palabras ARACELI CRUZ

Mala Rodriguez commands attention. She has an uncanny way of making people stop and focus solely on her. It might be that she beholds the “it” factor or because she’s an attractive woman, whatever it is as soon as she takes the stage, all eyes are on her. Everyone waits for her to speak.

At a recent gig at the Bowery Ballroom during the Latin Alternative Music Conference in New York, the 29-year-old performed a stellar set and did something remarkable.

She walked across the dark-lit stage in a tight black skirt and top with stilettos, grabbed the mic, looked at the audience and told them to be quite. When they didn’t obey, she told them again and again until the only one that could be heard was her.

Mala then told them to crouch down to the floor. The audience laughed a bit, but she wasn’t kidding. She told them, kindly, again and some listened but that wasn’t good enough for her.

“Is there a problem with this communication?” she asked in a lecturing Castilian tone.

And that is all it took. The entire audience then squatted down. As soon as they were at her feet, she smiled, which cued the music and the show was under way, after she told them they could all get up of course.

“There is a point during the shows when everyone becomes one thing,” she said.

“I’ll have moments when I’m on stage where I’ll have a connection with the audience and everything is fantastic.”

Spain’s reigning queen of Spanish hip-hop didn’t get to her thrown by chance. Maria began her creep to the top as a kid immersed in art and music in her hometown of Cadiz. Since the early ‘90s, Maria’s passion for R&B and Hip-hop intensified and in 1996 she had her first onstage performance. With buzz growing about a female MC, Maria, who was now going by the stage name Mala, began collaborating with Sevillian acts such as SFDK, La Gota Que Colma and La Alta Escuela.

Mala singles and collaborations began to surge in the late ‘90s and in 2000 she released her debut album Lujo Iberico. Mala’s international draw came with notable singles such as "Yo Marco el Minuto" featured on the 2001 film “Lucía y el Sexo,” and “Afila el Colmillo” a collaboration with Titan for the film “Y Tu Mamá También” in 2002. She then released Alevosia in 2003 which featured the controversial smash song “La Niña” about a drug-dealing girl. Four years later Mala has released Malamarismo, a completely different style of album which shows growth and still carries that edge that she has always brought to her lyrics.

Part of that edge that Mala encompasses is that she wants complete power over everything she does.

“I like to control my work,” she said. “I don’t want someone else doing it for me. I rather make a mistake instead of the person I am working with.”

The mother of one seeks to get more hands on, not just with her lyrics, but with every aspect that goes into making an album.

“Honestly, all I care about is releasing my creativity. I would like to learn how to produce. I like to direct things.”

And Mala’s appeal continues to expand. She’s worked with Calle 13, Julieta Venegas and Tego Calderon on Malamarismo . But she doesn’t dare say who she aspires to work with next.

“I don’t like to say because I want those artists to surprise me.”

One of those artists she’s gotten into recently could be someone she may be working with in the near future.

“The last album I bought was from Juanes” she said.

“I know it’s rare that I like him, but I saw his album at the store and it was at a good price, so I picked it up. There is something really beautiful about him, something very special. He is very pure. Aside from image and all of that, I like artists who cross boundaries.”

It’s evident by her genuine smile that Mala isn’t pretentious and that her deep words and hip-hop music isn’t a passing fad because she’s the one doing the designating.

“Once you are focused and have your ideas in order, you’re able to take control of the wheel.”