How Puerto Rican duo became toast of Latin biz

10/10/2006 1:09 AM, Reuters
Leila Cobo

Calle 13 came out of nowhere. In a world dominated by collaborations, featured performers and guest artists, these guys -- Rene Perez (aka Residente) and Eduardo Cabra (aka Visitante) -- had been notably absent.

And then, just as quickly, they were notably obvious: two funny-looking white guys who wore funny shirts but no bling, and who purportedly did reggaeton but whose sound was really something else, more like Latin rap, with clever lyrics that often made you gasp in outright shock.

Without a single previous recording to its name and airplay limited to Puerto Rico, Calle 13 released its self-titled debut album in December 2005, bowing and peaking at No. 6 on Billboard's Top Latin Albums chart. Since then, Calle 13 has sold close to 150,000 copies in the United States alone, according to Nielsen SoundScan.

In the U.S. Latin music world, where breaking new acts is notoriously difficult, such numbers are phenomenal for anyone, much less one this novel. Only two other brand-new Latin acts have broken the 100,000-unit mark in the past year.

That alone makes Calle 13's success noteworthy. More so is the fact that the pair did it without a radio hit. The highest Calle 13 has reached on the Hot Latin Songs chart is No. 15.

Read on for the chronology of a hit act -- from its inception to its current status as a multiple nominee at the seventh annual Latin Grammy Awards, to be held November 2 at Madison Square Garden.

THE EARLY DAYS: Perez and Cabra meet at 2 years old when Perez's mother and Cabra's father marry. After the couple divorced, the brothers -- that's what they consider themselves -- remain close for the next 25 years. (They are 28 now.) The name Calle 13 comes from Perez's address in San Juan, Puerto Rico; it means "13th Street." It also inspired the duo's stage names. Since it was his residence, Perez became El Residente. Because Cabra came to see his brother every weekend, he is El Visitante (the visitor). Residente was musical but leaned more toward the visual. Visitante was the real musician and pursued it as a career. All of Calle 13's arrangements and orchestrations are his. Residente studied fine arts in Puerto Rico, then got a master's degree in fine arts in Georgia. But he has written raps and poems all his life, and Calle 13's lyrics are his. In 2003, Residente returned to Puerto Rico and immediately immersed himself in film, art and music.

NOVEMBER 2004: Residente and Visitante record together for the first time. "The notion was to make a Web page and put our music up for free," Residente says. The pair cut a two-track demo with the songs "La Tripleta" and "La Aguacatona."

FEBRUARY 2005: Fed up with the artistic life, Residente and Visitante start shopping for a label. Visitante suggests indie White Lion, which Residente likes because it originally signed Tego Calderon. He looks up the address in the phone book, walks to the label's offices and drops off the disc. In true indie spirit, White Lion owner Elias de Leon actually listens to all demos every Tuesday. That particular day wasn't a Tuesday, but his cousin and talent scout came up to him and said, "These weird guys brought this demo. You've got to listen to it." In his car, de Leon played "La Tripleta," the least reggaeton-minded track. "I understood there was something different. The lyrics. It was too much," de Leon says. At 2 a.m. the next day, Residente was working at his day job as draftsman for an architectural firm when he got the call: "Where did you come from?" de Leon asked. He gave him an appointment for the next day. Residente rolled up the drafts he was working on and never looked back.

APRIL 2005: De Leon plays a demo for Lorenzo Braun, VP of marketing/artists and repertoire for Sony BMG Urbano, with whom White Lion has a licensing deal. "It smelled good," Braun says. "Evidently, it was something different." But his eureka moment came when he saw the video to "Se Vale To"' months later. "When I saw the visual proposal, I saw an artist that could change things."

JUNE 2005: White Lion signs Calle 13 and takes "Se Vale To"' to Puerto Rican reggaeton station WVOZ (Mix 107), simply to test the waters. At 5 p.m. on a Friday, PD Jaime Ortiz "El Coyote" plays the track for the first time. "People started calling, saying, 'I like this crazy song,"' Ortiz says. "By Monday, it had exploded, and people had already recorded it from the radio and released it on the Internet."

Meanwhile, Sony BMG Latin America president Kevin Lawrie hears "Se Vale To"' during a hip-hop convention in Puerto Rico. "I thought, 'This is something that's fantastic and different,"' Lawrie says. "It doesn't want to be Daddy Yankee or Wisin & Yandel. It's totally in its own space. I thought it could be one of those things that can change the game. And that was how we became involved."

JULY 2005: Calle 13 plays its first massive show July 31 at Mix 107's Mixactivo Sports concert. It performs "Se Vale To"' and "flips the beach around," according to Ortiz. Calle 13 records its first video, for "Se Vale To'," for $14,000. Perez shoots it on film with help from his cousin and edits it himself.

AUGUST 2005: Calle 13 releases "Querido FBI," a track critical of the FBI's intervention in Puerto Rico, as an underground single. Fans make a clandestine video to accompany it.

NOVEMBER 2005: De Leon introduces Perez to established reggaeton artist Julio Voltio. They collaborate on the track "Chulin Culin Chunfly," included on Voltio's album. The track eventually reaches No. 8 on Hot Latin Songs in March 2006. "It was the best move we did with them," de Leon says. "He was able to reach both the masses and the upper crust of Puerto Rico."

Armed with three videos, Braun devises a strategy built on the group's visual and aesthetic appeal. Sony BMG makes a mixed DVD, which it had never done before with DVDs, and distributes it via street teams. "I wanted everybody to see that video and feel the impact I had felt," Braun says.

DECEMBER 2005: The duo pens "Balas Perdidas," which also becomes a local radio hit, despite not being on any album. The act's album, "Calle 13," debuts at No. 6 on Top Latin Albums, with sales coming predominantly from Puerto Rico.

JANUARY-MAY 2006: Sony BMG works patiently at breaking Calle 13 stateside, concentrating on Internet and grass-roots strategies. Radio is a tough sell outside Puerto Rico, so every spin becomes precious. In May, Calle 13 sells out the Coliseo de Puerto Rico.

JUNE 2006: "Atrevete-Te-Te" is added to the Superestrella radio network on the West Coast, giving Calle 13 pop radio airplay on stations nationwide and broadening its reach. Sony makes a concerted campaign to convince PD Nestor Rocha to program a track that doesn't quite fit Superestrella's top 40 format.

JULY 2006: After much wrangling between Sony BMG and the Univision network, Calle 13 is booked to perform on the highly rated Premios Juventud awards show. Sources say the network was reluctant to bring the duo in, as it wasn't an established name. But following Premios Juventud, Calle 13's sales shoot up again, and the album returns to the top 10, where it remains for five weeks.

In addition, Nelly Furtado invites Calle 13 to record a new version of her song "No Hay Igual." The track is released as a single, and a video is shot.

AUGUST 2006: Calle 13 records a rap interlude for "La Peleita," a track on Alejandro Sanz's upcoming album.

SEPTEMBER 2006: Calle 13 garners three Latin Grammy Award nominations, including best new artist, and three nods for the MTV Latin America Awards, where it is slated to perform with Furtado. The duo also joins her on the premiere of new channel MTV Tr3s.

TODAY: Calle 13 has already begun promotion throughout Latin America and has garnered heavy rotation in countries like Colombia. The act is now being heavily worked in Mexico and Spain. A new album is slated for next year. Perez says it will be darker, more musically complex and designed to make the listener think.

"Really, I was very sure of this," he says about Calle 13. "I was crazy to have somebody listen to us. Understand it. I hadn't had the opportunity, and this was my first one. I knew it was good. The lyrics were good. It sounded like nothing else. There was no excuse not to do it."

Reuters/Billboard