Culture / Entertainment

Music’s Fresh New Latino Sound: Meet A.CHAL, a Voice That’s About to Take Off

BY // 08.22.17

If you haven’t heard the music of A.CHAL, go give ON GAZ a listen. The singer, rapper and producer’s latest mixtape, which dropped in June, is a perfectly chill soundtrack for summer and beyond. It’s somewhere between hip hop and R&B with Spanish sprinkled throughout.

The Peruvian-born, New York-raised artist released his debut album just over a year ago, but he’s already deep into the music world, counting French Montana and A$AP Nast as friends and collaborators.

A.CHAL is headed for a major musical breakout, but in the meantime he’ll be visiting Texas to perform in Dallas and Houston for the first time. He has a concert in Dallas this Saturday, August 26 at Three Links in Deep Ellum; and the next day he’ll perform in Houston at Warehouse Live.

We caught up with the up-and-coming artist before he visits the Lone Star State on tour for ON GAZ.

A.CHAL, aka Alejandro Salazar says that the mixtape is inspired by day-to-day happenings in his life.

“I feel like it’s a soundtrack for anyone who’s trying to get to somewhere that they’re not at the moment and it gives you a bit of ambition to do what you want to do, and ignore the negative s***,” he says.

But unlike a lot of popular hip-hop, ON GAZ stays down-to-earth with its motivational messages.

“I need music like that personally. A lot of music that I would listen to… I like the vibe, but some of the lyrics I can’t relate to,” A.CHAL says. “I’m not out here spending $100,000 on jewelry so, it’s like maybe I can make music for people who can relate to me a bit more.”

Many listeners can also relate to the Spanglish bits of A.CHAL’s music. ON GAZ features three songs which meld pieces of Spanish into predominantly English lyrics.

Though Spanish was A.CHAL’s first language, growing up in different American cities has affected his speech.

“My music now, the Spanglish stuff, it’s a representation of how I talk. I grew up around a bunch of Dominicans, Salvadorians, Colombians — not really that many Peruvians, even though I’m Peruvian,” he says. “So even my Spanish is a combination of all those.

“And I think a lot of American kids who are Latino can relate to that because the Spanish isn’t perfect and they’re dealing with different Latinos.”

In addition to his music, A.CHAL has also gotten some attention in the fashion world. The artist is the face of FRAME x Ben Gorham and Stüssy x Mr. Porter capsule collections.

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