Excerpt from Interview with Yaga and Mackie

Y = Yaga
M = Mackie
S = James G. Spady

S: What lead you to the title of your album, La Moda?
Y: "La moda" means fashion, you know, what's in style. And, right now, Reggaeton is the hottest thing. So, Reggaeton goes hand in hand with "la moda."
S: What did you want to communicate to your listeners about the growing Reggaeton movement?
M: It's all about style. This is the most complete Reggaeton album out there. We collaborated with the hottest singers of Reggaeton, plus we put all the variety in there. There is some Bachata and Bomba, Caribbean rhythms. This is the most complete album. It's what the fans want most and deserve.
S: To what extent does Reggaeton as a cultural movement build upon Puerto Rican Rap from the 1980s and '90s?
Y: Well, you know, Hip Hop is like a tree. And on that tree there are many branches: DJing, MCing, Dancing, etc. And another one of the branches is Reggaeton. It is just an evolution of the Rap that was going on in Puerto Rico in the '80s. Reggaeton is just another medium for young Puerto Ricans to express themselves. For example, me and Mackie combine the beats with the Rap. It's the form we use to express both the emotions of the rhythm and the emotional content of the lyrics. That's the way we know how to do it. And I don't think that is has changed that much because back in the '80s what happened was a revolution of the rhythm. And I think that's exactly what's happening in Reggaeton today.
S: Who were the pioneer Puerto Rican rappers?
Y: There are a lot: Vico C., Chezina, Michael Emanuel, Ruben DJ. There are a lot of them. But, I think those are the pioneers. They're the ones who started the movement.
S: How did the Puerto Rican version of Reggaeton differ from what was produced in Panama and in the Dominican Republic?
M: Reggaeton in Panama and the Dominican Republic is more of a musical movement, but in Puerto Rico, it's a cultural movement, not just a musical movement. In Puerto Rico, we've added elements like Salsa and Bomba. And that is what distinguishes Reggaeton in Puerto Rico. Like Yaga says, if it doesn't get your feet, it will get your heart.
S: Who were the first Afro-American musicians you heard?
Y: Brenda Knight. My father listened to a lot of music from the States, like James Brown. But I was into Biz Markie and Big Daddy Kane.
M: I knew about Big Daddy Kane. I would say I got into Hip Hop because of LL Cool J.
S: Were you hearing any Geto Boys, NWA, Tupac Shakur, or Biggie?
Y: Of course, all my life I listened to Rakim, Kid 'n' Play. I've been listening to Tupac long before the whole East coast/ West coast thing came about.
S: How did you first get exposed to Merengue, Salsa, and other Caribbean musics?
Y: Here, we listen to everything. Being part of the United States and being Latinos we hear everything. My moms loves movies from Mexico and Ranchera. I know Pepe Aguilar and Vicente Fernandez. And, you know, Salsa's from Cuba and Merengue's from the Dominican Republic. Here we get it all.
S: Were you hearing Beenie Man?
M: I'm a huge fan of Dancehall. Before I got started singing, I listened to Buju Banton, Lady Saw, and General Degree. I listened to them all before they made it large.
S: How did you even know of them?
M: Here, we're from the Caribbean. We get the radio stations from around here, like from St. Thomas.
S: Where did you hear Reggaeton?
Y: On the corner, in the hood. We used to make the music. There was Reggae from Panama, which used the dembo which is what we use in Reggaeton. But, they used in a song, used it as part of a rhythm, and kept it at that. We used it and adopted and evolved it with different tones and melodies. And we started making the music ourselves. The same kids who wanted to make Hip Hop records started performing to this rhythm.
S: In many ways, it is more organic.
Y: On the contrary, we never thought it would blow up. We heard ourselves and we could flow and sing better to this than Hip Hop. We felt more comfortable with Dembo than with Hip Hop. We rap, but in our way.
S: Did you write poetry when you were in high school?
Y: I'm a poet from the street. I'm both a poet and singer. You have to have it in your blood. If you want to sing, you have to know how to rhyme. You gotta be a poet. I say it's a person with emotion in his lyrics who can write. To give life to lyrics. We didn't learn it in the fine arts or anything. It is what I live.
S: What led to your mastery of street language?
M: We call it palabreo. We call it something else all the time. We used to call it corillo, or el combo.
Y: Palabreo. People don't understand it because it's from the street. Only people who are into Reggaeton know. The newspapers ask us to define all these words. But they keep changing. Everybody has a palabreo.
S: Would you say that the street Spanish spoken in Puerto Rico can't be understood by Mexicans in L.A.?
Y: I don't think so. The words used in the music, if you're really into the music, you know. I'm not all that great at English, but I know what Ja Rule is saying and 50 Cent because you have to listen a lot and you learn. That's called being a fan. I follow Dancehall. I don't speak French. You learn by listening to the music.
S: "El Tran" could be a double entendre– in what sense was it intended?
Y: I think people look at it the way they want. It's how you want to look at it. It's up to the listener.
S: Who came up with that hot hook for "El Tran"?
Y: Mackie!
S: How did you come up with that?
M: We dedicated the song to the women. We found that the participation of women in concerts is so crucial. I just wanted to integrate them into a song for a concert. It's for the ladies.
S: And then you have Tego Calderón featured?
M: This is the second time in our career that we've worked with him. In the first one we did, he collaborated on it. And we didn't make him look bad. We showed we could hold our own. This time around, he did it without thinking twice. The idea came from Yaga and our DJ.
S: Was Tego in the studio when "Fuego" was recorded?
Y: Yeah, Tego is a special person. He comes in with an idea, and then Mackie has that flavor more than just the music. We all sat down and did "Fuego," which was a song with lots of emotion. It was great to work with Tego, he's not all about the money. It doesn't matter what's going on, we're all united. And that's why we made this record. We made it Bomba to keep it more hood. We keep identifying with the hood. We haven't commercialized. We keep it real.
S: What is it about Bomba that adds a different flava to Reggaeton?
M: It's more about the percussion, like the bata. It's always been in Puerto Rico. Bomba is really African.
S: La Moda is really a Pan-Caribbean album and it places the Latino community in conversation. What was it like working with that "little Cubano from Miami" Pitbull?
Y: We are real fans of Pitbull and vice-versa. We've seen him in the magazines. He's in the genre. He's big with Blacks in the U.S. We dreamed of performing with him. We got together through our connections at an event in Miami. And he was like, "Wow, ya'll want to work with me!?" And, in the studio in Puerto Rico, we just got to know each other better and bond.
S: Did you write the lyrics before you got to the studio?
M: With Pitbull, we let him do his thing there in the studio. We picked out the beat. With Don Omar, he came in with his idea about the beat. He came in with his verse written and I wrote mine and we did our thing.
S: What is your preferred mode of writing, at home or in the studio?
M: In my case, it's different. We're working 24 hours a day. We're always writing. We come into the studio with our ideas. Sometimes we come in that way, and sometimes we go over it in the studio and bounce off each other.
S: Bachata and Luny Tunes?
Y: Yeah, on this record, and on the last one, too. We're always working with them. They're very important to Reggaeton. You always have to have some Luny Tunes because without them you're missing something. It's like you need the hamburger, fries and soda to make it complete.
S: Who are your favorite producers?
Y: Luny would be like working with Dr. Dre. You have to have him on the record, need his flavor. DJ Blass is new on the scene. Yai and Toly…
M: They're like the Neptunes. They're united and they're fresh.

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