tego

Try the BEST MySpace Editor and MySpace Layouts at MySpace Toolbox !**Tego Calderón was born in Santurce, Puerto Rico, in 1972. He grew up in Río Grande and Carolina, areas of Puerto Rico that maintain some of the strongest Afro-Caribbean infl uences on the island. Throughout his childhood Calderón was exposed by his parents to the groundbreaking music of salsa legend Ismael Rivera, as well as to Latin jazz. I grew up and identifi ed myself with Ismael Riveras distinctive style and soon I was old enough to understand what course I wanted to follow in music. Determined to take his place in the music world, Tego explored a diversity of musical infl uences, transforming himself into an accomplished musician as well as vocalist. He attended the Escuela Libre de Música of Puerto Rico, where he concentrated on percussion studies, while also mastering composition and lyrics. In the late-1980s, Tego moved to Miami, where he graduated from Miami Beach Senior High School. It was there that Calderón began to soak up the influences of American hip-hop. Hearing the California gangsta rap troupe N.W.A. proved pivotal. It really caught my attention, it was something that I related to, and I decided I wanted to be a rapper, Calderón said. Moving back to Puerto Rico, Calderón also found a new appreciation for such Jamaican dancehall performers as Buju Banton, Super Cat, and Ninja Man. Around the same time, the Reggaetón movement began to become a force in Puerto Rico. Calderón began to forge his own multicultural rap style, earning a reputation as a street poet with a fresh musical approach. He credits fellow Puerto Rican hip-hop pioneer Vico C with inspiring him to rap in Spanish, instead of imitating the English catch phrases of African-American hiphop. Establishing himself as a new voice of the streets, he made a series of appearances on best-selling Latin hip-hop compilations. A remix collection entitled EL ENEMY DE LOS GUASÍBIRI, released in 2004, consisted largely of tracks which had appeared on those early compilations. EL ABAYARDE released in 2002, broke sales records in the then-underground Reggaetón genre, selling a remarkable 50,000 on the fi rst day of its release, and Calderón became an overnight Latin superstar. Just three months after making his solo debut, Calderón was greeted with a tumultuous response at a sold-out concert at Roberto Clemente Coliseum in San Juan. The following day, he made history when he became the fi rst rap artist to perform at the traditional National Day of Salsa celebration. When Tego fi rst headlined New Yorks Madison Square Garden in August 2003, The New York Times heralded him as the most forward-looking performer of the artists on the bill, noting that Mr. Calderón made the best case for Reggaetón as music with room to grow. In October 2004, when he returned to the stage of the Garden as the star of the breakthrough Megatón 2004 event, attendance had swelled from 12,000 to a sold-out 20,000, with a large number of non-Spanish-speaking fans in the audience. The crowd erupted into a frenzy, noted the Village Voice. The fruit of Tegos crossover appeal was palpable... They were bopping their heads and fl ailing their arms to the universal beat. As Latin rappers have been embraced by the American hip-hop culture, Calderón has been featured on a variety of mix tapes and has been invited to add his trademark vocal style to collaborations and remixes by the likes of Fat Joes Terror Squad (the ..1 smash, Lean Back), Usher, 50 Cent, Cypress Hill, and Wyclef Jean, among others. From his appearances at New Yorks annual Puerto Rican Day parades in 2004 and 2005, to becoming the fi rst Spanish-language artist to be featured on New Yorks Power-105, Calderón has been breaking cultural barriers. In a cover story on Calderón and Reggaetón, the Village Voice noted that Tego almost single-handedly...steered his countrys dominant youth culture out of the island and Latino neighborhoods, and into the American stream of pop consciousness. Among Calderóns achievements are Latin Grammy and Billboard Award nominations, a Source Award for International Artist of the Year, a Tu Música award, and nominations for La Gente and Lo Nuestro awards. In the spring of 2005, Calderón signed with Atlantic Records via a deal with his own Jiggiri Records label -- becoming the fi rst Reggaetón artist to ink a global pact with a major label. His second proper album, THE UNDERDOG / EL SUBESTIMADO, is due out from Jiggiri/Atlantic Records August 29th. Calderon defi nes this new production as a journey through the Afro-Caribbeanmusical scene which masterfully brings together Reggae, Dance Hall, Salsa, Bomba, Rumba, and the Deep South feeling of the blues. This new production is will feature the guests appearances of Buju Banton, Voltio, Bataklán, Eddie Dee, Luis Cabán, Yandel, Zion, Chyno Nyno, y Don Omar and the legendary salsa singer Oscar de Leon. Producers of the caliber of Cookee, Major League, Salaam Remi, Eric Figueroa, Luny Tunes, DJ Nelson, Danny Fornaris, DJ Nesty, Naldo, DJ Joe, DJ Fat and Echo & Diesel, also collaborated in the 21 trackCD. Tegos music is an experimental nexus of urban Hip Hop roughness with the poetic Caribbean rhythms transmitted by the early sounds of Salsa music. Not only is Tego, like many of his Salsa heroes, a formidable storyteller...he also incorporates the lyrical percussion and fi ne rhythmic lines that can be found in the works of Luis Pales Matos. Calderons is by far more than just another Reggaetón performer; he is a consummate street poet at the Vanguard of the Puerto Rican musical and artistic scene. While others break...Calderons music is the true essence of a real artist...He creates and repairs...not many current musicians can boast that. This profile was edited with