Los Rakas Gear Up For a Raka Summer W New Single, Video + EP!

LOS RAKAS GEAR UP FOR A RAKA SUMMER
NEW EP ‘CHANCLETAS Y CAMISETAS BORDADA’ OUT ON AUGUST 23RDConfirmed for NYC’s Central Park Summerstage, Los Angeles’ Reggae/Jazz Fest + Snoop Dogg’s Spring Gathering!

ACCLAIM FOR LOS RAKAS’ FIRST SINGLE,’TA LISTA‘
[Watch the Video Here + Look For It On Rotation on MTVTr3s + Mun2]

‘Ta Lista’ (She’s Ready) is the new single from Bay Area-based, Panamanian-born, or Panabaynian duo, Los Rakas. Premiered on Cinco de Mayo on ThisIs50.com, the video was directed by Aris Jerome (director of summer smash ‘Abrazame’ ft. Favi (Uproot Andy Hold Yuh)) and is dedicated to the Mexican-American community in Oakland, California.

Outlets like the FADER, Okayplayer, AOL MUSICA, and Youtube.com/Music picked up the video, with ‘Ta Lista’ reaching 20,000+ views in less than a week.
Los Rakas is set to release their first non-mixtape ‘Chancletas y Camisetas Bordada EP’ independently (Soy Raka LLC) on August 23rd.  All artwork for the EP, including the cover and art for each song on the EP, is by Mexico City-based artist, Alejandro Núñez Ferrara.

The group is confirmed to play NYC’s prestigious outdoor festival, Central Park Summerstage on August 20th, and more recently in Los Angeles at the UCLA Reggae Jazz Festival (w/ Steel Pulse, Lupe Fiasco, Tanya Stephens, Gyptian) on May 30th and in San Bernadino, CA at Snoop Dogg’s Spring Gathering (w/ Cypress Hill, Dilated Peoples, Stephen Marley) on June 11th.

‘Chancletas y Camisetas Bordada EP ‘ is the first non-mixtape release from Los Rakas.  The 7-song EP includes production from international tropical bass producer Chief Boima, the Bay-Area’s Hawk Beatz and :::i.ameni:::The Beat Man, and Los Angeles’ Party Animals.  The EP was mixed by Deegan Mack Adams and mastered by Mike Denten at Infinite Studios (Alameda, CA). Tracklisting:

1) Vengo de Panama
Produced by Hawk Beatz

2) Panty Wanty
Produced by: Chief Boima

3) Borracho (Culea)
Produced by: Party Animals

4) Ta Lista
Produced by: :::i.ameni::::The Beat Man

5) Cueria
Produced by Chief Boima

6) La Chola
Produced by Chief Boima

7) Camisetas Borda
Produced by Chief Boima

Last year was a flagship year for Los Rakas, winning the 2010 Latin Alternative Music Conference’s (LAMC) Jack Daniel’s ‘Discovery Artist’ prize in New York City (an award that goes to the most promising group at the conference and the first time awarded to an urban group), with endorsements from Gibson Guitar and SHURE; culminating with their breakout performance at The Bowery Ballroom with a 6 piece band. They have also rocked alongside artists like The Roots, Ghostface Killah, Outkast, Ice Cube, Mos Def, Talib Kweli, E40, Pharaoh Monch, Fat Joe and others. Los Rakas just stepped off the ‘Playback Tour’ with reggae star, Collie Buddz, bringing their dynamic show and WOW-ing audiences across the entire country.

Critically acclaimed and blog favorites (FADER, RCRDLBL & Okayplayer) to more traditional outlets (The New York Times, NPR & National Geographic), Los Rakas keep on top of their game by releasing a steady stream of tracks, remixes, mixtapes, and videos, and expanding their circle of collaborators to include the Austrian aggro-dancehall of Stereotyp and the electro-tropicalia of New York’s Uproot Andy. Working the flexible idioms of hip-hop and dancehall into their own pliant medium, Raka Rich and Raka Dun channel Afrodiasporic dance currents to reflect on race and racism, poverty and violence, love and pride, partying, and the sundry stuff of everyday life.

Raka Rich and Raka Dun make music born of migration and tradition, critique and celebration, joy and pain. They make New World music. American music. Panamanian Jamaican Californian music. Music for b-boys and rude boys, dancers and romancers, mainlanders and islanders and isthmus folk alike.

‘Chancletas y Camisetas Bordada EP’ will be released on August 23rd independently on Soy Raka LLC and will be available on iTunes, Amazon, Amoeba Records and http://www.losrakas.com.