El Alfa facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
El Alfa
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|---|---|
| Birth name | Emanuel Herrera Batista |
| Also known as | El Alfa El Jefe |
| Born | 18 December 1990 Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic |
| Genres |
|
| Occupation(s) | Rapper |
| Years active | 2008–present |
| Labels | El Jefe Records |
| Awards | Heat Latin Music Awards Premio Lo Nuestro |
Emanuel Herrera Batista (born 18 December 1990), known by his stage name El Alfa or El Alfa El Jefe, is a Dominican rapper, known as the King of Dembow. Batista was born in Bajos de Haina, Santo Domingo. He is known for his sensual voice and initial afro hairstyle which led him to popularity in the early 2010s through songs like "Tarzan", "Coche Bomba" and "Muevete Jevi". He went on to form good relationships with many artists from Puerto Rico, such as Nicky Jam, Farruko, and Myke Towers amongst others. This resulted in one of the biggest collaborations in dembow history, led by El Alfa, when he released "Suave (Remix)" in December 2018 alongside Chencho Corleone, Bryant Myers, Miky Woodz, Jon Z and Noriel.
El Alfa's reach continued to grow in the coming years, when he collaborated with international stars like Cardi B, J Balvin, Pitbull, Tyga, and Black Eyed Peas. "Singapur" surpassed the 200 million mark in February 2021.
With more than 21,000,000 monthly listeners to his music on Spotify and ranked #261 in the world, El Alfa is considered the leader of the Dominican dembow genre.
Contents
Career
2008–2013: Career beginnings and Dembow Exitos
Batista became independent from his family at the age of 17 after a childhood where he dreamed of becoming a barber.
Instead, once he became independent, his musical career started in 2008, when he went on to form a duo with Eddy Wilson, another Dominican Dembow artist looking to make his name on the scene. In their short stint together, they released street-style dembow songs such as "El Fogon" and "Conmigo No". The duo broke up in 2009 as they opted to continue their careers as solo artists.
Batista's first release as a solo artist was "Coche Bomba" in 2009, a song which made waves in the Dominican Urban scene at the time, cementing himself as an upcoming artist in the Dominican Republic known as El Alfa El Jefe. He followed the success of that with "Coco Mordan" in 2010, another song that showed the capabilities of his high-pitched voice with a hard-hitting beat. In 2011, he found relative success with two songs released in the final couple of months of the year, "No Wiri Wiri" and "Agarrate Que Te Solté". But the first time El Alfa truly entered the regional scene as an up-and-coming superstar was in 2012, when he released "Cacao", "Con To' Lo' Cascabeles" and "Muevete Jevi". The latter would continue to be one of his most popular songs, as it amassed more than 3 million streams on Spotify in recent years. He then managed to group those songs onto Dembow Exitos in 2013, a 10-song album which was an example of what the El Alfa character represented: hard-hitting, fast beats coupled with his rare, high-pitched voice that was backed by the productions of Nico Clinico, Bubloy, El Kable and fellow Dominican artist Chimbala.
El Alfa's popularity continued to rise when he released "Fuin Fuan" in April 2013, continuing his style of high-paced dembow with a touch of DJ Patio's productions. He managed to secure important collaborations in that year too, performing "Humo Excúsame (Remix)" with Musicologo The Libro and "Tú Me Gusta Pila" with Puerto Rican artist Farruko. The latter collaboration would be an important one for years to come in the career of El Alfa El Jefe.
2017–present: Disciplina
El Alfa celebrated his 10-year career with a concert at Palacio de los Deportes Virgilio Travieso Soto on 3 September 2018, being the first Latin urban artist to headline that venue. He has released collaborations with Anuel AA, Bad Bunny, and Nicky Jam.
- 2 November 2018 – El Alfa released "Mi Mami" featuring Cardi B.
- 8 April 2021 – El Alfa released the single "La Mama De La Mama" featuring CJ, El Cherry Scom & Chael Produciendo. The song "La Mama De La Mama" was released under his own record label "El Jefe Record" and published by Solo E Group, RM Music Publishing and Warne, r Chappell under BMI Broadcast Music. The song "La Mama De La Mama" has over 111,000,000 plus million views on YouTube as well as 92,000,000 plus millions on Spotify and soon after the released, in May 2021 "La Mama De La Mama" debuted in the Global Top 200 on the Billboard.
- 26 July 2021 – El Alfa accused record owner "Bibi Top Dollar" of burning his Bugatti sports car and threatening him, other than the accusation from El Alfa, no further details were given.
- 30 July 2021 – El Alfa released La Mama De La Ma (Remix) featuring Busta Rhymes, Anitta (singer), CJ (rapper), Wisin & El Cherry Scom, the song was released and published by El Jefe Records, RM Music Publishing, Warner Music Group, Solo E Group, Kobalt Music Group and Sony Music Latin.
- 10 August 2021 – El Alfa announced his first-ever world tour beginning in the U.S. in the fall of 2021.
Awards and nominations
Nomination and award-winning of the Univision 34th edition of Premio Lo Nuestro, for Male Revelation Artist and Best Tropical Song Of The Year and
Discography
Studio albums
| Title | Album details | Peak chart positions | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| US Latin |
US Latin Rhythm |
SPA |
||
| Disciplina |
|
45 | 11 | — |
| El Hombre |
|
7 | 6 | — |
| El Androide |
|
9 | 6 | 21 |
| Sabiduria |
|
16 | 11 | — |
| Sagitario |
|
28 | 11 | — |
| El Rey del Dembow |
|
17 | 8 | 94 |
Compilation albums
| Title | Album details | Peak chart positions | |
|---|---|---|---|
| US Latin |
US Latin Rhythm |
||
| Disciplina (Puerto Rico Edition) |
|
— | — |
| Dembow Worldwide Hits Teteo 42 |
|
11 | 6 |
Extended plays
| Title | Album details |
|---|---|
| Dembo$$ |
|
Singles
As lead artist
| Title | Year | Peak chart positions | Certifications | Album | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ARG |
SPA |
US |
US Latin |
US Dance |
|||||
| "Dema Ga Ge Gi Go Gu" (with Bad Bunny) |
2016 | — | — | — | — | — | Non-album singles | ||
| "Banda de Camión" (Remix) (with Farruko and De La Ghetto featuring Zion, Bryant Myers, Villano Sam and Noriel) |
2017 | — | — | — | — | — |
|
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| "Suave" | — | — | — | — | — |
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| "Lo Que Yo Diga" ("Dema Ga Ge Gi Go Gu" Remix) (featuring Farruko, Jon Z, and Miky Woodz) |
2018 | — | — | — | — | — |
|
El Hombre | |
| "Ruleta" (with Yomel El Meloso) |
— | — | — | — | — | Fue el Hombre Que Dijo | |||
| "Siéntate en Ese Deo" | — | — | — | — | — |
|
El Hombre | ||
| "Con Silenciador" (with Anuel AA) |
— | — | — | — | — |
|
|||
| "Suave" (Remix) (featuring Chencho Corleone, Noriel, Miky Woodz, Jon Z & Bryant Myers) |
— | — | — | — | — |
|
Non-album single | ||
| "Tecnobow" (featuring Diplo) |
2019 | — | — | — | — | — | Dembo$$ and El Androide | ||
| "Imaginate" (with Tito el Bambino and Pitbull) |
— | — | — | — | — | Non-album single | |||
| "Coronao Now" (featuring Lil Pump) |
— | 82 | — | 30 | — | El Androide | |||
| "Mera Woo" (with Chael Produciendo) |
— | — | — | — | — | ||||
| "Coronao Now" (Remix) (with Sech and Myke Towers featuring Vin Diesel and Lil Pump) |
2020 | — | 61 | — | — | — | Non-album single | ||
| "Pam" (with Justin Quiles and Daddy Yankee) |
26 | 1 | — | 14 | — |
|
La Última Promesa | ||
| "4K" (with Darell and Noriel) |
13 | 66 | — | — | — | Non-album single | |||
| "Wow" (Remix) (with Bryant Myers and Nicky Jam featuring Arcángel and Darell) |
— | — | — | 36 | — |
|
Bendecido | ||
| "Bebé" (with Camilo) |
4 | 9 | — | 22 | — |
|
Mis Manos | ||
| "Singapur" (Remix) (with Farruko and Myke Towers featuring Chencho Corleone and Justin Quiles) |
38 | 45 | — | 46 | — | Non-album single | |||
| "XOXA" (with Farruko) |
2021 | — | — | — | 47 | — | Premium | ||
| "Arrebatao" (with Chael Produciendo) |
— | — | — | — | — | Dembow Worldwide Hits Teteo 42 | |||
| "La Mamá de la Mamá" (with CJ and Chael Produciendo featuring Cherry Scom) |
— | 81 | — | 9 | — | ||||
| "Acuetate" (with Chael Produciendo and Yomel El Meloso featuring Tivi Gunz, Haraca Kiko, Capitán Aloo, El Fother and Kiko el Crazy) |
— | — | — | — | — | non-album single | |||
| "Pikete" (with Nicky Jam) |
— | — | — | 32 | — | Infinity | |||
| "Fulanito" (with Becky G) |
61 | 9 | — | 24 | — |
|
Esquemas | ||
| "Curazao" (with Farruko) |
— | — | — | 34 | — | Dembow Worldwide Hits Teteo 42 | |||
| "Happy Birthday" (with Tempo) |
— | — | — | — | 22 | non-album single | |||
| "Gogo Dance" | 2022 | — | — | — | 26 | — | Sabiduria | ||
| "Simply the Best" (with Black Eyed Peas and Anitta) |
— | — | — | — | 30 | Elevation | |||
| "Le Doy 20 Mil" (with Prince Royce) |
2023 | — | — | — | — | — | non-album single | ||
| "Plebada" (with Peso Pluma) |
— | — | 68 | 12 | — | Dembow Worldwide Hits Teteo 42 | |||
| "—" denotes releases that did not chart. | |||||||||
As featured artist
| Title | Year | Peak chart positions | Certifications | Album | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ARG |
NL |
SPA |
US Bub. |
US Latin |
US Dance |
NZ |
||||
| "Viajo Sin Ver" (Remix) (Jon Z featuring De La Ghetto, Almighty, Miky Woodz, El Alfa, Noriel, Ele A el Dominio, Lyan, Juanka El Problematik, Pusho and Jeycyn) |
2018 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
|
Non-album single |
| "Que Calor" (Major Lazer featuring J Balvin and El Alfa) |
2019 | 70 | 91 | 18 | 23 | 13 | 6 | — |
|
Music Is the Weapon |
| "Mambo" (Steve Aoki and Willy William featuring Sean Paul, El Alfa, Sfera Ebbasta and Play-N-Skillz) |
2021 | — | — | — | — | — | 41 | — | Non-album single | |
| "Ten Cuidado" (Farruko, Pitbull and Iamchino featuring El Alfa and Omar Courtz) |
— | — | — | — | 50 | — | — |
|
||
| "Muñekita" (Kali Uchis featuring El Alfa and JT) |
2023 | — | — | — | — | 31 | — | — | TBA | |
| "—" denotes releases that did not chart. | ||||||||||
Other singles
- "Que Fue" featuring Tali Goya
- "Moviéndolo (Remix)" with Pitbull and Wisin & Yandel
- "La Mama De La Mama (Remix)" featuring Busta Rhymes, Anita, CJ, Wisin, El Cherry Scom, Chael Produciendo
Other charted and certified songs
| Title | Year | Peak chart positions | Certifications | Album | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SPA |
US Latin |
|||||||||
| "Mi Mami" (featuring Cardi B) |
2018 | — | 42 | El Hombre | ||||||
| "Pa Jamaica" | — | — |
|
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| "La Romana" (Bad Bunny featuring El Alfa) |
80 | 12 | X 100pre | |||||||
| "—" denotes releases that did not chart. | ||||||||||
See also
In Spanish: El Alfa para niños
