Artist Profile: Los Yo Yai
Image courtesy of: Wu-Tang & Latino
Listen:
Mamita Ven
The sound of a hip hop beat being played out by a fist pounding &
a hand slapping against the surface of a Taft High School cafeteria table
in the Bronx, brings together two of NYC's most well respected underground
Latin Hip Hop/Reggeton Artists; Shown Black & NP Killah, who come
together to form "Los Yo Yai". Independently, Lo Yo Yai, have
sold and promoted their street credible mix tapes throughout the NY, NJ,
CT areas.NYC's underground has given birth to many of mainstream Hip Hop's
top artists but none as hard core yet melodic as "Lo Yo Yai".
The oxymoronic combination of the hard hitting lyrics of NP Killah and
the unique, sultry, melodic voice of Shown Blk sets them aside from the
rest of the underground up comers.
NP Killah's rap style is straight forward and to the
point with slick and witty punch lines setting him aside from his competitors.
Born, Christian Hernandez in Cristo Rey, Dominican Republic. NP Killah
spent is younger days between school and his families bread business.
The first part of NP Killah's name (NP) came from his days of peddling
bread on the streets of Sabana Perdida dubbing him "Niño
Pan". At the age of 14 NP's family moved to the United States to
pursue a better life style for him and his two brothers. In 1995 NP
enrolls in, what was at the time, one of New Yorks most notorious and
quite possibly the worst high school in the country, Tafft High School
in the Bronx. After an encounter with one of his classmates at the time
by the name of "Baby Fresh", NP realizes his talent for music
and the art of rhyming lyrics that speak about the streets and his up
bringing in his native country. He began to make a name for him self
by rapping in the cafeteria at lunch time and battling every day after
school with the other wanna-be rappers. After linking up with DJ Mafa,
NP begins putting together songs over hip hop instrumentals and puts
out the first of many mix tapes which catapult Lo Yo Yais street credibility.
Shown Black, also known as Juan Carlos Catala, the
vocalist of the duo, brings to the table an original style of R&B/Balada
with a hard twist of Hip Hop/Reggeton. Shown Black was raised between
the streets of New York City and Santiago in the Dominican Republic.
As a teenager Shown Black experimented with the arts and song writing
by taking part in school talent shows, street festivals and other small
private venues to perform his songs. It was never his intention to make
a living out of entertaining a crowd it was done for the pure love of
music. Many would applaud him for his talent and suggest that he take
it seriously but it wasn’t something in his plans at the time.
During the summer of 2004 touring with a local NYC group. After a show
one night his high school friends and now partner NP Killah approached
Shown Black and invited him to his studio to hang out and check out
some new material he was working on. Upon listening to a few tracks
NP played they agreed on working on a few of the tracks for a mix tape.
Shown Black finished the summer tour and began to work on a project
with NP Killah as “Lo Yo Yai”.
This dynamic duo is poised to break the stereotype
of what Spanish Hip Hop and Reggeton should be or sound like. One way
to best describe their style is “spectacularly versatile”.
Already with a strong following thanks to the Yo Yai Mix tape series,
Lo Yo Yai burn up the stage at every venue that is privileged to be
entertained by their performance. Under the management of Nelson Frias,
Shown Black and NP Killah’s talent was rewarded when they became
official members of Wu-Tang Latino Records, headed by Ray Acosta and
Ed Rosa, in May of 2005. With their smash hit single “Mamit Ven”
on the Wu-Tang Latino Compilation titled “Quemando el Genero”,
due out late summer 2005, Lo Yo Yai will prove to the music world that
they are a force to be reckoned with.
