For their 3rd album Rucaz N’ Rolaz, Los Stellarians (comprised of SA from 311 and Ryan Siegel of Party Pupils) decided to veer where they left off with their last album The Mas Chingon and instead go down a path that felt grittier than their previous two releases. Martinez says, “With the music that shapes lowrider culture there are so many flavors- you’ve got classic soul ballads of course but there’s also electronic-freestyle elements, and harder funk in general, that have been present in Chicano rap since the 80’s and beyond. Taking those elements and messing with tempos you can create a lot of layered textures over the course of an album. I think with Rucaz N’ Rolaz we’ve achieved that.”
10 songs deep, Rucaz N’ Rolaz is a nighttime walk through Chicano neighborhoods that once and yet still exist - the Westside’s of San Antonio and Denver, Barelas in Albuquerque, Rose Hill in LA and the Southside of Omaha. Old ‘hoods with patina and that are friendly with Jesus. Where in Summer men walk in wife-beaters that show off faded tattoos, wearing dark glasses and downing beer after beer. Where vintage Monte Carlo’s and LTD’s are customized… Rucaz N' Rolaz evokes a time and place of uniquely Chicano stories and lives lived.
Working class obsessions, vices - smoking, drinking - dreaming of money, mixing semen with bad chicas.. it’s all there in this album. Says Siegel - “When I really got into the zone of crafting the building blocks to this record I got scared. I was afraid that at any minute Kid Frost or Cypress Hill would storm the studio and jack these beats. That’s only happened one other time which was last album and so I knew that we had something that was straight fire again.”
From the opening tracks of "TrippN" and "Zodiac" (the latter coming across as Chronic era Dr. Dre) to the closing cuts of "Want This" and "The Ballad of Benny Beltran" (a poignant saga that could be told in any southern bordertown USA) Rucaz N’ Rolaz is a fitting piece to the catalog Los Stellarians is crafting together.