For his new album “GNX,” Pulitzer Prize-winning rap star Kendrick Lamar did not invite any of the Latin stars of the moment like Karol G, Maria Becerra, Angela Aguilar, Becky G or Cazzu.
The rapper, one of the most important of his generation, brought a veteran singer, until now practically unknown, to the recording studio and got it right with every luxury of detail.
Her name is Deyra Barrera and the press now adores her, identifying her as the surprise Spanish voice that opens Kendrick Lamar’s album “GNX.”
Deyra Barrera is no beginner. Originally from Villa Juárez, Sonora, Mexico, the singer — who arrived in Los Angeles at 17 and has spent more than half of her life in the United States — has been trying to make her way in music for decades on both sides of the border.
Her penetrating and powerful voice resonates on three songs from the album that recently spent three weeks at #1:
“Wacced Out Murals”
“Reincarnated,” a tribute to the late rapper Tupac Shakur
“Gloria,” featuring SZA
