Cypress Hill's Eric Bobo and Chilean DJ/Producer Latin Bitman have joined musical forces to form Ritmo Machine. The seed of the collaboration was sown earlier this year when Cypress Hill performed in South America as part of the Lollapalooza tour. After getting connected, Bitman and Bobo set out to record an album together in Argentina. The resulting Welcome to the Ritmo Machine, released last month, is a Latin funk meets hip-hop sonic revelation.
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Bobo, son of the late Latin jazz legend Willie Bobo, lends his live percussion talents to Bitman's production powers. The beats floss DJ scratches, old school hip-hop drums, progressive electronica, Latin rhythms, funky guitar riffs and bass lines. The laboratory concoction is a unifying glimpse of the future guaranteed to be infectious from Santiago de Chile all the way to New York City.
When purely instrumental songs don't have you nodding your head, Welcome to the Ritmo Machine invites a number of high caliber artists to get in on the act. Sick Jacken of Psycho Realm and Grammy-nominated Chilena rapper Ana Tijoux share rhyming responsibilities on “La Calle” which sounds as good coming out the speakers as it does just on paper alone. Cypress Hill's Sen-Dog, Jurassic 5's Chali 2na, Money Mark and Mix Master Mike of the Beastie are among the album's other featured guests.
Gabriel San Román is from Anacrime. He’s a journalist, subversive historian and the tallest Mexican in OC. He also once stood falsely accused of writing articles on Turkish politics in exchange for free food from DönerG’s!