Los Rakas, a spin on the Spanish term “rakataka”—”ratchet” or someone from the ghetto in their native Panama—came together in 2006 when rappers Raka Rich and Raka Dun met in the East Bay.

Blending hip-hop, dancehall and reggaeton, the duo has released a handful of EPs and mixtapes, independently building a fan base in California and beyond through DIY street hustle.

They perform at Live at the Pagoda’s Sonido Clash, a music series focused on the Latin diaspora and progressive sounds that have transformed Latin music, on July 5.

Debuting in the midst of the Bay Area’s hyphy movement, Los Rakas was inspired by the sound of gnarled raps and heavy bass and positioned themselves as ambassadors of Latin urban music, fusing Bay Area-inspired beats with their own Spanish bars.

Both Rich and Dun say that Panama and the Bay Area are similar in that both places have a knack for trendsetting—Panama as the creator of Spanish reggae, which expanded into Puerto Rico into reggaeton. The hyphy movement, though short-lived, breathed life back into Bay Area hip-hop and its influence can still be heard through such other mainstream artists today as Drake and Tyga.

“The hyphy movement inspired us because we lived it, we lived the sideshows,” Dun says.

Songs like “Soy Raka” and “Ta Lista” are prime examples of the Bay Area sound mixed with their native Panamanian influences. Heavy bass lines serve as the foundation with Spanish-influenced drums overlaid on the beats. Life in the ghettos live through the lyrics, with gun talk and gold teeth in the “Soy Raka” hook—””tengo mi pistola y diente de oro.”

Working closely with Bay Area producers and artists, such as Hidden Faces, Erk tha Jerk, Nima Fadavi and Martin Luther, Los Rakas have found a unique niche among local rappers working to build a following beyond the confines of the Bay Area circuit.

The duo also recently teamed up with Major Lazer, super producer Diplo’s reggae project with Jillionaire, and released a remix of the summer anthem “Watch Out For This (Bumaye)” with their song “Desorden.” Less than two weeks after its mid-June release, the track had netted more than 16,000 listens online.

Rich and Dun met up with Diplo after the producer tweeted to them that he liked their remix of Oakland rapper Kreayshawn’s “Gucci Gucci.”

Doubling Up

For the two rappers, choosing the name “Los Rakas” for their music came from a sense of pride in their ghetto roots, but also a mission to encourage people living in the ghetto to strive beyond its limitations.

“You gotta know when to control that ratchet emotion,” Rich says. “We all have it being where we’re from, but you want to think about being somebody bigger than that and we want to inspire that. Our movement is ratchet we’re ‘rakataka,’ super ratchet, that’s what it really means and we want to show everybody we come from the ratchet but that doesn’t mean we have to act like that all the time.”

The group’s latest project, “El Negrito Dun Dun y Ricardo,” is a double album set to release this summer. Dun had already completed his portion of the album and was ready to release it as a solo project before the two decided to release it as a joint effort.

“Dun was already set to drop the album and I was working on some experimental stuff,” Rich says. “We had done every style of music already and I felt like I really wanted to challenge myself and try this new uptempo, old school house-type of sound.”

The goal for Los Rakas was to make music separately, taking a more experimental approach, but still operate as a duo with the same musical goals in mind.
“You can listen to any of our tracks and they can really vary from dancehall tracks done in Spanish, or Bay Area hip-hop tracks done in English,” Dun says. “We don’t really think about the music, we just do it.”

Both rappers say that the upcoming project has a vastly different sound than their previous releases and the subject matter is geared toward a more mature audience, with songs like “She Likes Me” and “”Let’s Get It On (Pa’encima).”

The “She Likes Me” cut features Richmond’s Erk tha Jerk and shows off the group’s softer side as they rap over Hidden Faces’ R&B piano riffs.

“Let’s Get It On” carries the same sensual context, but it holds traces of Los Rakas’ dancehall origins.

According to Dun, the switch in tone came from influences like Billie Holiday and Tupac Shakur, artists that were “really vulnerable and talked about things going on in their life.”

The duo has plans to then go on tour in Latin America, expanding their fan base as well as promoting their clothing and merchandise projects in their home country.

“We’re excited to see how it is when we go back and how big that show is going to be,” Dun says.

Los Rakas
Pagoda Lounge
July 5
9pm $12-$15

Condy ChesnuTT, performing at Pagoda Lounge on Thursday, remembers the day in 2002 when his cousin, who was his manager at the time, received a call from the Roots, telling him they wanted to collaborate with him. Specifically, they wanted to cover ChesnuTT’s song “The Seed” and have him sing on the track. It was all very strange considering that he had never met the Roots and his one album, The Headphone Masterpiece, was an obscure indie release.

Flattered, ChesnuTT, who plays the Pagoda Lounge this Thursday, wasn’t sure how he felt about actually doing it. He was still reeling from a debacle with Hollywood Records, which had signed his previous group, the Crosswalk, recorded their album and subsequently dropped them without releasing it. Working with another major-label group didn’t seem like such a good idea.

“I had it out for the industry. [But] my cousin told me it would definitely be a good move to make, so I gave it a shot, and it worked out,” ChesnuTT says.

The Roots’ version, “The Seed 2.0,” became a single on the band’s Phrenology album and the only song to get major radio airplay. With a mix of Black Thought’s rapping and ChesnuTT’s vocal hook, it became an accessible neo-soul pop track with hip-hop street cred.
Oddly, the Roots later told him their label didn’t want ChesnuTT to sing on the song because he wasn’t well known enough; they wanted them to use Lenny Kravitz.

“That right there’s how the industry works,” ChesnuTT says ruefully.

The success of “The Seed 2.0” helped bump The Headphone Masterpiece into the Billboard 200. It was an album completely unlike anything out there—a long collection of Guided by Voices–style lo-fi and four-track recordings that jumped all over the place in the most chaotic and jarring ways possible.

It included psychedelic rock, soul, R&B, hip-hop, gospel and punk sounds—and songs that fell outside of any genre. Some numbers were just short little bursts of emotion, while others were long meandering pieces with friends doing spoken word. Others, like “The Seed,” were genius pop gems.

“I wanted to make a statement. It was an in-your-face kind of project. At that point in time, a lot of the bands were too polished. It was completely at the other end of the spectrum,” ChesnuTT says.

Despite the newfound attention, ChesnuTT didn’t immediately release a follow-up recording. He remained more or less silent for a decade, with the exception of an appearance on Dave Chappelle’s Block Party in 2006 and the release of the EP Black Sin No Value in 2010.
In the midst of promoting The Headphone Masterpiece, ChesnuTT became a father.

“I really embraced the fact that I had to change,” he says. “I took time to get to know what fatherhood was all about and make sure I was in the best space possible to raise another human being. I was re-evaluating myself. I just took time to grow. I didn’t think it was going to take 10 years.”

It was an understandable decision considering the chaotic mind frame he was in while recording The Headphone Masterpiece. “I was all over the place,” he says. “I was rooming with four other people. It was the epitome of the rock & roll lifestyle. You can see it on The Headphone Masterpiece. I had the presence of faith on that record, but there was a darkness—a worldy spirit that occupied my headspace as well.”

Part of changing meant taking his spirituality seriously, which is apparent on his new record, Landing on a Hundred, released last October.

Songs like “Till I Met Thee” and “Everybody’s Brother” express a profound spiritual transformation. But really, everything about the decidedly sweet and passionate Landing on a Hundred is different than The Headphone Masterpiece. Rather than capturing his unfiltered emotions, he gave himself a lot of time to consciously shape everything that he was expressing.

“I took the opportunity to really look at each lyric to be sure it was saying everything I needed it to say without saying too much,” he says. “I put a lot of thought into what I had to say.”

In order to make the best possible album, while still maintaining control, ChesnuTT funded the project himself. When he ran out of money, he turned to Kickstarter to help finish the project and was surprised by the response.

“It just blew me away that people would donate and give so much, especially in a time when people hate paying for a record, even $10,” ChesnuTT says. “But they gave $50–$100 dollars for the project. It shows you the love people have for music, the passion they put behind projects they believe in.”

The latest EP, Awakenings, by Sacramento hip-hop duo DLRN, performing January 19 at Pagoda Lounge, takes a big step away from the norm found on most hip-hop records, creating a sound that is almost unclassifiable. It mixes 80s electronic, experimental soundscapes, guest soul singers and straightforward, emotional rhymes—all backed by barebones old-school hip-hop beats.

“It’s evident to the audience that it’s a little more than hip-hop,” emcee Sean La Marr says.

DLRN takes a unique approach to shows by not trying to generate audience participation—avoiding the typical “hey, ho” call and response—and often just performing and hoping people will connect to the music.

“It’s a different experience for everyone involved, for us included,” La Marr says. “There’s not a lot of call and response. It’s not necessarily about getting the crowd as hyped, say, as it was in my early days doing a lot of boom bap and soul samples. So sometimes it’s hard to understand, like how the crowd is supposed to get involved because the music is different.”

Along with producer Jon Reyes, the duo started in 2009, but was taking most of its influences from underground hip-hop artists like Little Brother, mixing light spacious beats with ’70s soul samples. They released two EPs (The Bridge and Delorean) with this sound but looked for ways to push the envelope to separate themselves from the numerous other rappers with the same style.

“That’s when we started focusing on adding darker notes, and making it more electronic, just making it more ’80s influenced,” La Marr says.
Along with these elements, they applied a free-for-all policy for how far out the instruments and textures could be while also keeping the basic drum beat simple, which plays a critical role in keeping the music grounded in hip-hop.

“Lyrics or cadences don’t necessarily sound great over different types of beats,” La Marr says. “I think that’s why we kept the core of it hip-hop and then really focus on the emotion and different soundscapes that other instruments can bring. It’s still is rooted in basic hip-hop principles.”

Pagoda Lounge
Sat, 9:30pm, $5

R&B crooner Mayer Hawthorne returned to his DJ roots for a full house at Pagoda Lounge on Friday for the two-year anniversary of Live at the Pagoda.

Metro photographer Jennifer Anderson was there for the celebration.

This Friday, July 27, some of San Jose’s finest DJs/producers bring Treatment Sound System back to The Pagoda with off-kilter, booming digital compositions unique to the South Bay Area.

This installment offers a new venue held down by residents DJs and producers Squareweezy, (who has an insane upcoming EP due out), Sheabutter and R-Cade. In addition, the night also includes San Francisco’s own Mophono, along with debuting sets from longtime South Bay producers DSTRUKT (of the BevMo Crew) and WISHONE (of Sub-Ren).

In addition to the whirlwind of button-pushing and sample-triggers, the event also marks a new release by B. Lewis who’ll also be performing in celebration of his newest effort, A Lion’s Aperture.

“Treatment Sound System’s main objective for the last year and a half is to bring the progressive sounds of digital music to downtown San Jose,” says event host Dandiggity. “It is a hub for South Bay creatives and audio enthusiasts to come together to exchange ideas and experience the performance aspect of live, electronic music. This week we have San Francisco’s DJ Centipede (Mophono) performing his unique blend of turntablism and instrumentation, as well as debut sets by DJ Dstrukt and Wish One. To top off the night we also having a live performance by B.Lewis for his new album A Lion’s Aperture releasing the same day.”

Limited edition “Treatment Pins” will also be handed to all attendees.

Info below, as follows:

Treatment Sound System at The Pagoda Lounge
21+ $3 before 11pm $5 after
MOPHONO : http://www.facebook.co/djcentipede.mophono
DSTRUKT: http://www.dj-dstrukt.com/
WISHONE: http://www.w1shone.com/
B.LEWIS: http://blewis.bandcamp.com/

RESIDENTS:
SQUAREWEEZY / SHEABUTTER / R-CADE
Hosted by: DANDIGGITY

The 2012 Live at the Pagoda Winter Music Series begins Friday, with singer Muhsinah and DJ House Shoes.

The Pagoda lives a dual life. During the day and on most nights, the Pagoda is an upscale Chinese restaurant attached to the Fairmont Hotel. On certain evenings though, it is transformed into San Jose’s most surprising live music venue. The main dining room is emptied of its tables, leaving only the stately columns, which form a quad for the spectators to crowd. A stage is brought in, along with lights, and of course, a sound system. The sound is very pleasant and articulate, which is surprising since the room was designed with flavor in mind and not acoustics. It certainly retains a certain flavor though, thanks to the music night’s producer Tommy Aguilar.

Live at the Pagoda started in October 2010, hosting New Zeland’s Electric Wire Hustle, and continuing with acts like Little Dragon and The Mumlers.

Aguilar keeps an open mind when booking acts and he’s not blinded by convention, “The next big blues band might come out of China,” he says

That philosophy has served Live at the Pagoda well. The nights are quickly becoming known for excellent artists and a good vibe, which attributes to their continued success.

A preview of what you can expect from Muhsinah on Friday: