Crooked Stilo

In two years, Victor "Lunatiko" and Johnny "El Duke" Lopez went from rags to riches. Almost. "We came from El Salvador and the situation was so bad there, we got to the projects, and to us it was Beverly Hills," says Victor, half-joking.

The Lopez brothers had already lived in East Los Angeles, but problems with gangs led to a two-year stint at a military academy in their native El Salvador. Scared straight, Victor and Johnny vowed to move out of gangs and into hip hop. In the '90s, the duo dubbed itself Crooked Stilo (a play on "Crooked Style") and released two albums of Cypress Hill-influenced bilingual rap, Crooked For Life and So What You Want.

In 2004, a year after acts like Akwid and Kinto Sol made their debut, Crooked Stilo released Puro Escándalo on the mostly Mexican Fonovisa Records. Featuring Spanish lyrics and cumbia samples, the album helped usher in a movement some dubbed "regional urbano." Crooked Stilo counter that many of their most popular tracks, Ya Lo Saben, Mis Colegialas and Chicas de Reventón, are "just hip hop." The Lopez brothers have since dropped another two albums, 2005's Retrasalo (Back It Up) and last summer's Malhablados (Vulgar). The Lopez brothers set their partying ways aside, for at least a few songs, including "No Te Vayas," a touching song about a young soldier sent out to war.

Crooked Stilo's newest record, Cumbia Urbana: The Album, is scheduled for release at the end of the month.

See: myspace.com/crookedstilo