Boogaloo’s emergence within the mid-Nineteen Sixties energized New York Metropolis’s Latin music scene. Being largely the province of younger, uncooked Nuyorican musicians, boogaloo’s sound was enjoyable and inclusive – equally beholden to soul and R&B, and double entendres and dance crazes, because the mambos that have been the inventory and commerce of conventional huge band orquestas. Extra subversively, it represented a circumvention of hierarchies throughout the enterprise. Not have been fledgling musicians required to play with established bandleaders for years honing their chops earlier than getting the okay to begin their very own teams. With boogaloo, enthusiasm, DIY expression, and a catchy tune have been sufficient.
Bronx-bred pianist Pete Rodriguez wasn’t a beginner to NYC’s Latin band circuit of the mid-’60s – having already led his group on two albums of conventional Afro-Cuban materials – when he hitched his wagon to boogaloo’s nascent recognition. His first foray, 1966’s Latin Boogaloo, as its generic title suggests, didn’t notably distinguish him throughout the rising kind. However all that will change with the subsequent single, “I Like It Like That.” Constructed round an irresistibly slinky descending piano riff, a hybrid rhythm of R&B and mambo, and raucous group chants by college youngsters and band members alike, the tune gave the impression of a celebration everybody was invited to. It turned a direct huge smash. In contrast to earlier boogaloo hits by different artists, “I Like It Like That’s” lead vocal, courtesy of trumpeter and tune co-writer Tony Pabon, was sung in English, making it each reflective of the melting pot expertise of a era of Nuyoricans born and raised Stateside, and tailored to crossover to non-Spanish talking listeners.
Hearken to Pete Rodriguez’s I Like It Like That now.
Naturally, Rodriguez’s breakout hit stays the spotlight of the accompanying album of the identical title. However the place the album may need gotten by surrounding its single with copycat tracks and filler, I Like It Like That packs a potent playful punch inside its quick however candy seven-song program. A joyous “Soy el Rey” finds Rodriguez declaring himself boogaloo’s king, and the one’s hit B-side “Micaela” (sung in Spanish by the band’s vocalist Alberto Gonzalez) is a dedication to the tune’s titular character’s inevitable give up whereas dancing the boogaloo. However in the end boogaloo is handled as simply one among a number of types through which Rodriguez’s group excels. Frenetic dance numbers like “Pete’s Madness,” “Si Quieres Bailar,” and “3 and 1” (the latter a homage to Latin music producer and promoter Ralph Mercado’s storied Brooklyn music venue of the identical title) exemplify the tight interaction that garnered Rodriguez and crew their preliminary success.
By the tip of the last decade, boogaloo’s run was over – both, as some consider, as a consequence of collusive strong-arming by the Latin music business’s previous guard, or just because the New York sound had developed into what would change into often known as salsa. “I Like It Like That’s” attraction nonetheless, continues to thrive in cowl variations and remakes by the years. Appropriately sufficient, in 2018, the Bronx’s personal Cardi B would revisit the tune with Latin music giants Dangerous Bunny and J Balvin as “I Like It,” introducing it to a wholly new era. Not that the resurgence of Rodriguez’s hit 50 years later ought to have essentially stunned anybody. An incredible occasion by no means goes out of favor.
Hearken to Pete Rodriguez’s I Like It Like That now.
