Artist to Watch: 3BallMTY
Who They Are: A trio of DJs – Erick Rincón, Sheeqo Beat and DJ Otto – from Monterrey, Mexico, all between the ages of 20 and 22.
What They’ve Done: While still in their teens, the group raised the international profile of tribal, an infectious dance genre popularized in their hometown, and today their brand of Latin pop is a potent mix of tribal’s shuffling triplets, Mexican cumbia music and EDM’s beating pulse. In 2011, “Inténtalo” from their debut album of the same name, rose to the top of the Billboard Latin chart, and last fall’s “Quiero Bailar (All Through the Night)” had the earwormy charm of Pitbull’s “The Anthem” mixed with the global-meets-local cool of record label Mad Decent.
What They’re Doing Next: Their second album, Globall (released on March 25th) references an impressive array of pan-Latino urban genres without ever being alienating – everyone’s invited to the table and encouraged to dance on top of it. They are currently promoting the album on a tour of the United States with other regional Mexican artists before embarking on a solo tour this summer.
What They Say: “Since we came together in 2009, the whole movement has moved forward so much,” explains Rincón. “The electronic music scene has gotten so huge in Mexico and all over the world. Tribal is moving toward that direction. It’s been growing. We can see it. We just performed at Madison Square Garden [as a part of La Mega Mezcla Block Party]. It was a great success. We didn’t expect the fans to react so well, because the Latin music market in New York is so different. It’s all about bachata and reggaetón and merengue and tropical music. It was wild for us to be able to be there and perform there and see all of those people dance to rhythms of tribal.”