Agua Pala Gente

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Total Tracks: 13   Total Length: 43:37

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Richard Gehr

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Richard Gehr has been writing about international music -- and many other things -- for more than two decades. After moving to Los Angeles from Portland, OR, vi...more »

04.22.11
Hip Hop Hoodios, Agua Pala Gente
Label: Jazzheads

"My mom's name is Meryl. Her middle name is Debbie/ Ya know I get down like a Lubavitcher rebbe," rap José Noriega and Abraham Vélez in "Dicks & Noses," one of the often-hilarious non-PC tracks on their provocative new Agua Pála Gente. You could say these Jewish Latinos immersed in African-American street culture deliver the views of three oppressed minorities for the price of one. Or at least that's the sort of obvious silliness the Hoodios alternate with more serious considerations, including the privatization of drinking water in Latin America ("Agua Pála Gente") and the Spanish Inquisition ("1492"), which introduced Jewish culture into Latin America and laid the genetic groundwork for these beastier boys who brag of sounding "dirty, like a pound of pork."

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“Yo Dre, I don’t mean to annoy ya/But you ain’t no doctor, and I’m a lawyer/And I’ll destroy ya” — strong words from a gang of Latino-Jewish smartypants from Brooklyn, but they serve their purpose. On Agua Pa’ la Gente, the Hoodios’ first full-length, listeners bounce across a tightly stretched canvas of klezmer, hip-hop, and salsa splattered by some of the vividest, smartest rhymes to stud a rap disc since Beastie Boys’ Licensed to Ill. How seriously to take this bilingual release is anybody’s guess. Musically, its guest collaborators, including a Klezmatics player and alterna-Latin heroes from Santana, Jaguares, and Los Abandoned, elevate it to a level way beyond spoof; Karl Perazzo’s congas kick on the title track and Paul Shapiro’s clarinet keeps “K#k* on the Mic” this side of kosher. Song themes split the difference between offensive (“Dicks & Noses”) and academic (“1492″ explores how the Spanish Inquisition resulted in millions of Latinos unknowingly having Jewish roots), but what’s kept consistent is the brilliant, self-skewering wit: “My sound is fresh, like a pound of flesh/My nose is large, and you know I’m in charge.” Illustrating this illest of Latino-Jewish offerings is still more evidence of the Hoodios’ refusal to let ethnic hangups lie: snaps of “Hoodia honeys” in bagel bras, as well as a restaurant advertising kosher burritos, skirt the lyrics. – Tammy La Gorce

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