walking upstream…
Nathy Peluso
sourcesVICE · Metal Magazine · Wikipedia · Grimy Goods
Natalia 'Nathy' Peluso was born in Luján, outside Buenos Aires, and raised mostly in Alicante, Spain, after her family emigrated when she was a child — a split upbringing she has credited for the unselfconscious way her music moves between tango, salsa, jazz, funk and rap. She trained in fine arts and dance before releasing the 2017 mixtape Esmeralda and its viral single 'Corashe,' then signed to Sony Music Spain for 2020's Calambre, a record that turned her theatrical, brass-heavy maximalism into a Latin Grammy win for Best Alternative Music Album. 2024's Grasa pushed the persona further still — cartoonish, glamorous excess built over the same genre-hopping foundation, with a swaggering delivery indebted equally to salsa's grandes dames and East Coast rap's tall tales.
the sound in question
2020
DelitoNathy Peluso
walk the tributaries ↓
Celia Cruz1970s · Salsa / Guaracha / Son
Peluso has called Celia Cruz 'indispensable' to her — not a reference point so much as a foundation, the salsera she grew up on across an upbringing split between Argentina and Spain. It shows up as total commitment to the bit: full horn sections, a voice pushed to its brassiest and most theatrical register, and a refusal to let a rhythm sit quietly in the background.
listen: upstream & here
1998
La Vida Es Un CarnavalCelia Cruz
2020
Puro VenenoNathy Peluso
listen forLine up 'La Vida Es Un Carnaval' and 'Puro Veneno' — both open a shameless, brass-forward salsa groove wide enough to dance in immediately, with a vocal that reads more as proclamation than melody.
Erykah Badu1990s · Neo soul / R&B
Asked about the women who shaped her, Peluso singled out Erykah Badu directly: 'Stevie Wonder o Erykah Badu me han enseñado mucho' ('Stevie Wonder or Erykah Badu have taught me a lot'). What she's pointing to is Badu's neo-soul phrasing — unhurried, sitting slightly behind the beat, more invested in tone and space than in hitting every note squarely on time. Peluso's quieter tracks trade her usual maximalism for that same loose, conversational croon.
listen: upstream & here
1997
On & OnErykah Badu
2020
Buenos AiresNathy Peluso
listen forSit with 'On & On' next to 'Buenos Aires' — both drift over mellow, keyboard-driven grooves at near-whisper volume, the vocal floating just behind the beat rather than locking to it.
The Notorious B.I.G.1990s · East Coast hip-hop / Gangsta rap / Hardcore hip-hop
Peluso has compared Biggie to the Latin bolero composer Armando Manzanero — 'an Armando Manzanero in English, of the street' — treating his narrative rap as the same unhurried, detail-rich storytelling she loves in songwriters generations removed from hip-hop. 'Business Woman' leans openly on that early diet, its beat built from the same loping, nostalgic boom-bap swagger critics have tied directly back to Biggie's generation of rap.
listen: upstream & here
1994
JuicyThe Notorious B.I.G.
2020
Business WomanNathy Peluso
listen forPlay 'Juicy' beside 'Business Woman' — both ride a laid-back, mid-tempo groove as a stage for a rags-to-riches victory lap, the rapper narrating her own rise in blunt, specific detail instead of vague boasts.