Akwid

by Johnny Loftus
Akwid's Sergio Gomez and Francisco Gomez immigrated to California from Mexico as children and settled into the cross-cultural live wire of South Central Los Angeles. There they formed the Juvenile Style DJ crew as teens and adopted the nicknames "Wikid" (Sergio) and "AK" (Francisco). Obsessed with the beats and attitudes of American hip-hop, the Gomez brothers began to blend that sound with elements of traditional Mexican music. Blending their DJ handles to form Akwid, Sergio and Francisco focused on the banda/rap sound in earnest, rapping in Spanish over street-level beats punctuated by steely blasts from Mexican brass. Signing to Univision's music wing, they dropped their full-length debut in June 2003 and saw its single, "No Hay Manera (There's No Way)," burn up the Latin music charts. By December the Proyecto Akwid album had gone platinum (200,000 copies in the Latin market) and had garnered a Latin Grammy nomination for Best Latin Rock/Alternative Album. Akwid continued to enjoy strong publicity into 2004, finishing up a promotional tour of Mexico and aiming for stateside crossover to the mainstream.