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When Delinquent Habits gathered in their home studio to start recording their upcoming album, Here Come the Horns, they knew which direction their music should take and it was due South. "Basically, we just wanted a super-heavy
And according to O.G. (a.k.a. Alex Martinez), the group's 25-year-old producer and DJ, the search for the album's Latin samples didn't involve digging into old record crates as much as rummaging through his memory banks. "A lot of the sound I wanted for this album comes from the stuff that we listened to in my house when I was a kid," he said. "So I'd go to swap meets and pick up one of those old albums. Then we'd get it back in the studio and mix it with the rock and soul to give you something with a little Latin flavor in it." A "little" Latin flavor may be an understatement. Executive produced by former Cypress Hill rapper Sen Dog, Here Come The Horns, is packed with 14 tracks, all with elements of Latin music. The title cut from the album, which is due in U.S. stores on May 19 (and is already available in Europe), pulsates with salsa horns. On several tracks, Kemo and rhyming partner Ives rap in the linguistic acrobatics of Spanglish, a commonly spoken blend of Spanish and English used in Latino communities. And songs such as "Shed A Tear" and "Wallah" are infused with the flourishes of a haunting flamenco guitar. The trio kicks off Here Come The Horns with the album's single, "This Is L.A." (RealAudio excerpt), a song inspired by the late gangsta- rapper Tupac Shakur. "Before Tupac mentioned it in (the song) 'To Live and Die in L.A.,' Mexicans in the L.A. scene didn't get recognized a lot," O.G. said. The group, whose members are all of Latino ancestry, decided to pay tribute to the slain rapper and expanded the point by using his line, "It wouldn't be L.A. without Mexicans" as the chorus to the song. However, the Delinquent Habits were unable to get clearance for the sample, O.G. said. "We built a song around that sample, so we then had to tailor [the sample] so it just sounded like it. We had to get it as close as possible without actually using the sample." The song now stands as one of his favorite tracks on the album, he said. "It's got mad flavor and it hits me hard, just the way I like it." Delinquent Habits also drew inspiration from sultry soul songstress Sade. They use the line "Coast to coast/ L.A. to Chicago/ Western ways" from her breakthrough song "Smooth Operator" as the chorus to their "Western Ways." Where Sade uses the line to describe the trail of broken hearts left behind in a cad's wake, however, Delinquent Habits use it to point out that hip-hop fans are similar around the world. The idea to use the sample came to the Habits while they were on tour in Spain. "We were in our hotel room just blazin' and ['Smooth Operator'] came on the little speaker that was in our room," explained Kemo, who would not give his real name. "And right then it just clicked. We were like 'OK, how we gonna sample Sade?' " The sample that ended being used soon became the obvious choice, considering the Delinquent Habits' experiences on tour, according to O.G. "It was like, 'damn, that's perfect,' " he explained. "Here we are traveling around the world and everyone is the same. In all of our travels, everyone smokes, everybody parties. "If it fits into the hip-hop mode across the ocean," he continued. "We'll be there. If they're throwing a party in a castle or some shit, we'll go where it's at. Hip-hop is universal like that."
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