Fulanito

| alias = "El Hombre Mas Famoso De La Tierra" | origin = United Sates | genre = Merengue, Hip hop, Dance, Latin | years_active = 1997-Present | label = Cutting Records (1997-2007)< | associated_acts = 740 Boyz
2 in a Room | website = www.fulanitoreal.com

members = Winston Rosa (Co-Founder)
Jose "Pickles" Fuentes

Fulanito is a Dominican-American musical group known throughout Latin America for being among the first groups to combine traditional merengue with other styles (specifically house, hip hop, and bachata among other genres). With about 2 million albums sold throughout the world, they were at one time the top selling act in Colombia, and were placed on other charts including those of Japan, Switzerland, United States, and Chile. Their name means "so-and-so" (i.e. unknown) in Spanish (see Fulano + -ito). Members of Fulanito were formerly with popular groups such as 740 Boyz and 2 in a Room.

History

The group started, when in the early 1990s, lead singer Rafael 'Dose' Vargas and producer Winston 'Win' Rosa started recording with accordion player Arsenio de la Rosa (Winston Rosa's father). Vargas grew up in Washington Heights, a neighborhood in Manhattan, New York, and Winston grew up in the South Bronx, a stone throw away from Yankee Stadium. They recorded their first song, "Guallando", and after several failed attempts of presenting their music to a handful of large Latin labels, produced their debut CD under their own label WinDose International (with the help of Cutting Records) in 1997. This album sold 500,000 copies, while only a mere 50,000 was required to achieve gold status. They released El Padrino in 1999, which experimented with other Latin rhythms, such as cumbia and samba. After that, they toured from the Southern United States to Japan in only a month. In March 2008, Fulanito toured Australia for the second time, performing all of their greatest hits. Their first time in Australia was in September 2004.

Influences

During their early years, Vargas and Rosa were heavily influenced by the sounds of merengue, salsa, and underground dance music of the 70s and 80s, before the emergence of mainstream hip hop by artists such as Run DMC. One of the original meren-house groups, Sancocho (the real Sancocho, not the group that took the original's place) with the original singers Miguel Rivera (aka Secreto) and Luis Tineo, opened the door for groups such as Fulanito to be able to perform in nightclubs that were reserved for live salsa and merengue bands only. During the 1990s, Dose was asked to produce and perform for the dance music group 2 in a Room, a Latin hip-hop, dance and house music duo that achieved gold and platinum status worldwide. Following the success of 2 in a Room, Dose later teamed up with Winston Rosa (aka Rice & Beans) and Jose Fuentes (aka Pickles) and formed another dance/hip house group called 740 Boyz. The group's most notable accomplishment was their 1996 single "Shimmy Shake", a certified gold hit in Europe. While Dose and the 740 Boyz toured throughout Europe, Russia, the U.S., Australia, Africa and Asia, merengue hip house groups such as Proyecto Uno, Sandy & Papo and Ilegales were dominating the nightclubs and radio airplay throughout Mexico, and Central and South America. Motivated by the merengue house movement in Latin America, Dose brushed up on his native language and founded the group Fulanito with fellow 740 Boyz group member Winston Rosa. The group consisted members of Dose's earlier bands such as Romeo, Pickles and Reno. Anxious to make a mark in the Latin music scene, Winston and Dose recruited Arsenio De la Rosa (aka El Maestro), known for his legendary accordion playing skills. Within six months of recording, Fulanito released their debut album in 1997 entitled El Hombre Mas Famoso De La Tierra, which included the club and radio hits "Guallando", "El Cepillo", and "La Novela". The album achieved gold and platinum sales status worldwide and solidified Fulanito as a household name throughout Latin America. Dose and Win co-wrote and co-produced their critically acclaimed and Grammy nominated second album, El Padrino, which spawned the hits "Quien Es Fulanito", "Mi Con Con", "Serenata Negra", and the samba driven "Chillando Goma", which also featured in John Singleton's 2000 remake of the film Shaft, starring Samuel L. Jackson and Vanessa Williams.

Fulanito in Vina del Mar, Chile

In the year 2000, Fulanito were invited to perform at the prestigious international music festival of Viña del Mar in Chile, at the Quinta Vergara amphitheatre and continued to perform long after the televised broadcast of the concert had ended on Chile's TVN and Canal 13 TV networks. After their performance, the group was presented with the famous Silver Gull award ("Gaviota de Plata"), which is considered to be the festival's highest honor award. In their never ending quest to keep the world moving, the group released their third installment entitled The Remixes, which included hits such as "Gozadera Total Medley", "El Generalisimo", "Take It Off" (produced by reggaeton producers DJ Joe and Rafi Mercenario), and the Latin dance-pop classic "Callate". Although released in 2001, "Take It Off" became a popular dance hit in the Philippines only a few years ago, and is still popular to this day. Their follow-up album releases, Americanizao and La Verdad produced the hits "La Tembladera", "Asi Es Que Vivo Yo", "Pegate" and "Gozando Vivire" (which included portion of the composition performed by the group Fruko y sus Tesos).

Vacaneria in 2007

Nearly three years since their last album release, Fulanito returned with a brand new release entitled Vacaneria. Other artists and producers were invited to participate in the construction of the album to insure variety, depth and a breath of fresh air for Latin hip hop listeners and partygoers everywhere. Music producers and brothers, Cristian Mendez and Cleyton Mendez aka Guary & Cleyton, were among one of the contributors to the new album. The duo produced a salsa hip-hop track titled "Pa Que Sepa", properly utilizing a piece of the Roberto Ruena composition "Que Se Sepa", and also the track "Mataron El Negro", cleverly embodying a portion of the composition "El Negron Bembon", performed by legendary salsero Ismael Rivera. The first single release from the album was "Mira", which features vocals from Rhingo 'Truko' Fernandez. Truko is also featured alongside Magic Juan (former vocalist of the group Proyecto Uno) in the song "Ajena". "No Hay Otro Como Yo" features salsero Kevin Ceballo singing the hook in Spanglish. "Sabado en La Noche", a merengue-influenced reggaeton track, was produced by and features Tonny Tun Tun. Two other reggaeton songs on the album are the tracks "Contigo" and "Sigue (Oh Oh)". The Arabian-flavored club track "Culebrita" was produced by Rahdeekhal.

Other media appearances

Their music appears in the video games Grand Theft Auto IV and EA Sports' Madden NFL 09 Spanish Edition, and also in the movie Shaft starring Samuel L. Jackson.

Discography

• El Hombre Mas Famoso de la Tierra (1997)
• El Padrino (1999)
• The Remixes (2001)
• Americanizao (2001)