Stirring It Up With Latino Hip, Hip-Hop

Delinquent Habits’ “Tres Delinquentes” is the kind of song that takes your ears and imagination hostage.

The Norwalk-based group’s hit--which has been in the Top 10 in Los Angeles for weeks and has just broken into the Top 40 nationally--also serves as a cultural nexus. In the video, three pistoleros of old California stare down a trio of Eastside low riders while the music juxtaposes the soothing, mariachi-tinged strains of Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass’ “Lonely Bull” with a hard-core rap aesthetic.

The record’s Mexican colloquial speech and Latin horns point specifically to the group’s Mexican American roots, but the insistent beat and defiant attitudes are pure hip-hop.

“The idea of the video was to link the old and the new,” says rapper Kemo, formerly known as David Lewis Kiemonti Thomas, 25. “It’s straight-up hip-hop to us. We didn’t try to do something special ‘cause we’re Latino. This is just our form of expression.”

“Delinquent Habits,” the group’s just-released debut album, does an excellent job of melding Latin street lingo with heavy-bottom beats and occasional rock guitar leanings.

“We know about more than just our neighborhood and our Latin background,” explains rapper Ives (Ivan Martin, 24)--the group’s one non-Latino member. “We know about rock ‘n’ roll and jazz and heavy metal, and we use it all to help us get our point across. We want to expand our style into something that everybody can appreciate. When you hear a black rap artist, you’re able to appreciate their culture and hear where they’re coming from. It should be the same for us too.”

Formed in late 1991, the trio--whose third member is the album’s producer, deejay O.G. Style (Alex Martinez, 24)--found an early supporter in Cypress Hill member Sen Dog, who helped them secure a deal with Ruffhouse/Columbia in 1992.

But neither that relationship nor a subsequent stint at Geffen Records proved fruitful. Eventually, rap manager Paul Stewart, whose discoveries include Warren G, the Pharcyde and Coolio, hooked up with the group and made it the first act on PMP Records, a new label he formed in conjunction with Loud/RCA.

Like such predecessors as Kid Frost’s “La Raza” and “La Familia” and Cypress Hill’s “Stoned Is the Way of the Walk,” “Tres Delinquentes” is one of those rare Latin hip-hop records that manages to be true to its culture while never compromising the hard-hitting hip-hop sound that serves as its musical base.

But Ives, who also appreciates such groups as War, Santana, the Doors and Cream, doesn’t want his group to be categorized by ethnicity. He hopes that Delinquent Habits, like those models, can combine myriad sounds into something unique.

“Oh yeah, people will try to pigeonhole us, but we always want to try to keep doing different things,” says Ives, who will be performing with the group today at the “Memories of El Monte” event at the El Monte Valley Mall.

“I think most hip-hop artists are afraid to keep trying, because they’re afraid of what other people will say.

“But we’re not afraid to do that. Four different types of people could listen to our record, from an alternative-rock head to an older person, and I guarantee that they would find at least one song they liked.”

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Hear Delinquent Habits

To hear excerpts from Delinquent Habits’ debut album,” call TimesLine at 808-8463 and press *5718.

In 805 area code, call (818) 808-8463.