Tostao wants to take Afro Colombian 'Ritmo Exótico' Global

When ChocQuibTown – the important Colombian trio that combines hip-hop with Colombian rhythms and rhythms from the Pacific coast – went on hiatus in late 2022, co-founder Tostao decided to return to his roots. Literally. The Latin Grammy winner (real name: Carlos Valencia) returned to his hometown of Chocó, on the Pacific coast of Colombia, and then to Medellín, where he and a group of producers, writers and artists began to create.

The result Exotic Pa'l Mundo (Exotic For the World), released late last year, is an album by “ritmo exótico,” a new genre little known outside of Colombia that Tostao describes as “an urban fusion with elements of tropical Colombian music and folklore.” .

You might think you've heard things like this before, but you haven't. “Ritmo exótico” is vibrant and luscious and instantly danceable, combining electronic loops with acoustic instruments and irresistible swagger and attitude. It's underground but could be mainstream (see a taste here).

“It's like you put together typical Colombian reggaeton with a little Joe Arroyo vibe and put a little Petronio Alvarez on top of that, from that Blackness,” says Tostao, referring to the late Afro-Colombian composer and singer. which is called Colombia's largest black Pacific music festival.

Like Alvarez, Tostao, who is also black, has long been committed to celebrating his Afro-Colombian culture, and with ChocQuibTown—along with his ex-wife Goyo and Slo—he's managed to create an international hip-hop sound that incorporated the more local subspecies of the Pacific coast of Colombia. Ritmo Exótico is also anchored in Chocó and Pacific music, but is more folk and tropical.

“It's like reggaetón with borojó flavor,” laughs Tostao, referring to a tropical fruit from Choco.

To get his sound mixing right, Tostao moved from Miami to Medellin, which has world-class recording studios but is also home to a large population of Choco musicians, all of them black. Tostao joined them in a collective of sorts that gave way to a first solo album that is anything but lonely.

Exotic Pa'l Mundo features up-and-coming ritmo exótico acts such as Luis Eduardo Acústico, Robbie Vida (who Tostao describes as “the Kanye West of ritmo exótico”), Buay Press and Yilmar Dresan, as well as more established Afro-Colombian acts such as Mabiland and Los Dioses del Ritmo.

The project began as a songwriting camp with kids from the ritmo exótico movement. New artists who had gone viral on TikTok — like Los Dioses del Ritmo with their single “Alo Michael (Rico Rico).” The idea, Tostao says, was to teach them how he worked in the industry.

“They turned out to be super-talented, very hard workers. So I talked to my manager [Juan Diego Medina, who also manages Manuel Turizo and Nicky Jam] and I said to him: “I know it's not common to write and publish songs with guys that nobody knows yet. But I want to do this as my solo project.”

Exotic Pa'l Mundo released through Medina's La Industria and distributed through Sony. And although Tostao sees it as a project born of love, he also wants to “make it commercially viable. It's like we did with CocQuibTown, a black group that plays in Bogotá and won a Grammy. If global platforms support a genre like ritmo exótico from Chocó, it has all the elements to go global. It's not just love. It's about being around the world and seeing the results.”

Tostao also knows this can be slow – the artists in this scene are mostly unknown outside of Colombia – but he feels the change is there, just below the surface.

“This sound is like a club sound. It feels big,” he says. “And it is a movement, like a wave. When we had ChocQuibTown we were the only ones because the sound was so special. But when you're part of a movement, the moment someone stands out, others will follow.”

The best way to make that happen, Tostao admits, would be to have a big name like Farruko or Myke Towers jump on the bandwagon. Meanwhile, he is busy evangelizing about music and culture.

At the end of last year, a program called Somos Grandes (We are big) was launched together with the Development Bank of Latin America and the Caribbean, which connects Afro-Latino elements in Latin American countries. One of the chapters focuses on the ritmo exótico in Chocó and will include six weeks of workshops, panels and productions ending on March 21st.

“I want to open a door to show people El Chocó,” says Tostao. “My editorial line is to promote Afro-Colombian music. Wherever I play, I want people to say, “A guy from El Chocó was here and left us with this Afro Pacific flow.” I feel like a lot of things are happening right now with our Afro-Colombian culture. There is much more presence. But I feel that the moment, the great moment, has not come yet. We don't have our Afro Maluma yet. But it's coming.”