Article by: Jessica Duncan
Bay Area hard dance producer J. Slai has been on the rise over the past year. His single “Crank It,” which I reviewed on Moon Lvnding, has gained support from acts such as Softest Hard, Tyeguys, and Fight Clvb. Now he’s combining his love of hard dance with Latin music on his latest single “Papi,” a collaboration with DJ Infinity featuring Frank Oro on vocals. This is the first single off of his upcoming Las Niñas Quieren Hardcore EP that will be released on August 26.
The beginning of the track sounds like any recent Bad Bunny or J. Balvin song with Frank Oro’s vocals over a beat with guitar. The track quickly kicks into high gear with fast-paced distorted kick drums and screeches. J. Slai and DJ Infinity then layer in some synths and even a bit of reverse bass. The all-out hardcore assault brings in laser stabs to top it all off before dropping back into the Latin elements of the song. The second drop takes all the elements of the first drop and distorts them even more, to the point that it sounds like the intensity of the song has blown out your speakers. “Papi” wraps up with a maniacal laugh and J. Slai’s signature knife beat tag.
Pictured: J. Slai // Above: DJ Infinity & Frank Oro
With “Papi,” J. Slai is pioneering the genre of Latin hard dance. When asked about the creation of this genre he said, “As far as I know there’s only been hard dance remixes of popular Latin songs, but no original songs and no name for the genre. This EP will give the genre a real name and hopefully inspire other producers to make their own music.”
We’re excited to hear the rest of the EP when it drops next month and to see where the Latin hard dance genre goes from here. Listen to “Papi” and keep up with what J. Slai is up to using the links below. Check out the other Hard Dance tracks that dropped this week on our New Music Friday Heat playlist on Spotify.
CONNECT with J. Slai:
Instagram | Facebook | Twitter | TikTok
LISTEN to J. Slai:
Spotify | Apple Music | Beatport | SoundCloud | YouTube
