Hosts Fidel Martínez and Suzy Exposito sit down with Puerto Rican rapper and composer Álvaro Díaz, fresh off the release of OMAKASE — his third album, a genre-defying concept record that debuted at number one globally on Spotify and is charting in 16 Latin American countries.

Álvaro traces it all back to being a 12-year-old kid who fell in love with Blink-182, lied to a school band about owning a bass, got fired once they found out, and eventually stumbled onto reggaetonforums.com — where the artist he'd been following turned out to be his own cousin and became his mentor to this day.

He breaks down the concept behind OMAKASE and how he built the album in four parts modeled after the stages of a kitchen: lo crudo, the seasoning, the fire, and the final plate. He also talks about his long creative partnership with Tainy, how he recorded with Latin Mafia in a restaurant in Mexico City instead of a studio, and why no one can agree on what genre he actually makes.

Then the conversation turns to loss. Álvaro opens up about "PNC," a song built around a beat his close friend and collaborator MC Milkman — who passed away in February — sent him from Japan with a simple message: do whatever you want with it. A few months after they finished the song together, Milkman was gone. OMAKASE debuted at number one on Spotify with a photo of the two of them.

Plus: his love for Studio Ghibli (introduced to him by Tainy), why he names songs after movie characters like Mia Wallace or Ramona Flowers and his upcoming tour.

Produced by Los Angeles Times, L.A. Times Studios, and Sonoro.

🎙 De Los Podcast drops new episodes every week on YouTube and all major podcast platforms. Subscribe so you never miss a conversation.

From the Los Angeles Times and Sonoro comes the De Los Podcast — a weekly conversation where music, pop culture and Latinidad collide. Hosted by De Los editors Fidel Martínez and Suzy Exposito, the show pulls back the curtain on the stories, people and cultural moments shaping the Latino experience in the U.S. and beyond. Every episode is a front-row seat to conversations with the artists, actors, filmmakers and thinkers who are moving the culture forward — not just talking about it. Guests include Leslie Grace, Sen Dog of Cypress Hill, Xolo Maridueña, Fabrizio Guido, producer and singer Empress Of, among others. Think of it as the cultural conversation that major American media rarely makes room for — a space where Latinos get to talk, unfiltered, about what they create and who they are. Produced by Los Angeles Times, L.A. Times Studios, and Sonoro. New episodes every week — available on YouTube and all major podcasts.

Hosts Fidel Martínez and Suzy Exposito run the Latino vibe check — inspired by a newsletter from their colleague Carlos De Loera asking a simple but loaded question: Is there any advantage to being Latino in the United States?

They start with the data. A Pew Research Center study found that one third of Latinos surveyed say their ethnicity has been a detriment to their lives — while nearly half say they remain deeply proud of who they are despite the obstacles. Fidel and Suzy break down what those numbers actually mean against the backdrop of ICE raids, the recent killings of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo in Houston and Juan Sebastián Durán Guerrero in Maine at traffic stops, and a political climate that seems determined to remind Latinos that belonging here is never guaranteed.

Then the conversation shifts — because culture tells a different story. Bad Bunny won a Grammy. Karol G headlined Coachella. And people have been trying to swaggerjack Latino culture for decades. Enter: Gwenda Lupe Stefani, Drake's bachata era, Lana Del Rey's cubano aspirations, and Kacey Musgraves doing it right.

They also react to a congressional hearing in which a Texas representative called a Smithsonian gift shop's "Latina Power" merch "paraphernalia" — and Suzy explains, with great clarity and one reference to Michael Flatley Lord of the Dance, exactly why that comparison doesn't land. Plus: if the US Latino economy were its own country, it would be the fourth largest economy in the world.

And then, because this is De Los Podcast, they end on something that can't be legislated away.

Produced by Los Angeles Times, L.A. Times Studios, and Sonoro.

🎙 De Los Podcast drops new episodes every week on YouTube and all major podcast platforms. Subscribe so you never miss a conversation.

From the Los Angeles Times and Sonoro comes the De Los Podcast — a weekly conversation where music, pop culture and Latinidad collide. Hosted by De Los editors Fidel Martínez and Suzy Exposito, the show pulls back the curtain on the stories, people and cultural moments shaping the Latino experience in the U.S. and beyond. Every episode is a front-row seat to conversations with the artists, actors, filmmakers and thinkers who are moving the culture forward — not just talking about it. Guests include Leslie Grace, Sen Dog of Cypress Hill, Xolo Maridueña, Fabrizio Guido, producer and singer Empress Of, among others. Think of it as the cultural conversation that major American media rarely makes room for — a space where Latinos get to talk, unfiltered, about what they create and who they are. Produced by Los Angeles Times, L.A. Times Studios, and Sonoro. New episodes every week — available on YouTube and all major podcasts.

Hosts Fidel Martínez and Suzy Exposito sit down with Daniel Hernández, food editor at the Los Angeles Times and author of Down and Delirious in Mexico City, for a wide-ranging conversation about LA's culinary identity — who's cooking it, who's fighting for it, and what it says about the city's soul.

Daniel traces his path from street culture journalism to food writing, starting with the story that set everything in motion: an investigation into the bacon-wrapped hot dog vendors surviving LAPD crackdowns on the streets of downtown LA. He also talks about what it means to be the first food editor at a major American paper who looks like him — and why he refuses to entertain imposter syndrome.

They dig into the taco, including the heated internal debate over how to even define one for the LA Times' definitive taco list. He also breaks down who is actually cooking all the food in Los Angeles, what the ongoing ICE raids mean for the city's restaurant industry.

And finally: the 2008 street battle between punks and emos in Mexico City, an event that has since become legend on the Latin internet, and the wildly unexpected way it ended.

Produced by Los Angeles Times, L.A. Times Studios, and Sonoro.

🎙 De Los Podcast drops new episodes every week on YouTube and all major podcast platforms. Subscribe so you never miss a conversation.

From the Los Angeles Times and Sonoro comes the De Los Podcast — a weekly conversation where music, pop culture and Latinidad collide. Hosted by De Los editors Fidel Martínez and Suzy Exposito, the show pulls back the curtain on the stories, people and cultural moments shaping the Latino experience in the U.S. and beyond. Every episode is a front-row seat to conversations with the artists, actors, filmmakers and thinkers who are moving the culture forward — not just talking about it. Guests include Leslie Grace, Sen Dog of Cypress Hill, Xolo Maridueña, Fabrizio Guido, producer and singer Empress Of, among others. Think of it as the cultural conversation that major American media rarely makes room for — a space where Latinos get to talk, unfiltered, about what they create and who they are. Produced by Los Angeles Times, L.A. Times Studios, and Sonoro. New episodes every week — available on YouTube and all major podcasts.

Hosts Fidel Martínez and Suzy Exposito go head-to-head on the state of Latino representation in Hollywood — what's winning, what's failing, and who's been getting away with both for too long.

They start with the biggest media story of the summer: Telemundo's historic World Cup win, how half of all Americans chose to watch in Spanish over Fox's English-language broadcast, and what that says about who actually understands Latino audiences — and who doesn't.

Then they get into the numbers: only three Latino actors received Primetime Emmy nominations this year, and at the Oscars, out of 120 nominees, only two were Latino — and neither won. Fidel and Suzy break down why those numbers won't improve, why Hollywood keeps throwing Latinos one bone at a time, and why they think the studios know exactly what they're doing — pointing to the moment every Fast and the Furious movie drops.

They also highlight what's actually working: Julio Torres' Fantasmas and Problemista, the Hulu comedy This Fool, Alexa Demie's performance on Euphoria, Indi Navarrete leading the charge in horror, and why indie film is becoming the real home for Latino storytelling. Suzy also shares what she learned firsthand in the writers' room of Netflix's Neon — and the fight it took to get Puerto Ricans represented at every level of a show about reggaeton.

Produced by Los Angeles Times, L.A. Times Studios, and Sonoro.

🎙 De Los Podcast drops new episodes every week on YouTube and all major podcast platforms. Subscribe so you never miss a conversation.

From the Los Angeles Times and Sonoro comes the De Los Podcast — a weekly conversation where music, pop culture and Latinidad collide. Hosted by De Los editors Fidel Martínez and Suzy Exposito, the show pulls back the curtain on the stories, people and cultural moments shaping the Latino experience in the U.S. and beyond. Every episode is a front-row seat to conversations with the artists, actors, filmmakers and thinkers who are moving the culture forward — not just talking about it. Guests include Leslie Grace, Sen Dog of Cypress Hill, Xolo Maridueña, Fabrizio Guido, producer and singer Empress Of, among others. Think of it as the cultural conversation that major American media rarely makes room for — a space where Latinos get to talk, unfiltered, about what they create and who they are. Produced by Los Angeles Times, L.A. Times Studios, and Sonoro. New episodes every week — available on YouTube and all major podcasts.

Hosts Fidel Martínez and Suzy Exposito sit down with actor and stand-up comedian Fabrizio Guido — currently starring in Netflix's Running Point — for a wide-ranging conversation about growing up all over Los Angeles, making his film debut alongside Brad Pitt in World War Z at age 12, and what it really took to build a career from child actor to leading man.

Fabrizio traces his path from community theater in East LA, to being homeschooled so he could graduate early and compete for roles on equal footing with adult actors. He talks about the warmth of the Mr. Iglesias set with Gabriel Iglesias, how he created Jackie Moreno in Running Point as a portrait of Boyle Heights with a heart the whole world could recognize, and the deep research he brought to playing Rafael Gallardo in Perry Mason Season 2 — including reading a Los Angeles newspaper from 1932 on his way to the Warner Bros. Ranch.

He also opens up about the night Gabriel Iglesias told him he had two weeks to put together five minutes of stand-up — and what happened when he got off stage at the Brea Improv as a different person.

Plus: his take on the new generation of young Latino actors redefining what it means to be Latino in Hollywood, why he thinks LA is the only city that truly tests people's character, and why The Fast and the Furious is one of the most East Side movies ever made.

Produced by Los Angeles Times, L.A. Times Studios, and Sonoro.

🎙 De Los Podcast drops new episodes every week on YouTube and all major podcast platforms. Subscribe so you never miss a conversation.

From the Los Angeles Times and Sonoro comes the De Los Podcast — a weekly conversation where music, pop culture and Latinidad collide. Hosted by De Los editors Fidel Martínez and Suzy Exposito, the show pulls back the curtain on the stories, people and cultural moments shaping the Latino experience in the U.S. and beyond. Every episode is a front-row seat to conversations with the artists, actors, filmmakers and thinkers who are moving the culture forward — not just talking about it. Guests include Leslie Grace, Sen Dog of Cypress Hill, Xolo Maridueña, Fabrizio Guido, producer and singer Empress Of, among others. Think of it as the cultural conversation that major American media rarely makes room for — a space where Latinos get to talk, unfiltered, about what they create and who they are. Produced by Los Angeles Times, L.A. Times Studios, and Sonoro. New episodes every week — available on YouTube and all major podcasts.

Hosts Fidel Martínez and Suzy Exposito ditch the guest chair and go head-to-head on the state of Latin music.

They break down the year's biggest milestones: Bad Bunny's historic solo Super Bowl halftime show, Karol G becoming the first Latina to headline Coachella, and Fuerza Regida making history as the first Música Mexicana act to ever play Dodger Stadium. They dig into the numbers too — Latin music hit a billion dollars in U.S. sales for the first time in 2025, and Bad Bunny and Fuerza Regida became the first two Spanish-language albums to chart at number one and two simultaneously on the Billboard 200.

Then come the hot takes: why Fidel and Suzy think the genre is too obsessed with nostalgia, why they're calling for fewer collaborations, and why they think the Latin Grammys still have a favoritism problem — Alejandro Sanz controversy included.

Plus, their personal picks for the best albums of the year so far, including Julieta Venegas's Norteña, Tito Double P's Acomodo, and Alvaro Diaz's OMAKASE.

Produced by Los Angeles Times, L.A. Times Studios, and Sonoro.

🎙 De Los Podcast drops new episodes every week on YouTube and all major podcast platforms. Subscribe so you never miss a conversation.

From the Los Angeles Times and Sonoro comes the De Los Podcast — a weekly conversation where music, pop culture and Latinidad collide. Hosted by De Los editors Fidel Martínez and Suzy Exposito, the show pulls back the curtain on the stories, people and cultural moments shaping the Latino experience in the U.S. and beyond. Every episode is a front-row seat to conversations with the artists, actors, filmmakers and thinkers who are moving the culture forward — not just talking about it. Guests include Leslie Grace, Sen Dog of Cypress Hill, Xolo Maridueña, Fabrizio Guido, producer and singer Empress Of, among others. Think of it as the cultural conversation that major American media rarely makes room for — a space where Latinos get to talk, unfiltered, about what they create and who they are. Produced by Los Angeles Times, L.A. Times Studios, and Sonoro. New episodes every week — available on YouTube and all major podcasts.

For this episode of the De Los Podcast, hosts Fidel Martínez and Suzy Exposito sit down with Xolo Maridueña — actor, podcaster, and the first Latino to headline a live-action DC superhero film — for a wide-ranging conversation about growing up on the east side of Los Angeles, building a career from the ground up, and what it really meant to make Blue Beetle.

Born and raised in El Sereno, Xolo traces his path from community theater at Casa 101 and the Boyle Heights Arts Conservatory, to landing Cobra Kai at 16 — the role he describes as the North Star that shifted everything. He talks about the phone call from Ralph Macchio that almost didn't happen, what it was like to watch Miguel Diaz mirror his own coming-of-age in real time, and why he didn't fully believe acting was his career until well into his seventh year of doing it.

He opens up about Blue Beetle — the first live-action superhero movie with a Latino lead, a predominantly Latino cast, and a crew that felt, in his words, "like the Avengers." He shares what it was like to sit in a theater in Montebello and watch kids who looked like him cry at the screen for the first time.

He also talks about his upcoming projects: the Netflix live-action adaptation of One Piece, Dog Years alongside Xochitl Gomez, and Killing Castro — a film premiering at Tribeca about a story so wild he kept thinking it had to be dramatized. It wasn't.

Produced by Los Angeles Times, L.A. Times Studios, and Sonoro.

🎙 De Los Podcast drops new episodes every week on YouTube and all major podcast platforms. Subscribe so you never miss a conversation.

From the Los Angeles Times and Sonoro comes the De Los Podcast — a weekly conversation where music, pop culture and Latinidad collide. Hosted by De Los editors Fidel Martínez and Suzy Exposito, the show pulls back the curtain on the stories, people and cultural moments shaping the Latino experience in the U.S. and beyond. Every episode is a front-row seat to conversations with the artists, actors, filmmakers and thinkers who are moving the culture forward — not just talking about it. Guests include Leslie Grace, Sen Dog of Cypress Hill, Xolo Maridueña, Fabrizio Guido, producer and singer Empress Of, among others. Think of it as the cultural conversation that major American media rarely makes room for — a space where Latinos get to talk, unfiltered, about what they create and who they are. Produced by Los Angeles Times, L.A. Times Studios, and Sonoro. New episodes every week — available on YouTube and all major podcasts.

For this episode of De Los Podcast, hosts Fidel Martínez and Suzy Exposito sit down with Sen Dog, founding member and rapper of Cypress Hill — one of the first Latino hip-hop groups to break into the American mainstream.

Born in Pinar del Río, Cuba, Sen Dog came to the U.S. as a refugee with his family, eventually settling in South Gate, Los Angeles — the very neighborhood that would give Cypress Hill its name. In this conversation, he traces the full arc: from watching Soul Train on Saturday mornings and meeting a teenage Dave Lombardo of Slayer in high school, to touring the country in a tiny Astro van before "I Could Just Kill a Man" hit number one in New York overnight.

He opens up about what it meant to be a Black Latino in a hip-hop scene that had no category for them, the band's legendary Simpsons cameo, and their genre-defying collaborations with Pearl Jam, Sonic Youth, and Biohazard — including his own metal project, Power Flow.

Sen Dog also shares why he returned to Cuba for the first time in decades, what it felt like to step onto his grandmother's porch again, and how that trip led him to discover that his family's last name — Reyes — traces back to an ancestor sold into slavery in Cuba from Benin in the early 1800s. All of it is part of his upcoming documentary, Mi Familia, a migration story that goes from the slave ships to South Gate, Los Angeles.

Plus: why he says "I'm a refugee and I say that proudly" in today's political climate, the story of picking up Celia Cruz at the airport, and why all he needed to become a rapper was a pen and a piece of paper.

Produced by Los Angeles Times, L.A. Times Studios, and Sonoro.

🎙 De Los Podcast drops new episodes every week on YouTube and all major podcast platforms. Subscribe so you never miss a conversation.

From the Los Angeles Times and Sonoro comes the De Los Podcast — a weekly conversation where music, pop culture and Latinidad collide. Hosted by De Los editors Fidel Martínez and Suzy Exposito, the show pulls back the curtain on the stories, people and cultural moments shaping the Latino experience in the U.S. and beyond. Every episode is a front-row seat to conversations with the artists, actors, filmmakers and thinkers who are moving the culture forward — not just talking about it. Guests include Leslie Grace, Sen Dog of Cypress Hill, Xolo Maridueña, Fabrizio Guido, producer and singer Empress Of, among others. Think of it as the cultural conversation that major American media rarely makes room for — a space where Latinos get to talk, unfiltered, about what they create and who they are. Produced by Los Angeles Times, L.A. Times Studios, and Sonoro. New episodes every week — available on YouTube and all major podcasts.

Fidel Martínez and Suzy Exposito sit down with Dominican-American singer, actress, and Latin Grammy-nominated artist Leslie Grace for a wide-ranging conversation about music, movies, and what it means to be Latino in Hollywood today.

Leslie traces her journey from recording a Christian album in her family's closet at 14, to breaking out as a bachata star alongside Romeo Santos and Prince Royce, to landing her film debut as Nina in Lin-Manuel Miranda's In the Heights — a role she spent seven years of self-tapes working toward.

She opens up about Batgirl, the HBO Max film she starred in that was shelved by Warner Bros. before release, and how that experience pushed her toward indie filmmaking — including Sundance Prize winner In the Summers, and two SXSW premieres: Stages and Campeón Gabacho, directed by Jonas Cuarón.

Plus: what it's like to be a female artist in a male-dominated genre, the hardest thing to learn about the music industry in the streaming era, and her take on Latinidad — and what it looks like to just exist without having to prove it.

Produced by Los Angeles Times, L.A. Times Studios, and Sonoro.

🎙 De Los Podcast drops new episodes every week on YouTube and all major podcast platforms. Subscribe so you never miss a conversation.

From the Los Angeles Times and Sonoro comes the De Los Podcast — a weekly conversation where music, pop culture and Latinidad collide. Hosted by De Los editors Fidel Martínez and Suzy Exposito, the show pulls back the curtain on the stories, people and cultural moments shaping the Latino experience in the U.S. and beyond. Every episode is a front-row seat to conversations with the artists, actors, filmmakers and thinkers who are moving the culture forward — not just talking about it. Guests include Leslie Grace, Sen Dog of Cypress Hill, Xolo Maridueña, Fabrizio Guido, producer and singer Empress Of, among others. Think of it as the cultural conversation that major American media rarely makes room for — a space where Latinos get to talk, unfiltered, about what they create and who they are. Produced by Los Angeles Times, L.A. Times Studios, and Sonoro. New episodes every week — available on YouTube and all major podcasts.

From the Los Angeles Times and Sonoro comes the De Los Podcast — a weekly conversation where music, pop culture and Latinidad collide.

New episodes every week — available on YouTube and all major podcasts.

From the Los Angeles Times and Sonoro comes the De Los Podcast — a weekly conversation where music, pop culture and Latinidad collide. Hosted by De Los editors Fidel Martínez and Suzy Exposito, the show pulls back the curtain on the stories, people and cultural moments shaping the Latino experience in the U.S. and beyond. Every episode is a front-row seat to conversations with the artists, actors, filmmakers and thinkers who are moving the culture forward — not just talking about it. Guests include Leslie Grace, Sen Dog of Cypress Hill, Xolo Maridueña, Fabrizio Guido, producer and singer Empress Of, among others. Think of it as the cultural conversation that major American media rarely makes room for — a space where Latinos get to talk, unfiltered, about what they create and who they are. Produced by Los Angeles Times, L.A. Times Studios, and Sonoro. New episodes every week — available on YouTube and all major podcasts.