On a sweltering Saturday afternoon at Austin City Limits, the de la Rosa brothers of Latin Mafia are drenched in sweat after performing on the Miller Lite Stage. As one of the few Latin acts on the bill, the trio carry themselves more like Mexican rock stars after inciting mosh pits and crowd-surfing during their daring set.
“For us, it’s always a pleasure to be a part of impressive line-ups like this one,” Milton de la Rosa says while huddled with his brothers in the band’s trailer. “To be performing at ACL with acts like the Strokes, Sabrina Carpenter, and Feid, it’s an honor for us. The crowd was really receptive to what we brought to the stage.”
In Latin Mafia, Milton sings alongside his twin Emilio, and their older brother Mike serves as the band’s producer. The Monterrey natives, who are now based in Mexico City, started out making music on a laptop at their parents’ home. Latin Mafia soon amassed a following on TikTok thanks to their limitless sound, which shifted from R&B-infused Afrobeats in “Flores” to explosive reggaeton in the “Julietota.” Beyond their genre-bending spirit, the trio especially connected with their listeners through emotional songs. They normalized the topic of mental health and opened up about their own personal struggles in the soulful trap of “No Digas Nada.”
“While having fun exploring different genres, we’re being genuine about what we really feel and what we really think in our songs,” Emilio says. “We like to make music that moves us and moves other people. I believe the best privilege of this job is to make someone listening to your music feel something.”
After conquering Mexico as an indie act, last year Latin Mafia signed with Rimas Entertainment, the label behind Bad Bunny. The brothers continued to exert full creative control for their debut album Todos Los Días Todo El Día, which was released last October. In the visceral LP, Latin Mafia mined their feelings even deeper and shaped the songs around those emotions, seamlessly blending R&B, EDM, flamenco, and rock into songs like “Siento Que Merezco Más.” The punk-driven “Sentado Aquí” and the swaggering “Qué Vamos a Hacer?” melded trap with baroque pop.
“We’re very cathartic people,” Milton adds. “We feel everything very strongly and aggressively. We also unleash those emotions at our live shows. Our fans can feel the music through our performances and connect with us. We’re a part of a generation that’s maybe not used to things like mosh pits and crowd-surfing, so it’s important for us to bring that back.”
Since the release of their album a year ago, life has been a whirlwind for Latin Mafia. The brothers sold-out concerts across the U.S. and Mexico on their Te Odio y Te Extraño Mucho Tour. Latin Mafia have also performed at music festivals like Tyler, the Creator’s Camp Flog Gnaw Carnival, Lollapalooza, and now Austin City Limits. For the rest of the year, they’ll fly from one country to the next on the Latin American and European leg of their tour. “It’s amazing to see that there’s no barriers when it comes to the people listening to our music,” Milton says. “We’re going to places that we’d never imagined before. It feels like an open-world video game where you’re unlocking new zones on the map.”
Latin Mafia have also spent the past year unlocking collaborations with artists that have become fans of theirs. Puerto Rican singer Rauw Alejandro tapped the trio for the playful “2:12 AM” for his Cosa Nuestra album. Omar Apollo recently embraced his Mexican roots with Latin Mafia in the dreamy “Hecho Para Ti” where R&B collides with cumbia. The trio have shared photos from a recording session with Peso Pluma while house music star Fred Again.. is teasing an upcoming song featuring them. Latin Mafia’s dreams of a Bad Bunny collaboration could also become a reality after partying with him at his No Me Quiero Ir De Aquí residency last month.
“They’re incredible artists and people that we’ve admired,” Mike says. “To have worked with them was an honor. We’re grateful. Each time we collaborate with someone, it’s like a tutorial of seeing how that person works and what we can learn and apply to ourselves. They’ve motivated us to keep working hard, to want to contribute something different, and to challenge ourselves more.”
Last year, Latin Mafia were nominated for Best New Artist at the Latin Grammy Awards. They’ll be back again for the next ceremony on November 13 with two nominations. This time around, Latin Mafia are vying for Best Alternative Music Album and Best Alternative Song for “Siento Que Merezco Más.” Milton reveals that if they win their first Grammy, he will fill in one of the spaces in the art gallery tattoo on his back. “That’s one of the first tattoos I’ll get done,” he says. “We’re really hoping to win. It’s something that we’ve dreamed about all our lives. We’re excited to see what destiny and life has in store for us.”
