SOHH Latino

Hola mi gente. This will be the last post for SOHH Latino. My name is obviously not Goya but it’s been fun channeling my inner 18-year-old hip-hop head. Giving props where props is due (Omar Cruz, Joell, Term, Tego, Tres Coronas) and s***ting when it was necessary (Baby Bash, Down, politicians). Blessing you with the Latina queens that make our boys stand up and salute (Vida, Mayra, Salma, Jenny). Below is an excerpt from a message I got on MySpace from one of the Spanish language MCs I always supported. His name is Malverde and 2008 will be big for duke. Check his message and you’ll know why I decided to do this blog in the first place. Either way ya boy Goya (I’m really a Latino music journalist who’s been doing the damn thing for years. Check for any Latino byline; they ain’t a lot of us out there) will continue to go hard at his 9-to-5, keep supporting Latinos, making sure my parents, Leo & Arnie, are good and enjoying mi vida con Bonita. Thanks for the memories SOHH!

This is some excerpts from my phoner with Lou Diaz of the production duo The Diaz Bros. He broke down the whole Latin rap scene and what exactly is happening with Pitbull.

On Pit’s TVT situation:
The whole situation with TVT is such a mess that we’re going through the motions right now. It’s really hard to put your heart into something that we started. Pit’s gotta keep movin and keep tourin’. When you don’t have that harmony with your label, I think it’s beyond the producers he’s working with, it’s just that you can’t anything done. Being that TVT is such a difficult label to work with it makes it difficult for people who want to work him to do so. I think that affects Pit’s sound. There was collaboration with R. Kelly that didn’t happen. TVT has done good things for Pit but ultimately I don’t feel he has reached his potential on that label.

Goya Presents The Goya Can Awards of 2007…

Goya Can For Best Album of ’07:
Notch, Raised by the People. This hybrid of a human being (the brudda is Cuban, Jamaican, boricua, part Transformer, etc.) put out the best Latin urban album of the year. People is a collection of party-infused music with dashes of reggae, R&B, reggaeton and so much more. Keep an eye for Notch in ’08.

Pit acted a fool (allegedly) this past Friday morn. The Cuban cat got arrested and etc., etc. Needless to say his lawyers will be getting paid soon. His legal reps are already hard at work. Check the statement from Angela N. Martinez, P.A., Pit’s legal representative below.

According to the Miami Herald, Pitbull got arrested for a DUI earlier this morning. He was pulled over for speeding and then proceeded to laugh at the cop. He told the C.O. ''This is a big waste of your time papo.” Of course that went over well and he was quickly put into handcuffs after he failed a sobriety test. This comes as a surprise to me. I actually just interviewed duke this past Wednesday and he was, as always very smart and thorough with his answers.

Term dropped another banger this week. This time targeted at the down times the record biz is having right now. It’s called “The Music Industry” and it’s produced by Fizzy Womack aka ½ of M.O.P. It sampled Tip’s “Industry Rule number 4,080” line and has Term drop lines like this one: “what’s hip-hop? I don’t know, man/I guess it’s whatever the DJ programs.” Palabra! Listen here.

Here it is finally the official video for Omar Cruz’s “I Hang With My Dogz.” The video is straight grimy (it was shot by Estevan Oriol), which is only right because the song is hard as Superman’s balls of steel (pause). Some guest spots from DJ Muggs, Mr. Cartoon, DJ Skee and the BYI familia of LuLu and Rome. Enjoy mi gente.