Nick Barili's New Docuseries "De La Calle" Explores the Origins of Latinx Music

No other genres of music are having a bigger moment than reggaeton and Latin trap. When I think back to the days when this music was only on the radar of Latinx folks and consider how many people today — across cultures and demographics — have had Bad Bunny's latest album "Un Verano Sin Ti" on loop, me paran los pelos. The history of reggaeton is complex, but it's one that's finally being told. Last year, Spotify launched a new podcast called "Loud" about the genre's Black Panamanian origins and evolutions, hosted by one of reggaeton's OG's: Ivy Queen herself. After listening to the entire podcast — episode after episode — I remember thinking to myself, how cool would it be to see this podcast or just something on the history of Latinx music translated into a docuseries? Well, it looks like my wish is coming to life thanks to MTV Entertainment Studios and Zero Point Zero Productions, which have partnered on the new cultural docuseries "De La Calle." Created and hosted by award-winning journalist, director, writer, producer, and founder of "Hard Knock TV" Nick Barili, the program explores the Latinx diaspora through the evolution of music from hip-hop, reggaeton, bachata, Latin trap, cumbia, and more.

The show, which consists of eight episodes, will explore the sounds that come from the Latin diaspora by taking viewers to Panama, Puerto Rico, Cuba, Argentina, New York, and more. It will explore the genres of Latin music that have been historically marginalized by society. The idea behind "De La Calle" has been in the works for years. In fact, Barili first started thinking about it six or seven years ago when his mother brought it to his attention that a lot of the talent appearing on his YouTube channel "Hard Knock TV" didn't necessarily feature Latinx music artists. Talking about it with industry and radio-host friends eventually led to the launch of the Latinx in Media and Arts Coalition (LIMA).

"But from that conversation with them, I was like, I want to do a documentary on the contributions Latinos made to hip-hop. So I started working on that on my own. And as I was building that out, I was starting to see some of the connections with Puerto Rico, and Panama, and was like, there's a bigger story here," Barili tells POPSUGAR. "I think there's a story of all these movements happening throughout Latin America — and even in Spain — of hip-hop, and it's all music that's kind of birthed from the streets."

Barili explains that someone who was pitching his original series idea around ended up having a meeting with MTV, which expressed that it was interested in a kind of Anthony Bourdain-style music docuseries. The conversation began around five years ago and finally came full circle this year to make the show finally happen. Barili's dream has always been to document the human experience through music the way Bourdain did through food. His goal is to help humanize the streets and the artists behind these genres.

"The series is really about highlighting la calle, which is also the streets and the movements behind what is now a billion-dollar industry. All these people laid the foundation and groundwork just so we can get here," he says. "It's really about humanizing the superstars and showing more of their personal stories but also making sure that we're spotlighting the seeds and the movements that helped birth these superstars and global cultures."

The series will build on MTV Entertainment's efforts and commitment to diverse storytelling. It will feature artists like Ivy Queen, Residente, Snow Tha Product, Nicky Jam, Yotuel of Orishas, Goyo of ChocQuibTown, Sech, Arcángel, Renato, Dímelo Flow, Vico C, El Alemán, and Duki, to name a few. The series will also touch on how Afro-Latinx contributions to the diaspora — especially when it pertains to music — are often overlooked.

"I think anyone who pays attention and looks at the shades of the people who have risen to the top [would see that they] happen to be on the lighter shade of the spectrum. I think race and colorism are definitely an important part of the series," Barili adds. "Even with the New York episode, we're definitely going to tackle race even within Latino culture. Because when we look back and we talk about Latino contributions, I think that part of the reason why people think that Latinos are visitors to hip-hop is that I think people associate the darker-skin artists as Black but [don't necessarily understand] that being Black can also mean being Puerto Rican or Dominican."

Barili, who has a very intimate relationship with music de la calle, wants the music in the docuseries to function as the conduit or entry point to bigger conversations within Latiniad around race, politics, US imperialism, and more. It showcases how the music and the streets connect us in many ways to the strength and perseverance of true struggle. Barili believes that music saved him. When he migrated to this country at just 9 years old, hip-hop not only taught him how to speak English, but it was also a culture that embraced him. It was the one thing that made him feel like he had something he could connect with people over. He wants to use this series as an opportunity to redefine and reclaim what la calle means to our communities.

"Hip-hop is an expression of marginalized communities — who nobody else was paying attention to. That's pretty similar to how most of these movements were birthed. But it's also a double play. I get tired of seeing stereotypes in Hollywood of the streets. I think it plays into policy and plays into when someone like [former President Donald] Trump makes his comments. It's people treating immigrants as less than humans because it's this idea that the streets aren't valuable," he says. "It's about going back to the streets and showing the humanity and the majority of the people in the streets are good people. Poverty doesn't equal negative to me. Part of 'De La Calle' is we're going into each location. We're going and showing the beauty and the dignity and the struggle and all the things that make up our culture."

The docuseries will be bilingual with subtitles so that both English- and Spanish-speaking audiences can tune in. "De La Calle" premieres in 2023 on Paramount+ and MTV and is produced by Christopher Collins, Lydia Tenaglia, Craig H. Shepherd, Bruce Gillmer, Amanda Culkowski, and Jennifer Demme. Barili, who created the series and is also the program's host, serves as an executive producer.