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Farruko is the first to admit that he’s been on a journey the last couple of years. “I think it’s not a secret that I had a really successful career with a lot of global hits… But what can I say? I think I forgot about myself as a human being to get to a certain position, so I stopped for some time to reflect and find myself and become more open to my own spirituality.”

For fans who have been following along, Farruko shared a glimpse of...

When I first learned that Bad Bunny's sold-out Most Wanted Tour included three back-to-back shows at the Barclays Center in NYC and one that landed on my birthday, April 11, it all seemed meant to be. The concert would occur three days after a highly anticipated solar eclipse, a new moon, and all during a Mercury retrograde. It would also happen during Aries season - the beginning of the astrological year and a time for new beginnings. While I had high expectations for Benito's performance and his first NYC show from the tour, one thing that stood out most is how the Puerto Rican artist continues to appreciate and celebrate his loyal Latine fans.

Bad Bunny is the most-streamed artist on the planet. This fun fact never loses its significance for loyal Latine fans who have witnessed the struggle for Latin music to get the respect and support it deserves here in the States.

As reggaetón continues to dominate the music charts, the genre's legends, including Daddy Yankee, Tego Calderón, Ivy Queen, and Don Omar remain more relevant than ever for their roles in shaping a movement that originated in Puerto Rico and eventually went global. But Don Omar's comeback has been a long-awaited one. The leyenda known for his early 2000s hits like "Dale Don," "Sácala," and "Salió el Sol," has officially returned to the scene with his "Back to Reggateon" US Tour, produced by Cmn. The tour not only marks his highly anticipated return to the stage but also beautifully celebrates his two-decade-long career and its impactful contributions to the genre.

Related: America Ferrera Didn’t Win an Oscar, but Her Monologue Will Live on For Latinas

On Saturday, March 9, Don Omar took to the Barclays Center stage to perform a sold-out show that left the audience filled with joy and nostalgia.

In our Q&a /feature series Tell Me Más, we ask some of our favorite Latine artists to share some inside info about their lives and habits, revealing everything from their most recent read to the songs that get them hyped. This month, Grammy-winning artist Goyo, a member of legendary group ChocQuibTown, drops in to talk about her latest turn as a solo act, Afro-Latine representation, and what she's got in store for us in 2024.

As reggaetón, afrobeats, and trap become global, their distinct sounds and formulas become more cemented. However, rapper and singer Goyo has always defied the confines of a single genre. As a member of the award-winning group ChocQuibTown, the sound that she helped craft along with her brother Miguel "Slow" Martinez and Carlos "Tostao" Valencia, combined elements of traditional African percussion, Colombian folk, hip-hop, dancehall, and reggaetón. Now, as she continues her musical journey, this time as a solo artist,...

When you’re 15, you start having big dreams. Your future possibilities start crystallizing the more you learn about how the world, and life in general, works. Your sense of self evolves, and you start getting ready to dive into the world of being an adult with responsibilities and expectations.

Marcos “Tainy” Masís dove in when he was 15. At that young age, he became the youngest high-profile reggaeton producer and was thrust into the spotlight. By the age of 16, he had produced chart-topping hits, like “El Telefono” and “La Barria,” for...

When Bad Bunny dropped his first-ever album X100PRE, it spread through the internet like good gossip. It was Christmas Eve in 2018, the same year that Bad Bunny had exploded as a global megastar — appearing on The Tonight Show and singing during Alesso’s set at Tomorrowland — despite being an independent artist with no full-length project under his belt. What he did have was nearly hundreds of successful trap hits and a following he had named “La Nueva Religión,” which would go on to make him the most listened to...

All of the winners of the 2023 Latin Grammy Awards have been announced!

Hosted by Sebastián Yatra, Danna Paola, Roselyn Sánchez, and Paz Vega, the annual music awards show took place on Thursday (November 16) in Seville, Spain.

Mexican producer and songwriter Edgar Barrera led the nominations with 13, followed by Camilo, Karol G, Shakira, and Kevyn Mauricio Cruz, all with seven nominations.

Click inside to read the full list of winners…

See the full list of the Latin Grammys winners below…

General Field

Record Of The Year

“No Es Que Te Extrañe” – Christina Aguilera

“Carretera y Manta” – Pablo Alborán

“Déjame Llorarte” – Paula Arenas Featuring Jesús Navarro

“Shakira: Bzrp Music Sessions, Vol. 53″ – Bizarrap Featuring Shakira

“Si Tú Me Quieres” – Fonseca & Juan Luis Guerra

“Mientras Me Curo Del Cora” – Karol G

“De Todas Las Flores” – Natalia Lafourcade — Winner

“Ojos Marrones” – Lasso

“La Fórmula” – Maluma & Marc Anthony

“Despechá” – Rosalía

“Correcaminos” – Alejandro Sanz Featuring Danny Ocean...

All eyes are on Seville, Spain! The televised 2023 Latin Grammys ceremony is Thursday with some of the biggest names in Latin music coming together to celebrate a stellar year of releases.

Before the show, the Mexican-American songwriter and producer Édgar Barrera led the tally with 13 nods, much of it for his work with Camilo and Grupo Frontera. Camilo, along with Shakira, Karol G, and songwriter Keityn, all follow Barrera with seven nominations each.

Shakira and Karol G already earned their first awards of the night in the Best Urban/Fusion Performance,...

Mon Laferte is feeling invincible. After turning 40, growing comfortable in her motherhood, and reflecting on her unique journey to stardom, the Chilean singer-songwriter has tapped into a special moment in her creativity. It’s like she’s been reborn.

But Laferte would rather refer to her state of reinvention as “autopoiesis” — a term coined by Chilean biologists Francisco Varela and Humberto Maturana to describe the process of how cells auto-generate all the time. “The best example of this is when you get wounded and, in time, it heals,” the singer explains.

Bad Bunny is the most-streamed artist on the planet, a status further underscored by the fact that his new album, Nadie Sabe Lo Que Va a Pasar Mañana, is certain to debut at Number One on the Billboard 200 album chart. He’s a fashion icon, a WWE mainstay, a gods-gift to both tabloid editors and internet rubberneckers. His last album, 2022’s Un Verano Sin Ti, was among his most eclectic to date, incorporating indie luminaries from the world of Latin pop to both expand the boundaries of reggaeton and (possibly...

Bad Bunny has a thing for surprise drops. But prior to the surprise drop of "nadie sabe lo que va a pasar mañana," there were a lot of questions floating around. The obvious one was whether 2023 would come and go without a Bad Bunny release. But there were other poignant questions for Latine fans, too, like whether Bad's relationship with Kendall Jenner would affect his music - and whether he'd forgotten his roots and gone pop. And if the album, which was released on Oct. 13 at midnight, is anything to go by, Bad Bunny heard the whispers and has answered with a forceful "Oh, you must not know who I am?"

"nadie sabe lo que va a pasar mañana" is a resounding middle finger of a project that sees Bad Bunny taking his critics and haters to task over some of the hardest trap beats he's rhymed over since "Yhlqmdlg.

Last month, Texas Congressman Joaquin Castro put out a call to the public, asking people to send ideas for music by Latin artists to submit to the Library of Congress’ National Recording Registry. It’s part of a years-long effort on Castro’s part to get more Latin art preserved within the Library of Congress and to increase Latino representation across media and pop culture.

The National Recording Registry is made up of works considered “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant” or that “inform or reflect life in the United States.

The nominations for the 2023 Latin Grammys are here — and though the award show is undergoing big changes by switching up its venue and heading to Spain this November, the contenders in each category are pretty familiar to the Latin Recording Academy. Major pop acts and Latin Grammy veterans make up a lot of the big categories here: The Mexican American songwriter and producer Édgar Barrera leads the tally with 13 nods, much of it for his work with Camilo and Grupo Frontera. Camilo, along with Shakira, Karol G, and songwriter Keityn,...

There seems to be a subtle shift going on in reggaetón as of late. While 2022 and early 2023 saw the genre embrace a kind of eclectic, cross-genre experimentation (most visibly championed on Bad Bunny's critically acclaimed album "Un Verano Sin Ti"), the tail end of this year has seen the pendulum shift toward simplicity and a focus that characterized reggaetón's earlier years. Maybe it's due to the rise of the alt-perreo genre and experimentally inclined artists like RaiNao and Pink Pablo. Or maybe the recent resurgence of old-school artists like Chencho, Maldy, Jowell & Randy, and Tego Calderón has added a healthy dose of nostalgia to the zeitgeist. But regardless of the specific catalyst, many of today's most popular reggaetoneros are harkening back to the genre's roots. With her latest album, "Mañana Será Bonita (Bichota Season)," Karol G trades in the upbeat pop-reggaetón sound that characterized the original "Mañana Será Bonita" for...

Last summer, as Bad Bunny wrapped his "Un Verano Sin Ti" concerts with back-to-back shows in San Juan, Puerto Rico, at the Coliseo, he brought out several special guests - including fellow Puerto Rican artists Tommy Torres, Villano Antillano, and Young Miko. And on the third and final night of the tour, he shared the stage with RaiNao (whose real name is Naomi Ramírez). It was a full-circle moment for the rising indie artist because it came only weeks after Bad Bunny (real name Benito Antonio Martinez Ocasio) shared that he had been listening to RaiNao's song "Luv" all summer long. While performing alongside the No. 1 artist in the world was a significant moment in RaiNao's musical career - one she shares she will always be grateful for - the proudly queer singer and songwriter was already making a name for herself in Puerto Rico's alt-perreo scene following her debut EP,...

La diva, la perra, la potra! Ivy Queen tapped Puerto Rican stars Brray, Marconi Impara, Lennox, and Eix for a remix of her previously released song “Toma.”

The Young Hollywood-produced song dropped Friday and mixes Queen’s classic reggaetón sound with Middle Eastern sounds as the musicians reference reggaetoneros — like Tego Calderón, Bad Bunny, Rauw Alejandro, and RaiNao — and Plan B’s “Frikitona” in the lyrics.

“I can’t wait to share this powerful remix with my fans all over the world,” she said in press release. “Alongside these talented artists,...

Intro: Dominic Toretto and Brian O’Conner head down to Rio for the fifth entry in the Fast and Furious franchise. The most popular of the sequels, this one reunites Dom and Brian with several friends from previous films. Brings Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson into the ensemble. And takes the whole series in a new direction. The movie is Fast Five, and it’s about to be Revisited.

Set-up: Justin Lin thought he was done with the Fast and Furious movies after directing two of them. But while doing press for the fourth film in the series in 2009, he met a lot of passionate fans who had him re-thinking his plan to step away. And then Universal not only promised that the filmmaker would be able to do something different with the fifth film – they demanded that it be something different. In late 2009, Adam Fogelson was hired as the chairman of Universal,...

This episode of Revisited was Written by Cody Hamman, Narrated by Travis Hopson, Edited by Juan Jimenez, Produced by Adam Walton and Chris Bumbray, and Executive Produced by Berge Garabedian.

After two sequels apart, the Fast and Furious family is reunited in the fourth film. Paul Walker, Vin Diesel, Jordana Brewster, Michelle Rodriguez, the gang’s all here. And yes, they’re racing cars once again… but this time the stakes are life or death. We’re going back to 2009 to talk about Fast & Furious (watch it Here) for this episode of Revisited.

Universal tried something different with the third film in the Fast and Furious franchise. Rather than make it a direct follow-up to the previous films, they brought in new characters. Teenagers they thought would be more appealing to the youth market. They got a decent movie out of it, but not a lot of pay-off. Tokyo...

Everywhere he goes, Bad Bunny represents where he comes from and the artists who inspired him. For his Rolling Stone cover story, out today, the Puerto Rican star wanted to honor the reggaeton heroes he looked up to as a kid by wearing jewel-encrusted medallion necklaces featuring their logos. Designed by Avi Davidov and Ofir Ben-Shimon, the medallions represent the decades-long careers of Puerto Rican luminaries Tego Calderón, Héctor El Father, Wisin Y Yandel, Arcángel, Don Omar, and Daddy Yankee.

“These chains are of the people whose music I grew up with,...

The male gaze is a powerful thing. For the majority of history, it has been the only gaze that mattered. As a result, much of women's history has been skewed through its perspective. Nowhere is this more prevalent than in the dichotomy of pariah and protagonist: Joan of Arc, Cleopatra, and countless others have had their actions and impacts scrutinized only to be branded one or the other.

The reggaetonera Villana Santiago Pacheco, known to fans as Villano Antillano or La Villana, is no stranger to this treatment. But as she rewrites the narrative with complex, often biting wordplay and an unapologetic attitude, the 28-year-old has become both the protagonist of her own story and reggaeton's latest movement, and a pariah to those minds who would seek to impose their traditional values and prejudice to marginalize her identity. But if you ask La Villana herself - one of reggaeton's first...

For months now, thanks to the steady drumbeat of both Universal’s ace marketing department and various members of the cast on social media, we have been informed that “Fast X,” the tenth movie in the franchise, is “the beginning of the end of the road.” And that an eleventh film, once again directed by French filmmaker Louis Leterrier (who joined the series after creative differences led to Justin Lin leaving “Fast X” mid-production), is soon on the horizon.

Everybody is back for “Fast X,” from series regulars like Vin Diesel, Michelle Rodriguez, Ludacris, Tyrese Gibson, Jordana Brewster and Sung Kang to more recent additions like John Cena, Nathalie Emmanuel and Jason Statham, to car-loving characters completely new to the franchise like Brie Larson, Alan Ritchson, Jason Momoa (stealing every scene he’s in), Daniela Melchior and, for some reason, Rita Moreno. Because when you think about the fuel-injected “Fast and Furious” franchise,...

As Dominic Toretto (played with muscle-y esteem by Vin Diesel) once said, "I live my life a quarter-mile at a time." When 2001's "The Fast and the Furious" came out, this sentiment referred to Dom's love of street racing. But on the eve of the premiere of "Fast X," the 10th entry in the series, perhaps Dom should've said he lives his life a quarter-century at a time.

The release of "Fast X" marks 22 glorious years of the "Fast" saga, and as the 25-year mark approaches, it seems that Diesel and company are eager to give their long-running franchise a big, splashy final act. Because the "Fast" films are not based on any pre-existing source material, the journey from each movie to the next has been thrillingly unpredictable as the Torettos and their extended family reach bigger and crazier heights.

Now that Diesel, the rest of the ensemble cast, and...

Eight years after his last album, and seven years after his last single, Tego Calderón is back — and we hope it’s for good.

After a few weeks of teasing new music on social media, the living reggaeton legend finally dropped his latest track, called “La Receta.” While he’s often remembered as a conscious rapper who proudly and artfully weaved themes of race, class, history, and social justice into his rhymes, he has always had time to raise the temperature on the dance floor with some of the most high-energy hits in the genre.

Heads up, #family! It seems "Fast X" is going Revelations on all of our asses. By that I mean the most Latino and Catholic franchise in Hollywood is ready to have Jason Momoa literally blow up the Vatican with a giant bomb that looks exactly like the Death Star.

There are franchises that pivot and change drastically halfway through, but none have done so quite successfully as "Fast & Furious." What started as a simple movie about a cop going undercover with some illegal street racers has become the only true competitor to the "Mission: Impossible" franchise in terms of bonkers plots and impossible stunts — only this one has cartoon physics (and also Ludacris).

While many Hollywood franchises are attempting to add more diversity to their cast, "Fast & Furious" has naturally had that from the start. Sure, these movies have had a lot of Latino actors over the years...

Baja Beach Fest, one of the biggest showcases for reggaeton and urbano music, is celebrating its fifth anniversary with major OJs in the genre. The action-packed lineup includes headlining sets veteran acts like Wisin Y Yandel, Nicky Jam, Don Omar, and Tego Calderón, showing how much the festival has evolved since it started as a one-day concert in 2018.

Wisin Y Yandel and Nicky Jam will take the stage on the first day of the festival, which kicks off on August 11 in Rosarito, Mexico. Ozuna and Feid, two artists coming off...

In the mid-2010s, Myke Towers dominated Puerto Rico’s underground rap scene. His sharp delivery and lyrical dexterity made him a teenage prodigy whose release constantly went viral on SoundCloud. Hits like “Por Mí,” “Es Normal,” and “En Los Bloques” helped him build a cult following in the world rap en español, and eventually, he launched into stardom with three studio albums over the last seven years. His fourth, La Vida Es Una, is his most extensive yet.

“This is graduation,” the Puerto Rican artist tells Rolling Stone. Each...

From the time she began making heartbreak anthems and sexy ballads that dominated the mid-2000s, La Sista — a proud bombera and one of the first Black female reggaeton pioneers — was ahead of her time. The artist always showed off her lyrical dexterity, even when she was rapping about the ups and downs of relationships — a theme that’s been a rite of passage in the genre. She made powerful emotion the center of her sound, and also set a blueprint for a generation of female acts who came after her.

Last July, when Bad Bunny played three sold-out shows in Puerto Rico, the superstar — who was the most streamed artist in 2022 — took a moment to pass the mic. Sure, he’s done this before: His performances have become global spectacles that have included appearances from artists like J Balvin, Romeo Santos, and Cardi B. But these weren’t normal Bad Bunny concerts. He was returning to his home island to kick off his first stadium tour after dropping the record-shattering, history-making album Un Verano Sin Ti. Thousands of people waited...

Fast X star Vin Diesel teases that the upcoming film may feature even more returning characters from the world of Fast & Furious. The tenth installment in the long-running franchise, Fast X sees Diesel's Dom and the rest of his crew facing off against a new villain played by Jason Momoa. The upcoming sequel boasts the biggest cast of any movie in the series yet, with a host of returning characters set to share the screen with a number of new faces.

The already massive Fast X cast could be getting even larger if a recent post from Diesel is any indication, with the actor teasing that both Tego Leo (Tego Calderón) and Rico Santos (Don Omar) could be returning.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Vin Diesel (@vindiesel)

Both characters were first introduced in Fast & Furious in 2009 and then would soon after appear in the Los Bandoleros short film.

Bad Bunny already made history at this year’s Grammys with Un Verano Sin Ti, which became the first Spanish-language LP to be nominated for Album of the Year. Still, because he’s Bad Bunny, he took his impact even further by opening the 65th Annual Grammy Awards with a vibrant ode to Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic, putting Caribbean culture centerstage during the music industry’s venerated event.

The Puerto Rican superstar started offstage, moving through the audience while singing a few lines of “El Apagón,” or “The Blackout,...

The diss track is ubiquitous in music, and it’s an especially common fixture in reggaeton. The genre, which flourished in Puerto Rico’s underground in the Nineties, drew heavily on hip hop and dancehall, two genres in which feuds between artists and crews erupt regularly. In reggaeton, those influences, along with the realities of organized crime lurking around the industry, gave rise to the tiraera (call it “tiradera” at your own risk). A slang term for diss tracks, tiraeras became almost like a rite of passage for artists who...

With jazzy orchestra sounds, folkloric Afro-Boricua percussion, and political lyrics united over a ubiquitous dembow riddim, Tego Calderón’s album El Abayarde embodies the soul of reggaeton. Twenty years after its initial release in 2002, the project is a classic that’s as timely and necessary as ever, with every new listen revealing new layers.

When the Puerto Rican rapper emerged as one of the purveyors of reggaeton in the late Nineties, his bombastic persona, unapologetic Black pride, and undeniably slick lyricism quickly won over crowds. But El Abayarde was a...

An extravagant tapestry of slick Afro-Latin pop, Ozuna’s much anticipated fifth album ‘Ozutochi’ delivers more of the laid-back grooves and nocturnal hooks that made the Puerto Rican vocalist’s ascent to global stardom look like a natural consequence.

This sprawling 18-track collection has a luxurious, tropical-flower-in-bloom feel. It’s a poignant, occasionally adolescent, love letter to the transformational beauty of reggaetón, mapping the genre’s odyssey from underground movement to international juggernaut. If, by now, you’re understandably suffering from the occasional bout of reggaetón fatigue, Ozuna wants to remedy that.

Many of us were stunned and filled with emotions when we learned that our beloved Daddy Yankee had announced his retirement. Tidal's Senior Director of Latin Global, Jesús Triviño, refers to him as "the unquestioned Goat of reggaeton" and even penned a piece about Daddy Yankee and his role in bringing the genre to the mainstream. Triviño doesn't take this retirement lightly. In fact, in many ways, it's a full circle moment for him. He's interviewed the Puerto Rican artists probably more times than he can count. And it's because of journalists like him that Yankee started receiving English-language press relatively early in his rise to fame.

While Yankee's career technically started in the mid-'90s, it was in 2004 that he began to gain recognition on a global scale and all thanks to his megahit song "Gasolina," off of his "Barrio Fino" album produced by Luny Tunes. But it...

Image Source: Getty / Jc Olivera

I will never forget the first time I heard Gente de Zona. It was a typical Sunday in my childhood home, which meant two things: I had to help my mom clean our house, and we were, of course, going to blast reggaeton while doing it. My dad would always fill the house with sounds from Tego Calderón, Ivy Queen, Daddy Yankee, and, at the time, an upcoming duo who went by the name Gente de Zona. As I danced en la sala with the mop in one hand and the other hand up in the air, I couldn't help but jam out for hours. Gente de Zona hit differently. The energy from their music was contagious even from early on. I knew that every Sunday, I would have those two things to look forward to: cleaning the house and listening to Gente de Zona.

The first time I heard "El Abayarde," I thought, "Who is this dude straight dropping fire lyrics on these reggaeton beats?!" Until then, reggaeton had been (at least to me) party music. It was my favorite beat to shake my ass to, and it filled me with pride to know that this genre had, in some part, blown up due to Puerto Rican artists. As a Boricua, I loved that all these up-and-coming lyricists were making their way stateside thanks to an infectious dembow beat the world couldn't resist. But to have someone spitting socially conscious lyrics - talking about police brutality, inequality, racism, and government corruption - was something new. Tego Calderón was the one who brought this consciousness to the world of reggaeton.

It makes sense that Calderón took on this mantle. Santurce, Puerto Rico (where Calderón is originally from), has a long, proud history for Black Puerto Ricans.

Myke Towers raps with a natural ease — effortless, fluid, like he was born to do it. Except, when he was growing up in Puerto Rico, being a performer barely crossed his mind. “Music always spoke to me, but I swear to you, I never, ever, ever thought that I was going to be an artist,” he says on a recent phone call from his home on the island. “I thought maybe I’d work in the music industry somehow, but never as a singer or rapper.”

Still, he came from...

With the deadline for Latin Grammys consideration being May 31st, this week is especially jam-packed with some surprise arrivals. Rolling Stone Latin selects some of the best new music releases from Latin America, Spain and Portugal. Keep track of the latest in Latin via our playlist on Spotify.

Nathy Peluso, “Buenos Aires”

Argentine R&b singer Nathy Peluso imports soul from the Southern cone to your ears in her deeply hypnotic new single, “Buenos Aires.” Rock en español nerds rejoice: the funky Seventies throwback track was recorded with the original backing band for legendary singer-songwriter,...

The Puerto Rican rapper Anuel AA, who helped popularize Latin trap before heading to prison, only to reemerge and pick up right where he left off, put out his second album on Friday. Emmanuel is sprawling, stretching across 22 songs and nearly 90 minutes, incorporating verses from Anuel’s peers (Bad Bunny), veterans (Tego Calderon, Enrique Iglesias, Zion, Yandel), and a few wildcards (Travis Barker, Lil Wayne) along with several year-old singles (“Secreto” and “China”).

Anuel’s new release came accompanied with two videos, one for the Iglesias collaboration “Fútbol y Rumba,...

J Balvin schooled audiences nationwide Tuesday night with a live performance of his new single, “Reggaeton,” live on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. Jennifer Lopez and Milo Ventimiglia also appeared as guest stars. “We have the three J’s with us,” said Fallon in a teaser trailer before the show. “J Lo, J Balvin and me, J Fallon. It’s a brand new show. ¡No te la pierdas! (Don’t miss it!)”

Gently evoking Tego Calderon’s 2002 classic, “Pa’ Que Retozen” — chopped and screwed by dynamic duo Tainy and...

Vin Diesel is currently hitting the publicity trail for Guardians of the Galaxy, the movie where he finally plays a talking space tree—but that doesn’t mean he’s forgotten about his roots, because the only thing that really matters in this life is family because without a family a man doesn’t have a code, vroom vroom! Thus, during an interview with France’s Skyrock FM, Diesel revealed a bit of casting news for Fast & Furious 7, which is unquestionably the most important sevenquel coming out in 2015.

Diesel was asked which song he would prefer to dance to: Jason Derulo’s “Wiggle,...

Feature Ryan Lambie 20 Aug 2013 - 06:59

With Fast & Furious 7, director James Wan could take the franchise into slasher movie territory. Ryan explains why he should...

Nb: This article contains spoilers for Fast & Furious 6

Defying the laws of sequel entropy, Fast & Furious 6 managed to be an even bigger financial hit than its predecessor. The Fast franchise, it seems, is like a speeding juggernaut, crashing through minor details like logic and the laws of physics, and entertaining through sheer thunderous velocity.

The Fast movies have also managed to grow in popularity, as opposed to drifting into straight-to-dvd hell, thanks to a canny bit of reinvention. Fast Five wisely put aside the street racing and Halfords bling of its predecessors and took a U-turn into action heist territory. With director Justin Lin throwing in Dwayne Johnson for good measure, Fast Five was a loud, larger-than-life carnival of crashing cars and fist-fights,...

Here's a short written and directed by Vin Diesel and entirely shot in the Dominican Republic, which I came across and saw for the first time this weekend. The 20-minute long Los Bandoleros (The Bandits) was showcased on the Blu-Ray and DVD release of the 2009 fourth installment of the mega hit series titled Fast & Furious. The short was presented as a prelude to the 4th film, and tells the back story to the events leading to the the truck heist in the 2009 film. It stars Vin Diesel, Michelle Rodriguez, Tego Calderon, Don Omar and Sung Kang. And although Vin Diesel is in character as "Dom Toretto," I was surprised that there weren't any car chases, grand explosions, or bodies being...

Fast and Furious 6

Starring Vin Diesel, Dwayne Johnson, Paul Walker, Michelle Rodriguez, Ludacris, Tyrese, Luke Evans, Gina Carano, Gal Gadot, Sung Kang, and Jordana Brewster.

Directed by Justin Lin

Rated PG-13

It’s a series that should’ve have gone on for as long as it should have but I’m glad it did. Fast and Furious 6 marks the sixth time Universal has made a street racing movie with dull, two-dimensional characters but the later installments are getting better and better. The first three movies are a haze and I can only remember so much from each. Fast Five was the start of something incredible and the sixth film continues to be just as awesome, fast paced, daring, action-packed, and sexy.

Dominic (Diesel) and Brian (Walker), along with Mia (Brewster) and Elena (Pataky), are living in bliss after the heist in Rio de Janiero. Hobbs (Johnson) needs Dom’s help...

San Juan, March 20 (Ians/Efe) After a two-year battle against cancer, Puerto Rican singer-songwriter Draco Rosa launched Tuesday his new album "Vida" (Life) on which he teams up with 16 artists including Ricky Martin, Shakira and Alejandro Sanz.

Others accompanying Rosa are Juan Luis Guerra, Calle 13, Juanes, Marc Anthony, Tego Calderon, Mana, Ruben Blades, Jose Feliciano, Enrique Bunbury, Andres Calamaro, Romeo Santos, Ednita Nazario and MiMa.

The new Rosa album is being released almost two years after he was diagnosed with cancer and not quite three months since doctors pronounced him cured.

"It's titled 'Vida' because I'm happy to be alive. After two years of the illness, they confirmed that I was free of cancer.

San Juan, Puerto Rico -- Benicio Del Toro didn't wait long to collect on a favor that Oliver Stone owed him for working extra hours on the set of his most recent movie, "Savages," released this year.

The favor? A trip to Del Toro's native Puerto Rico, which Stone hadn't visited since the early 1960s.

"I told him, you owe me one," Del Toro said with a smile as he recalled the conversation during a press conference Friday in the U.S. territory, where he and Stone are helping raise money for one of the island's largest art museums.

Del Toro, wearing jeans, a black jacket and a black T-shirt emblazoned with the name of local reggaeton singer Tego Calderon, waved to the press as he was introduced.

"Hello, greetings. Is this a press conference?" he quipped as he and Stone awaited questions.

Both men praised each other's work, saying...

By Michael Lopez

The buzz is continuing to build for next week’s Latin Grammys and ChoQuibTown is a top contender. The Colombian hip-hop trio is up for three awards this year and, as member Carlos Valencia told us, they couldn’t be more excited.

"We are so thrilled about all of the nominations we got this year," he said in our exclusive interview. "Just being recognized by the Latin Grammys is one of the biggest thrills of our career!"

And this is hardly the first time that the Latin Grammys have paid attention to ChoQuibTown. Back in 2009 they were nominated as Best New Artist and they won 2010's Best Alternative Song for "De Donde Vengo Yo." This year all of the focus has been on their new album, Eso Es Lo Que Hay.

(Listen to the songs below)

"Eso Es Lo Que Hay is the album we've always wanted to make,...

The nominees for the 2012 Latin Grammy awards are in, and Dominican singer Juan Luis Guerra tops the list with six nods.

Guerra scored two of the 10 "Best Song" nominations for his "Azul Sabina" and "En El Cielo No Hay Hospital." The Dominican singer’s unique blend of merengue, bolero, bachata and rock has already earned him 12 Latin Grammys.

The list of nominees released Tuesday by the Latin Recording Academy includes both established musical titans such as Cuban jazz trumpeter Arturo Sandoval, and relative newcomers, including Afro-Colombian hip hop group Choc Quib Town.

Brazil's Caetano Veloso, who first came to prominence in the 1960s playing a samba-infused style of rock known as Tropicalia, is up for four awards. Caetano will also be honored as the "2012 Latin Recording Academy Person of the Year."

The Latin Grammys are scheduled for Nov. 15 in Las Vegas and will be televised by Univision.

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