christian R&B singer, then he dialed back to his pure hip-hop origins collecting some MC props, and on the way, he made time to experiment with cumbia villera. Meanwhile, Emmanuel Horvilleur kept himself busy becoming an androgynous glam rockstar and played a hot DJ for Poncho‘s massive hit video. Oh, and he also got to experiment with some cumbia.
So the question now is, will this reunion be focused on their retro funk phase as suggested by this single? Or will they also incorporate some of the lessons they’ve been learning apart from each other during this past decade. In other words, will we see Illya Kuryaki & The Valderramas playing cumbia together?
Download Illya Kuryaki & The Valderramas’ “Ula Ula” below:
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