Mecate

Mecate Is The Name Of A Salvadoran Hip-Hop Band That Despite Its Ephemeral Presence Managed To Leave A Mark In The Country's Media And Music Scene. With A Style Permeated By The Backstreet Boys Magneto Boys II Men A-Ha Milli Vanilli And Britney Spears The Band Kept A Bizarre Balance Between Humor Social Conscience And Fresh-Tasting Pizza. Early Days The Band Was Born At Some Stage During 1998 In Jorge Manuel's A.K.A. "Piocha" House. Piocha Was A Talented Guitarist With Some Exposure To The Salvadoran Rock Scene Who Consented To Experiment Musically With Ernesto Asecas "Neto" And Enrique Antonio "Kique" Who Both Lacked Musical Background Or Taste And Had Only Recently Been Exposed To Hip-Hop Music. With Time The Experiment Took A More Defined Shape And Added New Recruits Including Drummer Carlos Alfredo Alias "Kalimba" Rafa And Chorus Girl And Dancing Queen Jose Manuel "Lady" . The Sessions Culminated In An Ill-Fated Performance During A School Event In The Salvadoran British School ABC Where The Band Performed Their Original Track "Armando Pleito." Audience Members Were Reported To Have Been "thoroughly Disgusted" By The Lack Of Skill Talent And "any Sort Of Entertainment Value Whatsoever" Backstage The Band Was Escorted By The Event Organizer And Invited To Retire From The Music Scene Indefinitely. But Their Ingenuity Combined With An Enormous Amount Of Spare Time Kept Them Going And With The Aid Of "FruityLoops" Software Neto Lady And Kique Began To Prepare Some Home-Brewed Tracks That Served As Amusement More Than Anything. To Feed Their Hunger For Self-Publicity Only After Several Attempts Did The Band Manage To Get Some Of Their Tracks On The Air. Censura With The Single "El Directo" Mecate Tapped A Vein In The Country's Conscience By Playing In The Mainstream's Ears The Story Of A Heavily Controverted Underaged Gang-Member Accused Of At Least 18 Killings. The Title Created Serious Debate In The Local Media Including A Ruling By The Interior Minister To Ban It From The Airwaves. They Say There's No Such Thing As Bad Publicity And Mecate Soon Realized It Finding Themselves Prominently Featured In Various Communcation Forms Including An Endorsement For The Local Condom Brand "Panter". Postmortem Once The Sea Settled The Band Had To Disband In Order To Pursue Academic Studies. However Thanks To The Internet They Kept Making Sporadic Attempts To Reenter The Salvadoran Airwaves With A Few Tracks Such As "Poder Latino" And "Prototipo" And Eventually Contributions With Pescozada For "Movimiento" And Ayutush For "Paranoia." At Some Stage The Talented Demetrio Soto Martinez "Demi" Joined The Group And Laid Down What Are Arguably Some Of The Best Verses To Date In Latin Hip-Hop With A Unique Rhyme Style. The Band Members Are Now Dispersed Through The World. Kique Is Reported To Be Living In Finland With His Partner Lorenzo Toy Is In Bolivia In The Export Business And Lady Was Last Seen Exiting A Pornographic Video Shop In Cambodia Wearing A Fuchsia Scarf. read less