It's the morning of the Latin Grammy Awards nominations and one of the nominees is fast asleep. Mexican trio Latin Mafia spent the night before putting the final touches on their debut album. For the past two years, the De La Rosa brothers have reshaped and redefined Latin music with their genre-bending hits that have brought them to stages around the world, including Coachella in April. While still in their pajamas, the guys discover that they're nominated for Best New Artist at the Latin Grammys in November.
"It was beautiful to wake up at like 2 p.m. here because we went to sleep very late and see a lot of beautiful messages and things on social media," Milton De La Rosa says over Zoom from the band's place in Los Angeles. "[The nomination] is a dream of ours that three of us have talked about," his older brother Mike adds. "It feels very good to get this stamp of approval on our music and all the hard work that we've put in these past few years."
Mike is the producer of Latin Mafia, and his twin brothers Milton and Emilio are singer-songwriters. The band's criminally-inspired name comes from a Latin trap group that Mike was once a part of. He decided to hold onto it when he started making music with his brothers at home in Mexico City during the COVID-19 pandemic. By sharing their song-making process in videos on TikTok, Latin Mafia started cultivating a fan base. When they uploaded their first song onto Spotify in 2021, they wrote "Home Made Records" in the record label spot.
"We wrote-in 'Home Made,' and it's very beautiful that that's how everything has remained," Milton recalls. "We began this project as brothers and friends and now us three are able to do this for a living together. We’re having fun with what we do and keep creating music."
No two Latin Mafia songs sound the same. Milton and Emilio's soulful voices push their songs into R&B territory in the swaggering "Continuo Atardecer" or the ending of "Julietota" following the explosive reggaeton. The guys embrace elements of Afrobeats in the sensual "Flores" and symphonic pop in the soaring "Patadas De Ahogado" featuring Humbe. Latin Mafia's global-minded pop is due in part to how different the brothers are. As inspirations, Emilio names R&B and hip-hop acts like Tyler the Creator, Steve Lacy, and Omar Apollo while Milton lists Rosalía, Rauw Alejandro, and Frank Ocean, and Mike mentions EDM stars Fred Again.. and Flume. These are also dream collaborations of theirs.
"That very indie era of Latin Mafia allowed us to explore a lot of new sounds and things that are different to the ear and voice," Emilio says. "We're people that listen to a lot of different music and you can hear those references throughout our songs. That's reflected in the Latin Mafia of today. We've come up with a fresh approach to music that's led us to turning in an album soon."
While the music of Latin Mafia is sonically different, at the core of most of their songs is a message of embracing emotions. With the toxic masculinity of machismo ingrained in Mexican culture, the guys are pushing back with their heartfelt songs like the cathartic "Más Humano" and the vulnerable "No Digas Nada." The latter track touches on the topic of mental health with Milton and Emilio singing about allowing themselves to be naked emotionally and admitting that it's okay to not be okay. The music video with over 25 million views on YouTube shows all three brothers breaking down in tears.
"In one way or another we've all gone through that type of experience, trauma, or crisis of anxiety or depression," Milton says. "Mike, Emilio, and myself have had to overcome those types of situations. If we can give this very important topic more visibility and create awareness around it, we'll do it." Emilio adds, "We're capable of using the emotions we feel and our experiences and making them into something tangible in our music. We use what we have in our hands and create from there."
Last year, while unsigned, Latin Mafia sold-out arenas across Mexico, including the 11,000-seat Olympic Velodrome in Mexico City in minutes. In February, the guys started to perform in other countries for the first time, including Lollapalooza Argentina, Lollapalooza Chile and music festivals in Costa Rica, Puerto Rico, and Colombia. The brothers also entered the U.S. for the first time in April to perform at both weekends of Coachella. Their concert style is 2000s-inspired with a mix of mesh shirts, baggy jeans, oversized jerseys, trucker hats, teddy bear backpacks, and Mexican cowboy hats.
"That really shows that there's no borders or barriers in music," Emilio says about the band's festival performances. "You never imagine that you'll be able to travel through the art you make. I never even thought that I would go to Coachella as a spectator. To be on-stage there and to be on the line-up with artists at that level was incredible."
After catching the eye of many record labels, Latin Mafia signed with Rimas Entertainment in July. The imprint rose to prominence with the success of one its roster's biggest stars, Bad Bunny. When asked if they would like to collaborate with the Puerto Rican phenom in the future, the three brothers say in unison, "God willing!" After being an independent act, Latin Mafia sees signing with Rimas as the next major step forward.
"Our family has gotten bigger," Mike says. "We're very thrilled [to sign with Rimas]. There's no one who understands how we're doing our project better than them. It's been nothing but good things. We’re very happy with what we’ve achieved, but we’re going for more now. We’re very ambitious with a lot of hunger and drive."
Since finishing their music festival run, the guys have hunkered down in Mexico and Los Angeles to finish recording their debut album. They've also wiped the band's social media accounts to create even more mystery about the highly anticipated LP. Like with their prior singles, Latin Mafia promises that it's three of them at the helm of their upcoming album.
"It's an album that's caused us a lot of stress, tears, and fatigue, but we keep going because we can say it’s something that’s never been done before in Mexico, in the US, or in general," Emilio says. "We're excited for people to hear this and see how far we've come. We've disappeared for a bit because this project has 100 percent of our hearts in it. There's things that are more raw, real, and intimate for us. It's an evolution and growth that's both personal and artistic."
