It’s a few weeks until New Year’s Eve, but Eladio Carrión has already started lighting off fireworks with a new remix of his massive hit, “ELE UVE.” The original Latin trap hit, taken from his 2020 album, Sauce Boyz Care Package, amassed over 10 million views on YouTube and 6 million on Spotify. That alone is fire, so when it came time to crank up the heat on the remix, Eladio recruited some of the hottest names in music today: fellow Puerto Rican rapper Noriel and corridos tumbados stars Natanael Cano and Ovi. The result, as Eladio tells HollywoodLife, is “the perfect way to close 2020 with one of the hardest remixes of the year.”
The fresh sound on the “Ele Uve” Remix is due to Eladio blending in the elements of hip-hop, R&B, and classic Latin music with the squad he’s assembled. In particular, the inclusion of Natanel and Ovi, since corridos tumbados – a fusion of Mexico’s “accordion-laced regional folk ballads” with modern trap influences – has exploded as a genre over the past few years. “I like to trap sucio. Like dirty trap … like I’m talking bad trap,” he told Remezcla in 2019 when describing his wide array of sounds.
It might come as a surprise that one of the hottest names in Latin music hails from Kansas? Born in Fort Riley, Kansas, Eladio moved a lot, spending his early years in Hawaii, Maryland, New York, and Alaska, according to People CHICA. The family eventually settled down in Puerto Rico once Eladio’s father retired. Though Eladio has traveled around the country, he actually credits his older sisters for influencing his music tastes. “I have a very American hip-hop and rap background because of them,” he explains. “I grew up listening to Nas, Jay-Z, Kanye, Eminem, Big L — all that.”
“I’ve always had to work twice as hard as everyone else,” he told People CHICA. “I was an influencer, so it was hard for people to see me as an artist. I just kept on working. I never paid attention to anyone except people who had good things to say about me.” With Sauce Boyz, Eladio took a strong first step into the music industry, creating more than an album, a movement. So, while “Ele Uve” may close out the year, this is far from the last time you’ll be hearing the name Eladio Carrión.