Reggaeton News:
One on One with Tego Calderon
©Barrio305.com
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We are holding our collective breath, Tego Calderon has finished what
quite possibly has to be one of the best sets that I ever seen him rhyme.
In the space of seven songs, Tego has managed to uplift the Miami crowd
in ways that can only be described as a communal session of spiritual
healing.
It’s hard to really articulate what Tego Calderon’s
music means to some people. After years of being spoon-fed a steady
diet of whitewashed Latino artists, the public was salivating for a
drop of truth. People wanted something real not the same old stale white
bread.
And then out of nowhere, Carolina Puerto Rico to be more exact, comes
the best record of the decade: El Abayalde.
Three years latter, I find myself standing next to
the man that has come to mean so much to us. And I don’t want
gush or ask him all the questions that I had planed to inflict upon
him. No, I want to have fun and I want to take it easy. After all, Tego
was gracious enough to talk to Barrio305 in front of his wife and kids.
So I’m not going to bore them with a bunch of rehashed topics
that we all know the answers to.
And here I go into uncharted waters improvising my
questions and having the time of my life. When asked about the year
he spent as a Miami Beach high school senior, Tego comes clean. “Yeah
being here in Bayfront Park brings out good memories. Says the man better
known as El Abayalde. “ Sure, I used to come here and window shop.
We didn’t have a budget back in those days but we still had a
good time.”
Tego enjoys reminiscing about his short stint spent
as a Miami Beach High School senior. “ We use to skip classes
all the time, so one day the principal finally calls me up and expelled
me." When I ask him what would a grown Tego say to the principal
now that he sings in Bayfront Park to a crowd of ten thousand people,
Tego stops, thinks and says. “Yeah the principal what a cabron!”
So it’s nice to know that Tego feels the same way now as he did
when he was eighteen years old. And I admire him for his sincerity.
Tego sure has charisma and that old principal sure was wrong.
And so we come to the question in everyone’s
mind. When will The Underdog/El Subestimado come out? “Ohh man,
that Underdog CD will come out the day Bin Ladden is captured”
Laughs Tego. “No I don’t know when it’s going to come
out. When it does… mi gente go and get it. I mean, I’m not
going to put out a bad record. The Underdog will come out but it has
to be up to my standards. I want the record to be good and I need to
take my time to make it. Trust me I’m working on it and it will
come out soon.” Says Tego with his trademark baritone voice.
The Underdog/El Subestimado is being recorded at his
hometown of Carolina, the same town where El Abayalde was recorded “Yes
I like to record at my house because it's very chill but I also like
to mix the tracks here in Miami because it’s so nice and peaceful.
You see I don’t like the nightlife here, It’s too expensive
and I’m really cheap. So I get a lot work done when I’m
in Miami, I’ feel at peace, so a lot gets done.”
Those words make me decide that the interview
has to come to an end. First, I want Tego to be at peace and spend some
time with his loving family. Second, and I will admit for selfish reasons,
I want Tego to go back to his studio and prove that the Underdog will
always finish first.
Barrio 305
©Barrio305.com
