Esmelin Santiago Matías García (born December 6, 1981), known as Santiago Matías or Alofoke is a Dominican radio host and producer, record producer, celebrity interviewer, businessman and

media mogul A media proprietor, media mogul or media tycoon refers to a entrepreneur who controls, through personal ownership or via a dominant position in any media-related company or enterprise, media consumed by many individuals. Those with significant co ...

Career

Early life

Santiago Matías was born on December 6, 1981, in El Capotillo,

Distrito Nacional The Distrito Nacional (; D.N.) is a subdivision of the Dominican Republic enclosing the capital Santo Domingo. It is not in any of the Provinces of the Dominican Republic, provinces, but in practice, it acts as a province on its own. Before Octobe ...

Dominican Republic The Dominican Republic ( ; es, República Dominicana, ) is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean region. It occupies the eastern five-eighths of the island, which it shares wit ...

. He started recording rap songs at a young age in Capotillo and began his professional career in 2000, touring as the backing vocals for Vakero, a famous Dominican Rapper.

Alofoke Music media group

While touring in many of the provinces of the country, Matías saw the lack of coverage of

Urbano music Urbano music ( es, música urbana) or Latin urban is a transnational umbrella category including many different genres and styles. As an umbrella term it includes reggaeton, dancehall, dembow, urban champeta, funk carioca and Latin hip hop. Th ...

or Latin Urban music in the Dominican media and the enthusiasm of the people wherever they performed, which motivated him in 2006 to start ''AlofokeMusic,'' a media group dedicated specifically to cover

artists in the Dominican Republic. The company started with the ''AlofokeMusic'' website, where he uploaded exclusive content about the underground rap movement and rap battles between artists. Within months of its launch, the website had thousands of daily visitors, which made Matías stop his rapping career and dedicate his time to interviewing and writing about Urban artists. In 2013, he started Alofoke Radio Show, a radio talk show that interviews

celebrities broadcast on Power 103.7 FM and then on KQ 94.5 FM. The same year he started the ''Fuse Music'' record label and signed the Dominican-American rapper Mark B and positioned him internationally through collaborations with artists like

Bad Bunny Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio (born March 10, 1994), known professionally as Bad Bunny, is a Puerto Rican rapper and singer. His musical style is defined as Latin trap and reggaeton. He rose to prominence in 2016 with his song "Diles", wh ...

and

Maluma Juan Luis Londoño Arias (born 28 January 1994), known professionally as Maluma, is a Colombian singer, songwriter, and actor. Born and raised in Medellín, he developed an interest in music at a young age, recording songs since age sixteen. ...

. In 2021,

Ozuna Juan Carlos Ozuna Rosado (; born March 13, 1992), known simply by his surname Ozuna, is a Puerto Rican singer. Five of his studio albums have topped the Billboard Top Latin Albums, ''Billboard'' Top Latin Albums chart, with ''Aura (Ozuna al ...

and Santiago Matias bought Sonido Suave, a Spanish-language

Bolero Bolero is a genre of song which originated in eastern Cuba in the late 19th century as part of the trova tradition. Unrelated to the older Spanish dance of the same name, bolero is characterized by sophisticated lyrics dealing with love. It has ...

and

Ballad A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads derive from the medieval French ''chanson balladée'' or ''ballade'', which were originally "dance songs". Ballads were particularly characteristic of the popular poetry and ...

radio station serving

Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic , total_type = Total , population_density_km2 = auto , timezone = AST (UTC −4) , area_code_type = Area codes , area_code = 809, 829, 849 , postal_code_type = Postal codes , postal_code = 10100–10699 ( Distrito Nacional) , webs ...

. That same year, it was rebranded as Alofoke FM, and its format changed to an

urban contemporary Urban contemporary music, also known as urban music, hip hop, urban pop, or just simply urban, is a music radio format. The term was coined by New York radio DJ Frankie Crocker in the early to mid-1970s as a synonym for Black music. Urban contem ...

. Alofoke Music Group now operates it.

Alofoke Sin Censura

''Alofoke Sin Censura'' is a segment of the ''Alofoke Radio Show'' broadcast on KQ-94.5 FM produced and hosted by Matías, in which he asks the artists to interview personal questions and their opinions on social issues. He has interviewed the majority of the most recent influential Urbano music performers from Dominican Republic and Internationally such as

Anuel AA Emmanuel Gazmey Santiago (born November 26, 1992), known professionally as Anuel AA, is a Puerto Rican rapper and singer. His music often contains samples and interpolations of songs that were popular during his youth. He is seen as a controv ...

J Balvin José Álvaro Osorio Balvín (born 7 May 1985), known professionally as J Balvin, is a Colombian singer and songwriter. He has been referred to as the " Prince of Reggaeton" (from Spanish: "Príncipe del Reggaetón"), and is one of the best-sell ...

El Alfa Emanuel Herrera Batista (born 18 December 1990), known professionally as El Alfa El Jefe, or simply as El Alfa, 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 ...

Arcángel Austin Agustín SantosBiografía de Arcángel
Retrieved on May 19, 2017 (born Decembe ...

Natti Natasha Natalia Alexandra Gutiérrez Batista (born December 10, 1986), better known by her stage name Natti Natasha, is a Dominican singer. She was signed to Don Omar's label Orfanato Music Group. Her debut EP, ''All About Me'', was released on March ...

and more, as well as politicians like the Dominican vice-president

Margarita Cedeño de Fernández A margarita is a cocktail consisting of Tequila, triple sec, and lime juice often served with salt on the rim of the glass. The drink is served shaken with ice (on the rocks), blended with ice (frozen margarita), or without ice (straight up). ...

, former Dominican president

Hipólito Mejía Rafael Hipólito Mejía Domínguez (born 22 February 1941) is a Dominican politician who served as President of the Dominican Republic from 2000 to 2004. During his presidential term in office the country was affected by one of its worst econ ...

and the Dominican presidential candidate Gonzalo Castillo. In 2021, he denounced receiving threats from Venezuela after interviewing Dominican musician and culture Vice Minister

Bonny Cepeda Bonny Cepeda (born Fernando Antonio Cruz Paz in the Dominican Republic) is a merengue artist, band leader and producer. In 1986 he was nominated for a Grammy Award for Top Tropical Latin Performance for his album, ''Noche de Discotheque''. Car ...

, where he declared that he received $60 000 to sing at a birthday party of the Venezuelan leader

Nicolás Maduro Nicolás Maduro Moros (; born 23 November 1962) is a Venezuelan politician and president of Venezuela since 2013, with his presidency under dispute since 2019. Beginning his working life as a bus driver, Maduro rose to become a trade unio ...

, showing a WhatsApp screenshot where he received racial slurs.

Personal life

Santiago's mother had him when she was only fifteen, and his grandmother and aunt helped her raise him. He attributes all he has become to them. Santiago started college studying Computer System Engineering and dropped out in his junior year to devote himself to music. However his mother made him learn English and other computer courses, he later got involved in entrepreneurship.

Kings League Americas

Since early 2024, he has been part of the project Americas Kings League , led by

Miguel Layún Miguel Arturo Layún Prado (born 25 June 1988) is a Mexican professional footballer who plays as a right-back for Liga MX club América. Layún began his career in 2006 with Veracruz, and in 2009 signed for Italian club Atalanta, becoming the ...

. He is president of one of the participating teams, Galácticos del Caribe (Caribbean Galactics). In this league, he competes against other content creators and celebrities such as

Arcangel Archangels () are the second lowest rank of angel in the hierarchy of angels. The word ''archangel'' itself is usually associated with the Abrahamic religions, but beings that are very similar to archangels are found in a number of other relig ...

, Germán Garmendia, Chicharito, or

James Rodriguez James is a common English language surname and given name: *James (name), the typically masculine first name James * James (surname), various people with the last name James James or James City may also refer to: People * King James (disambiguati ...

, with the aim of becoming champions of the competition.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Matias, Santiago Dominican Republic radio personalities People from Santo Domingo Dominican Republic people of Spanish descent Radio and television announcers Living people 1981 births