De La Ghetto has been a towering figure in the Latin music industry. The Puerto Rican artist, known for making major reggaeton hits, has always swerved between genres, adding in dashes of rap and R&B to his smooth sound and staying on top of rising artists before the masses. In fact, he was one of the early supporters of Latin trap and thought about signing Myke Towers when the rapper was just a teenager.
De La Ghetto’s latest album GZ is yet another career evolution — and marks a new beginning for him as an independent artist. Originally, he planned to launch the project just as an EP, but inspiration came to him in droves. “Little by little, we started recording more songs and just coming out with more bangers. Earlier we were like, ‘Let’s do eight songs.’ Then, ‘Let’s do 10 songs.’ So now it’s 12 and it’s a full album,” he says.
The album balances fresh, contemporary production and a throwback R&B vibe that nods back to his early influences. “It’s more of that concept with that Nineties, early 2000s vibe,” he explains. It’s a sound he’s always put his weight behind: ”
He spoke to Rolling Stone about some of the standout tracks on the album and took us through surprising collaborations with Towers, who he tapped for “Me Dijeron;” the production genius of rising star RaiNao; his connection with Spanish rapper Quevedo, and more stories from GZ.
“Si Quieres B*C*O”
That track has that late-nineties, early 2000s R&B vibe to it—and that was the first track that we produced on the album, so that’s why we really wanted to open with that. It has that calle R&B sound, and it’s also a solo record by myself. I remember talking to my team and they were like, “Yo, we gotta put an album out for the summer, you know? I think we should do like a R&B-trap album.” And then the first time we started recording with the album in mind, we made that record and the RaiNao record on the same day.
“Prendía”
We didn’t know who we were gonna put on it. We had a couple of people in mind, but then I said, “No, let’s send it to RaiNao.” She would be perfect for it. She’s just real cool, down to earth. She plays the saxophone onstage and she’s just something else. She has that hippiesh, R&B flow to her that’s incredible — she doesn’t sound like nobody and she’s super original. That’s why I like about her and other artists coming up right now: Just have your own style.
And she produced half of the beat! It was crazy, because I sent her the record, she did her thing, and then she was like, “Can you send me the files? I want to do something.” We weren’t sure but then I told my producer, “You know let’s send it to her because probably she’ll bring something different to the table.” And she did. When she sent it back, she changed it around, she switched her vocals a little bit, too. I was like, “Yo!” Because she did an amazing job. It was 50 percent. She’s an amazing artist. I think she’s going to be in next in line.
“My Love”
I met Quevedo in Argentina two or three years ago, when I was doing with a video with him and Duki for a song called “Si Quieren Frontear.” I thought he was an Argentinian rapper; I didn’t know he was from Spain. And then when I met him in Argentina, he was like, “No tio, soy de Canarias!” with the Spanish accent. He’s super dope. His flow is great, and he has this mix of Eladio and Anuel and he’s 29. When I met him, I was like, “This kid is incredible.”
A year or two passed, and we always talked through DMs on Instagram. When I was doing the “My Love” record, one of my producers was like, “We need someone on this record.” We thought about Eladio, we thought about some other people. And then Quevedo came to mind. I DMed him and he was like, “Yo, this shit is crazy. Give me a week.” But the crazy thing is he hit me back like an hour later writing to the song. And a few hours after that, he sent me a rough cut of him rapping to the song in the background and was like, “Give some time to record this in the studio!” I was like, “Yo, this kid is crazy!”
“Me Dijeron”
There was one point where I was going to sign Myke Towers back in 2013, when he was like 17, 18. He was really young, and I saw in the studio a couple of times. I was an artist at the time, so I said to him, “I’m too busy right now, but I love your style. I love what you’re doing. You’re going to be incredible.” When Myke came out, he was dropping mixed tapes left and right, almost every month.
I sent him this track because it’s like a remake of [Mario Winan’s] “I Don’t Want to Know,” and we made it like three years ago, before the Weeknd and Metro Boomin’ song came out.I told my guys like, “Yo, see, I wasn’t crazy. We gotta put this shit out.” And then the first person that I sent to, I don’t want to say his name, but he’s a big artist. He did like three verses on it, but then he wasn’t really sure about it. And I’m like, “Yo, bro, this is going to blow up.” So then I was like “F it,” and I sent it to Myke. And he said, “This song is mine.” And he took over. The original song I used to listen from my high school days, and it brings so many great memories for me. In the beginning of my career, I was always doing R&B and trap in Spanish, and that’s what I’m known for. And Myke., after he heard it, was like “Yo! This sounds like your old mixtapes!” So that’s gonna be the next single and we already did the video in Puerto Rico. We got everything ready.
“Tu Bendicion” and “Cuando Eras Mia”
I got a song with Hades66 and Lil Joujou, two upcoming artists in the game. These young guys be getting a crazy buzz in Puerto Rico, and they’re like friends. Lil Joujou is from Carolina, and he’s like a Lil Yachty from Puerto Rico. He knows perfect English and has a cool flow. And then the other kid is also from Puerto Rico who’s been coming up, he’s more on some trap stuff. And then on the song, there’s Amarion. He’s more for the ladies; his shows are like 90 percent females.
I wanted that young energy on this album — producers, beatmakers, and artists. If we want longevity in this industry, we have to help each other out. Reggaeton and hip hop are gonna be here forever because you have to support the new guys. Other genres, they’ve died a little bit because they don’t got that energy, they don’t got the new artists doing it.