Fulanito

merengue

With nearly 5 million albums sold worldwide, performances at the world's top Latin music festivals, and two Grammy nominations, Fulanito is one of the most popular and innovative acts ever born of the fertile uptown New York Latin hip-hop scene. Founded by Winston De La Rosa and his brother in-law Rafael Vargas, Fulanito is the first group known to combine perico ripiao - traditional accordion-based merengue sounds from the hills of the Dominican Republic - with modern hip-hop and rap. While industry leaders initially questioned the commercial potential of such an unusual mix of sounds, Fulanito proved them wrong, becoming a party favorite in the U.S., the top-selling act in Colombia, and one of the most recognizable and adored Latin acts from Chile to Switzerland to Japan. With their 1997 debut album, El Hombre Mas Famoso de la Tierra (The Most Famous Man in the Land,) Fulanito fast gained international fame with the hit singles Guallando (Grinding) and La Novela (The Soap Opera.) The album sold 500,000 copies, shocking even Winston and Rafael, who say they expected it to sell no more than 10,000, and hoped it would simply help us get gigs. Guallando featured 61-year-old accordionist Arsenio El Maestro De La Rosa's (Winston De La Rosa's Father) lightening chops, and was a surprise hit, co-opted for jingles spun endlessly in nightclubs across the hemisphere. According to Miami-based music writer Karl Ross, Guallando marked the first time U.S.-born Dominican performers bega...