Peru has proved to be a fertile ground for the proliferation of ñu-cumbia. The hybrid genre was born a decade ago in the undergrounds of Mexico and Argentina to later expand throughout the continent, and now it seems like the torch has passed hands and the most interesting ñu-cumbia stuff is coming out of Lima.
We are all super familiar with Dengue Dengue Dengue, who achieved the most international exposure of all Peruvian ñu-cumbieros. Now if Dengue’s trippy cumbia is a bit too clean and polished for you, let me introduce you to Deltatron. This guy is the real deal. Not only is he a pioneer in the Inca scene, he also runs a netlabel that releases some of that interesting ñu-cumbia stuff coming of Lima mentioned above.
Lo$ 100$ Mixtape is a 50-minute long journey through the Peruvian capital’s underground guided by Deltatron (née Paz Ferrand) with the help of many members of his label who provided exclusive remixes and mash-ups. It’s pure, undiluted ñu-cumbia the way it was meant to be– gritty, borderline gangsta, but also tongue-in-cheek and fun. There’re a lot of hip-hop acapellas being used, some dembow, plenty of bass, and a couple of very recognizable samples, all patched together with the democratizing power of cumbia’s güiro. That’s what’s up.