Bronx-born Natalie “Maluca” Yepez was a musically inclined bartender with a bad case of stage fright when, in 2007, she met record producer Diplo at a club on New York’s Lower East Side. It being karaoke night, they sang a Beastie Boys tune together, and later started exchanging music via e-mail. Within a year, Diplo, who helped launch the careers of M.I.A. and Santigold, went to work on Maluca’s. Their first collaboration, a spicy electro-mambo track called “El Tigeraso,” debuted in the summer of 2009; along with the accompanying video—in which the 29-year-old Dominican struts around town in red leather with rollers in her hair—it immediately established her as a hip-shaking, Spanglish-spewing firecracker with a unique sense of style. Since then Maluca has given Latin music a certain urban-hipster swagger with her steady stream of bass-thumping party jams that mix merengue, electro-rock, old-school house, and hip hop. She spent last fall touring with the Swedish pop star Robyn, and is at work on her debut album, due out this year.
Where did you get the nickname Maluca?
My uncle gave it to me when I was a kid. In Brazil it means “crazy
woman,” but in other countries it means “ugly brown woman.”
Were you crazy as a child? You’re clearly not ugly.
I was definitely mischievous and always getting into trouble. I remember
my uncle saying to me, “Maluca, get dressed, we’re going to the
Copacabana!” I was, like, six, and the only one out of all my cousins
who thought he was for real.
Do you come from a musical family?
Yeah, my dad worked at the marketing firm for Delicious Vinyl, which at
the time had Tone-Loc and Young MC. Now he’s a preacher! Check it:
Maluca’s a preacher’s daughter. My family would always tell me, “You’re
so strange with your strange music and your strange clothing.” They
still say this. They think I worship the devil.
Your style is a little wild.
I was born in the Bronx, and then I migrated to the East Village when I
was 13, so I always say I’m half hood rat, half hipster.
And your music’s equally eclectic. You’ve described it as experimental
tropical punk, ghetto tech, hip house…
It’s very New York. Growing up, I would go to Pyramid and listen to
two-step, to Williamsburg for some bachata. Saturdays would be the
Copacabana; Sundays, Joe’s Pub. I’d go listen to spoken word at the
Nuyorican Poets Cafe. My music incorporates a lot of different sounds. I
infuse Latin styles, but it’s not very literal. It’s not your typical
merengue or punta.
Do you think Latin music gets a bad rap in the U.S.?
I don’t want to generalize, but I feel Latin music has been stuck in a
certain place. I just wanted to make it more progressive. Make it my
own.
