Steve Aoki reveals why Dembow artist El Alfa inspires him and how he is elevating Hispanic music

The first step of this process is how do we make people dance. The beat is important, the rhythm and the melody are important. And the main hook is going to be the most crucial part. The main hook of this song is a sample that dates almost 100 years ago, and when you hear it, you know it, but you don‘t know where. It doesn’t matter if you’re from the United States or Central America, or you’re from Europe; it’s somewhere in your head that is like, “I heard this somewhere.” The second time you hear it, you sing along, and that’s the beauty of this sample, that it is the foundation of the song. After we nailed that down, we’re like, “Okay, who are we going to recruit on this song that’s going to represent the global culture?”

I love Dembow and El Alfa sounds. I’m so inspired by what he’s doing; he’s doing something very unique and so new to me that I needed him on the record. He was the first person I wanted to approach. I knew that he would like it because the tempo is close to Dembow. The sound is faster than reggaeton.Then I thought it would be so sick to have Sean Paul and get that Jamaican sound, and then last but not least, was Sfera Ebbasta to do, Italian. I wanted to have another language. This record has three to four languages. Also, Willie Williams from France, and then Play-N- Skillz, who are Latinos too. There are so many cultures on this record, Dominican Republic, Japanese American — it is incredible to have everybody there.

Since I’ve become a popular DJ, even before EDM was a thing, one of my biggest fan bases always has been the Spanish-speaking community. All across Central America, South America, in Spain as well. When I was on tour in Colombia, Mexico, Honduras, Panama, my fans down there have been so passionate and have been so supportive of me even before I did any collaborations. I always wanted to do records that were in Spanish before. I have my label Dim Mak for 25 years now, so I’m always listening to new artists that are changing the game for me; they’re challenging me. It’s not necessarily I need to be on a record with them. I want to support them. I want to give them a foundation for them to grow. And it just made sense that we needed a label to sign Latinx artists. The Latinx generation they’re too powerful. They’re too big. They need their foundation, their infrastructure, and their team. And so I brought in more and more people to help me create Dim Mak En Fuego. I spent one year developing it, and now we have such a great team.

We have two artists that we’re focusing on. I’m so excited about their futures. We have Andrekza from Venezuela, living in LA right now, and AQUIHAYAQUIHAY from Monterrey, Mexico, our anti-boyband boyband. They’re doing something phenomenal, and every time they present me with their new ideas, videos, and looks, I’m just like, “guys, I don’t need to do anything. I’m just happy to support you and grow and give you some guidance.” But really, the creative spirit of these artists blow my mind. So I‘m just so lucky to be able to find artists like this, help them grow and do more than that, and finally release “Mambo,” my song, under Dim Mak En Fuego. I didn’t want to put Steve Aoki’s music on there first. I needed to shine the light on brand new artists, give them the shine first and then join them as the label is growing.

It’s exactly what you said about being born in Miami. I was only there for a very short time as a child. Still, I always go back because I have family there, so whenever I go back, I roll down my window; and you hear reggaeton, you hear different sounds, that it’s very different for California.In Southern California. I hear more Mexican music. I remember hearing Banda growing up. When I’m in California, I think about, Mariachi and Mexican culture. When I’m in Miami, I think more about reggaeton, Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic. So it’s interesting to be able to hear both sides. As a kid, I always listened; even as an adult, I’m always looking for something that sparks my interest. I don’t understand what they’re saying, but I’m moving to it.I’m a creator, so I want to go back to my studio and start messing with the South. I remember trying to do that when I was a kid. It was so different for me to understand the melodies without even understanding the lyrics. I always wanted to work with that music in one form or fashion. I never thought I would. And here I am, decades later, re-mixing “El Sonidito” and fusing that with EDM. It never officially came out; I just dropped it on my Mexican tour, but it went viral. I remember taking a piece of Vicente Fernandez’s music and remixing that live.So I feel very lucky because I have been exposed to different kinds of emotions through music, and it allows me to be constantly inspired, always challenged to make something new, make something different.