Introducing… María ‘La Mala’ Rodríguez

Under the radar, on top of your world: people you should know about.

In the spirit of this weekend’s Latin American Music Conference, a showcase of independent Latino music that’s actually pretty decent, we bring you rising Spanish rap star María Rodríguez. (That’s ‘La Mala’ if you’re nasty.) Aside from sporting a side pony similar to that of diminutive U.K. rapper Lady Sovereign, 28 year-old La Mala has these factoids to her credit:

• A native south of Spain-er, she moved from her coastal birthplace of Cádiz to even sultrier Seville as a lass.
• Her music popped up in the soundtrack for Gael García Bernal’s break-out homo-erotic romp, also known as “Y Tu Mamá También”.
• A mother of one, she’s married to a Cuban rapper whose MC name translates into Mohammed.
• Last night, she headlined a show in New York for the first time in her career. (Sadly, we missed out on the chance to get a whiff of our new crush).

• She has a good grasp of simile, as shown by her explanation of the playful disses she doles out to reggaetón-ers while duetting with them:

We’re just playing [...] It’s like little lions. When the puppies play in the litter, they don’t hurt each other.

Umm, aren’t baby lions called kittens? (Never mind.) It’s about time someone stood up to those hacks, even if the whole thing’s a show.

Spain’s foremost rapera disses reggaetón idols - just kidding [NY Daily News]
Image [NY Daily News]