It all begins with Calacote (real name: Luca Newton), a 22-year-old ambitious singer-songwriter who was born in North Carolina and is of Dominican and French descent.
He describes his leap of faith as the ultimate “cinematic hustle move.”
He began exploring music about two years ago but never thought he could pursue a career in it. He discovered his talent and passion for composing music in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and took his shot. He packed up his stuff, left Canada, where he was in grad school, moved first to New York, and later to Miami. After a few months of living in Miami, in December to be exact, he decided to direct message Maffio on Instagram. Twenty minutes later Maffio replied, they met up, and the rest is history.
On Aug. 20, Calacote will be dropping his debut single under Alkatraks Music Group called “Azafata” (air hostess or stewardess). A remix with perreo all-stars Jowell & Randy is also underway. “This is the first song Maffio and I did together and the first time I ever went to a recording studio,” he says. “While Maffio was making the beat, I was writing the song. It literally took us about 45 minutes to create.”
With lyrics such as “serving me dinner like a stewardess,” Calacote brings a “unique and unheard of” musical mixture full of witty hooks and experimental fusions, with Dominican dembow always at the forefront. “My sound is and always will be developing,” he notes, “but I think that the essence of my sound will never change. That, combined with Maffio’s beats, makes pure magic. Fundamentally, I don’t try to copy anyone in music.”
Calacote, whose artistic name is a play on words on “avoir la cote,” French slang for “to be popular,” credits Arcangel and Residente as his biggest musical influences. “They were the first artists to inspire me to ever want to pursue a music career,” he recalls. “And thanks to Maffio, now I’m in a real creative space, making music, and learning so much.”
