Mister Cartoon is a tattoo master whose influence stretches from music to cycling (really? Yes!) to cell phones. MetroPCS will release an exclusive Samsung Messenger cell phone designed by Cartoon. He was in NYC yesterday promoting his phone so I dropped by to chill with the master and his out of this world designs. 
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Oh Pitbull, he of taco meat chest hair. Oh Pitbull, he of infectious club bangers. Y Pitbull, he who loves to employ Model Latinas. In Pit’s new video for “Hotel Room Service,” Lisa Morales of Model Latina Miami plays his scorned girlfriend. Lisa catches Pit with three girls in a hotel (of course, check the name of the song) and is quickly escorted the fudge out. It’s a sexy, funny clip. Read More

Nore loves his gully rap music. He loves Queens, NY. And he loves his Newport cigarettes. And Nore really loves Sí TV’s Model Latina. He loves the series so much he nabbed two of last season’s contestants for one of his music videos. He even called SITV.COM to share his love (obsession) for Model Latina. Well, Nore get strapped to your couch this Sunday (8/2) because Model Latina Miami premieres at 9PM ET/PT. Dale!
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Latinos loving Latinos? It’s not your Skinemax favorite late night guilty pleasure Lusty Latinas IV; it’s the motto Latin urban music megastars Calle 13 live by. On their new documentary, Sin Mapa (which premiered at NYILFF yesterday), the Puerto Rican duo filmed their journey throughout South America as they learn about different Latin cultures. I chatted with Residente about Sin Mapa (guerilla filmmaking at its best), Latino unity, and what he learned about nuestra gente.

Uno,

Jesus
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You have to give it up for Daddy Yankee. The boricua keeps on trying to reinvent his sound. He has no other option but to do so. Did you think that in 2009, Wisin y Yandal would eclipse any reggaetonero? Yep, he didn’t either. So in keeping with his reinvention he (remember he used auto tune for his last single), DY’s new single “Prende” sounds like a merengue ripiao reggaeton mishmash. Read More

Since I interviewed Niña Dioz a couple of weeks back I kept on thinking: does she have a shot to go big? Even though music magazines are more moribund than, well, music magazines I still believe in true indie artists. Niña is one of Spanish language rap’s rising stars who doesn’t need press just tweet of mouth. I asked her on the comparisons to La Mala Rodriguez and M.I.A. Two of the world’s finest female MCs—pretty bad ass comparisons if you ask me.

Uno,

Jesus
 

First it was the Kumbia Kings, then the Kumbia All-Starz (a “z” because they were street, ha!) and now we have Los Super Reyes. If you know the deets behind these groups you know all of their shared drama. Yet, with all its business mishandlings (hi A.B. Quintanilla) all these groups made cumbia cool. Growing up I used to listen my mom blast Colombia's La Sonora Dinamita (fun fact: cumbia was born in the Andean nation not Mexico) on Saturday afternoons and pray none of my friends heard it. Read More