The movie Amores Perros got here out in 2000, kickstarting the worldwide profession of director Alejandro González Iñárritu, and introducing main man Gael García Bernal. The soundtrack to that uncooked portrait of latest Mexican society – punctuated by symbolically laden dog-fighting scenes – is a cosmopolitan montage of songs that transcended the movie itself, defining Latin Various music. Greater than some other track on that album, Management Machete’s hip-hop anthem “Sí Señor” heralded the arrival of artists of a brand new Latin American era whose music was unquestionably worldwide, and altogether their very own.
The track’s crazy soulful groove, spiked with samples by Kool & the Gang and Jeff Beck, proved irresistible, whether or not or not you understood the observe’s empowering lyrics. “Sí Señor” went extensive after advert company Chiat/Day selected the track for a Spike Jonze-directed Levi’s industrial shot in Mexico Metropolis that aired through the 2002 Tremendous Bowl.
Hearken to Management Machete’s greatest songs now.
“Sí Señor” debuted on Management Machete’s 1999 second album Artillería Pesada, Presenta… The “heavy artillerary” in query was equipped by Machete’s DJ Toy Selectah (aka Antonio Hernández), whose arsenal of beats ranged from rock to cumbia to norteño music, jazz, and classic Mexican pop. Pato Machete (Patricio Elizalde) and Fermin IV (Fermín Caballero Elizondo) had been the twin MCs of the band, shaped casually whereas the three had been attending college within the Northern metropolis of Monterrey, a metropolis that emerged because the supply of Mexico’s new sound, its music scene supported by a mushrooming community of radio exhibits, festivals, and fanzines.
Comprendes Mendes?
Management Machete rapidly noticed success. Actually, their first single “Comprendes Mendes” grew to become an enormous radio hit. The track, a cautionary story of gang violence within the language of the road, rapidly transcended the Mexican airwaves and reverberated round Latin America, making it a basic of hip hop en español.
“Rap at that time allowed us to be rebellious and subversive,” Toy would later replicate in an interview on the Mexican podcast Dementes. “The vocal strength of language, to say exactly what you want to say and talk about what you want to talk about; rap gave us that opportunity.”
Generación MTV
The get together actually began for Management Machete by way of MTV Latinoamérica, which within the Nineteen Nineties, like by no means earlier than, offered Latin American artists with an enormous worldwide viewers that actually spoke the identical language.
Management Machete went into excessive rotation with the video for “Humanos Mexicanos,” a crotch-grabbing response to the U.S. border coverage that was each chilling and darkly humorous.
The video for the psychedelic rap “Andamos Armados” visualized lyrics about packing “a microphone and rhythm” as a weapon with crowd-surfing efficiency footage. The get together track with a message underscored the band members’ statements that their objective was to supply options to social issues and be a bunch whose affect on youth was extra about “presence than protest.”
In “Así son mis días” (“These Are My Days”) what might have been a somber account of life in a “bad” neighborhood as an alternative turns into an appreciation of “homies and brothers,” and recognizing when issues are adequate.
Presente
Management Machete’s standing went up a degree with the discharge of Artillería Pesada, Presenta…, whose instantaneous classics included “Pesada” and “Presente,” along with “Sí Señor.”
Fueling the band’s recognition had been its frequent appearances as a gap act for main artists in Mexico, together with U2, David Bowie, 50 Cent, Purple Sizzling Chili Peppers, and System of a Down.
One sudden collaboration was “Danzón,” combining gravel and velvet on a observe that pairs Cuban pre-revolutionary dance music with rap. Management Machete traveled to Havana to document with Buena Vista Social Membership members Rubén Gonzalez and Orestes López. Rubén Albarrán, the frontman of Mexican different rock band Café Tacvba, additionally made an look on that observe, underneath the identify Nrú.
Uno, Dos
Artillería Pesada, Presenta… introduced Management Machete an MTV award nomination and a Latin Grammy nomination. However the three members of the band didn’t return to the studio collectively. In 2001, Fermin left the band, following a non secular calling that will grew to become obvious on subsequent solo albums, and as a pastor on the Semilla de Mostaza church in Mexico Metropolis.
In 2002, Toy and Pato introduced Management Machete again as a duo with the album Uno, dos, bandera. Main with the funky opener “Bien Bien,” the 2 introduced in different artists to hitch them, together with Chilean rapper Anita Tijoux (“Como Ves”), Mexican singer Natalia LaFourcade (“El Apostador”), vocalist and drummer Randy Ebright from Mexican different rock and hip-hop band Molotov (“Ahora”).
Pato and Toy reunited once more in 2006, after they appeared collectively on a model of the magistral Mexican accordion participant Celso Piña’s track “Cumbia Sobre el Rio,” along with Blanquito Man, the Venezuelan founding father of ska band King Chango. Like Fermin, nonetheless, Pato and Toy have principally continued on their very own paths, with Pato, one in all Mexico’s most revered rap artists, persevering with to document and carry out; and Toy widening his profile as a prolific producer, artist, DJ, document label proprietor, and A&R man.
Up to now, the three members of Management Machete have principally resisted pleas to get again collectively, other than one, unbelievable second in 2013 on the Vive Latino pageant in Mexico Metropolis. The track they performed? “Sí Señor,” in fact.
Hearken to Management Machete’s greatest songs now.
