When his song with Bad Bunny, “Coco Chanel,” was named best rap/hip-hop song at the Latin Grammys in November, first-time winner Eladio Carrión professed that he was not in Spain to accept the honors. Instead, he was at his house in Puerto Rico, with his girlfriend, Vianell González, and his newborn twins.
“It was like I had received a big gift box from God,” said Carrión, who recently called the Times from the parking lot of a pediatrician's office in San Juan.
“So many blessings came at once: my children came on November 7th, my birthday on November 14th. Then I woke up to a phone call saying I had won a Grammy. “Then I jumped all over my apartment, screaming with my girlfriend.”
Carrión speaks with a warm, earthy baritone that resonates throughout his extensive catalog of reggaeton and Latin trap. Carrión, a retired competitive swimmer, dedicates many of his songs to star athletes, from NBA All-Star Kemba Walker to French World Cup champion Kylian Mbappé, who inform his ambitious approach. In 2023, Carrión capped a prolific five-album career with “3MEN2 KBRN,” a Spanglish trap LP featuring cameos from Lil Wayne, Future and 50 Cent, which peaked at No. 16 on the Billboard 200.
“I have no material goals,” he said. “I only have one car, and this is the only car I'm going to have, you know? What makes me happy [is] Set goals and achieve them.”
On January 19, Carrión released his sixth studio album, “Sol María,” a vibrant collection of 17 trap songs intertwined with threads of reggae, Afrobeats and sleek '90s R&B. The album is named after her mother, whose young face appears front and center in the artwork. His parents star in the video for “TQMQA (Te Quiero Más Que Ayer),” which he filmed in part with a VHS camcorder when he was a child.
Carrión is also developing a comedy with Rubicon Global Media, based on his real life as a reformed “niño no sabo.” Born into an Army family in Kansas City, Missouri, he lived in several states before landing in Humacao, Puerto Rico, at age 10. He learned to rap in Spanish after seeing Wisin y Yandel in concert when he was a high school student; Shortly after, his mother began taking him to the local fair to perform. Family, he stated, has been the key to his success.
“I wrote these new songs thinking, 'Oh, my mom is going to go crazy when she hears this,'” he said. “She deserves her moment too.”
The Times spoke with Carrión about his new album, mastering hip-hop in Spanish and how family is the key to success. This interview has been condensed and lightly edited for clarity.
Did you grow up thinking that a career like this was possible for you?
Well, I always loved making people laugh, entertaining. In Puerto Rico there is a theme park called La Feria. In ninth grade I stopped at the park and said, “Hey, who's in charge? I want to sing.” The guy said, “I'll give you five minutes.” My mom and my cousins showed up. There was no one else there, but I sang. I wrote the song with YouTube beats like three days before. I just wanted to be on stage! ! Someday I want to be the first artist to do music and comedy in Choli [Coliseo de Puerto Rico José Miguel Agrelot].
Before becoming a Latin Grammy-winning rapper, you became popular for your Vine videos, where you made parodies of Rihanna songs. What brought you to comedy in the first place?
I love being a fool. The vine was fun [until] Everyone started editing super high definition videos with transitions. After that, it became too complicated for me. I've been a big comedy fan since I was a kid. [My] Two older sisters put me in touch with Eddie Murphy and Dave Chappelle. For me, Bernie Mac was the OG. He also loved Chris Tucker. In fact, I have a little comedy that we are going to leave.
tell me about [your sitcom]!
My story is different from other Latin stories. When you watch a show on Netflix about Latinos, it's about the struggle they face arriving from their homeland to the United States. For me it was the opposite: I came from the United States to Puerto Rico. We moved to Puerto Rico when I was 10 years old. I didn't know any Spanish, but my dad was in the army. He was already used to moving me every two years, so he would just adapt me to the next place.
How did you go from being a “kid I don't know” to someone who raps in Spanish?
In my opinion, it was: you sit and cry and feel sorry for yourself, or you really try to learn this language. The main thing to learn a new language and learn it fluently is not to be afraid to speak it.
That's very reassuring for our readers!
Oh, my pronouns were horrible. I would say things like “the cow” [and] People always corrected me. I watched soap operas with my grandmother, like crazy. There was a time when I didn't even watch normal television, only soap operas. How I hated being the kid with the accent! Now it's easy for me to rap in Spanish. I like all the word games, the metaphors. But it is much more difficult to find words that rhyme in Spanish than in English.
In America, people are still debating whether “hip-hop is dead.” But in Spanish it is quite illuminated!
Yes, we are killing it!
On your last album [“3MEN2 KBRN”] you proved to be a powerful player in hip-hop and brought in your American hip hop heroes. How did it feel to work with them?
I thought, “If a kid who didn't speak my language came to me with a song, what would make my head spin?” I was 50 [Cent] The song sat in my email for about three years before I sent it. I said, “Damn, I think Wayne is going to be impossible.” [to get]…” I wrote my [2022] song “Gladiator” thinking about [his 2008 song with Jay-Z], “Mr. Carter.” Then it stopped and we did the remix! I made the perfect collaborations in my head and just seeing them happen in real life puts my mind at ease. [me] that everything is possible.
In your new album, “Sol María”, you use more summery pop melodies and faster rhythms. We got a lot of warm, nostalgic vibes. Did you think this album had to be brighter than the last one?
Do you know they have Kidz Bop? And they get the best songs and put them on a kid. [friendly] album? This It's an album of songs that my mom would love. She is my number one fan.
Is your mom a fan of trap music?
She loves my music trap. My parents call me every other day just to tell me: “Eladio! Damn! Today we are listening to this song, how did you make this verse? They think I'm like a musical genius. Like there's only one of me in the world.
What did your parents teach you about love?
They gave me a lot of love when I was a child. I was his little mini-me. My mom was an angel, but my dad was a good cop, bad cop type. He came in with tough love…but he taught me values. I'm a dad now, so I'm about to do it. [experience] that too.
In “Sigo Enamorau'”, the song that samples Marcia Aiken's classic reggae, [and Yandel] he sings about being a “b-rr-o” who is also, as you say, a “mama’s boy.” Here's a Latin math question: how do you become a dog and a mama's boy at the same time?
Man… Everything in life is a balance, you know? I just couldn't give my fans a whole album of romantic ballads. My fans would say, “That's not it, boss.” Compared Besides the rest of the stuff that's available right now, it's super PG! But there's one thing I know how to do, and it's the reason I feel like my albums are doing so well: I read my fans.
One of the most important things about many artists who come out of Puerto Rico is their authenticity. Artists like you and Benito are in constant conversation with your fans there.
I would love to just be a pop star, release a commercial album and have all my songs on the biggest playlists and radio stations, but my fans need some of that sauce!
We capture his sensitive side (not weak, but sensitive) in the song “Luchas Mentales,” which addresses mental health issues. You wrote these beautiful lines: “I am not made of paper/Rainwater helps it grow.” Can you talk about writing this song?
It's a hard line! I was excited when I wrote it. God gave me the gift of music to help people overcome their difficulties. People need space for that, because when you don't talk about real things, they just replace them with fake things. Getting that off my chest is good, personally, I've been through it, I know people who have been through it, but music like that helps me communicate with my fans without even knowing them. It even helps my mom, she listens to songs like “Guerrero” or “Gladiador” every morning before going to her doctor's appointments.
As you become more and more famous, how can you stay true to yourself at the end of the day?
I have a really great family and I have a really good team. They keep me sane. And I keep doing the same things I always do. I'll do my shopping at Walmart, you can see me rowing. Be successful and just not be able to go anywhere? That's not fun at all. I didn't like doing promotion before because I was afraid of becoming more famous. But when I go out here, people aren't all over me. They let me live a normal life because do live a normal life. I feel like this is the perfect amount of fame. Puts food on the table.
