AKWID

Akwid's Sergio and Francisco Gomez immigrated to California from Mexico as children, settling into the cross-cultural live wire of South Central Los Angeles. There they formed the Juvenile Style DJ crew as teens and adopted the nicknames Wikid and AK. Obsessed with the beats and attitudes of American hip-hop, the Gomez brothers began to blend that sound with elements of traditional Mexican music. Originally pushing their sonic branding out with Juvenile Style, they blended their handles to form Akwid. Sergio and Francisco focused on the banda/rap sound in earnest, rapping in Spanish over street-level beats punctuated by steely blasts from Mexican brass. Taking cues from the likes of NWS, Snoop Dogg and DJ Quik, the brothers simultaneously returned to the sounds of their parents: Lorenzo de Monteclaro and Los Tigres del Norte. Fusing the big brass sound of tubas, trumpets and clarinets with tasteful hip-hop beats, they released Akwid 2002 before signing to Univision's music wing. Dropping their full-length debut in June 2003, their first single "No Hay Manera (There's No Way)" burned up the Latin music charts and Akwid was on their way. Proyecto Akwid went platinum in the Latin Market, garnering a Latin Grammy nomination for Best Latin Rock/Alternative Album. The following year they released Komp 104.9 Radio Compa , then dropping Los Aguacates De Jiquilpan , a hip-hop fairy tale of sorts retelling Mexican street life in Los Angeles, in 2005. Ever prolific, they released Kickin' It...Juntos with Jae-P the same year, releasing their most recent efforts, Still Kickin' It (also with Jae-P) and Dos En Uno , a re-release of their first two records, in 2006, as well as their most recent, Live in Japan, a CD/DVD package of 2005 shows in Japan, Sendai and Nagoya.