In spite of debuting with the hard, West Coast funk-rap album, California Cowboys, Chicano rapper Down aka Kilo broke through to the national arena with the dance-offering club single "Lean Like a Cholo" in 2007. Down, real name Juan Martinez, was born to undocumented immigrants in Oxnard, CA. Listening to the hardcore hip-hop and stoner-funk of Cypress Hill and the explosive gangsta rap of NWA at a young age, Down strongly identified with their music and style of living. He began rapping at age 13 and made his first recordings in a makeshift studio in the garage of his childhood friend, Edward "E-Dub" Rios, who would later become a producer for the #Pocos Pero Locos radio show on L.A.'s Power 106.
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