Well, this is quite the Fast & Furious: 9 marketing tactic: Vin Diesel just hopped on a dembow track. You read that right. The 52-year-old F9 actor surprised fans of the film franchise and Dominican genre alike after leading dembowsero, El Alfa, announced his feature on a new remix of “Coronao Now” on February 10.
We’ve been eagerly waiting for the track to drop, and now, it’s finally here. Released this morning, the “Coronao Now” remix features a whole cast of characters: Lil Pump (who was originally featured on last year’s release), Sech, Myke Towers and yep, Vin Diesel. It’s everything we could have hoped for and more.
As for what role the actor plays, let’s just say that Vin Diesel’s limited Spanish-speaking skills go as far as they possibly can: There’s a quick quip of dembow’s famous “la pámpara, prendía,” and then his verse veers into eff-you territory — “tu no lo entiendes,” he huffs. I mean, most Dominican dembow fans likely do understand, big guy, but it’s a nice nod to the unknowing Anglo-audience of Fast & Furious.
While Vin Diesel may not be a legit dembowsero, he has always repped his love for Latinx culture. The mysteriously multicultural actor has often been mistaken as Latinx (and truth be told, Vin Diesel only knows he’s “definitely a person of color,” but there’s not much else known about his biological father).
For all it’s worth, however, Vin Diesel has no problem dipping his toes into Latin music. Let’s just remember that time he unknowingly delivered the lyrics to this Mediopicky track, “El Naranjito de mi abuela,” which features shoutouts like “si tu puedes soñarlo, tu puedes hacerlo.” Words to live by, Vin.
You can check out the lyric video to “Coronao Now” by El Alfa, ft. Lil Pump, Sech, Myke Towers and Vin Diesel, below.