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, also called a media executive, media mogul, media tycoon, or press baron is an entrepreneur who controls any means of public or commercial mass media, through the personal ownership or holding of a dominant position within a ...

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, but in practice, it acts as a province on its own. Before October 16, 2001, the Distrito Nacional wa ...

Dominican Republic The Dominican Republic is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles of the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean. It shares a Maritime boundary, maritime border with Puerto Rico to the east and ...

. 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 Manuel Varet Marte (born July 21, 1979), known as Vakero, is a Dominican singer and rapper, believed to be one of the most important acts of the Dominican urban music movement and one of the first to gain international exposure. Known for blendi ...

, 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 (Spanish and Portuguese: ; , ) or Latin urban is a transnational umbrella category including many different genres and styles. As an umbrella term it includes a wide and diverse set of genres and styles such as dancehall, dembow, ur ...

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 explicitly dedicated 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), better known by his stage name Bad Bunny, is a Puerto Rican rapper and singer. Known as the " King of Latin Trap", Bad Bunny is credited with helping Spanish-language rap music achieve m ...

and

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

. In 2021,

Ozuna Juan Carlos Ozuna Rosado (; born March 13, 1992), known simply by his surname Ozuna, is a Puerto Rican singer, born and raised in San Juan, Puerto Rico to a Dominican father and a Puerto Rican mother. Five of his studio albums have topped ...

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 h ...

and

Ballad A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads were particularly characteristic of the popular poetry and song of Great Britain and Ireland from the Late Middle Ages until the 19th century. They were widely used across Eur ...

radio station serving

Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic Santo Domingo, formerly known as Santo Domingo de Guzmán, is the capital and largest city of the Dominican Republic and the List of metropolitan areas in the Caribbean, largest metropolitan area in the Caribbean by population. the Distrito Na ...

. 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, 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 contemporary r ...

. 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. Often called "The God of Latin trap" by himself and major Latin artists. His music often contains samples and interpola ...

J Balvin José Álvaro Osorio Balvín (born 7 May 1985), known professionally as J Balvin, is a Colombian singer. He is one of the best-selling Latin artists, with 35 million records sold worldwide. Balvin was born in Medellín. At age 17, he moved to th ...

El Alfa 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, San Cristobal. He is known for his initial afro hair ...

Arcángel Austin Agustín Santos (born December 23, 1985), better known by his stage name Arcángel, is an American rapper and singer. He is often described as one of the most influential artists in the Latin urban genre, as well in Latin music overall, ...

Natti Natasha Natalia Alexandra Gutiérrez Batista (born December 10, 1986), better known by her stage name Natti Natasha (stylized all caps), is a List of people from the Dominican Republic, Dominican singer, songwriter and composer. She was signed to Don Om ...

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. Some margarita recipes include simple syrup as well and are often served with salt on the rim of the glass. Margaritas can be served either shaken with ice (on the r ...

, 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, 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 former union leader serving as the 53rd president of Venezuela since 2013. Previously, he was the 24th Vice President of Venezuela, vice president from 2012 to 20 ...

, 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 former professional association football, footballer who played as a Defender (association football)#Full-back, right-back. Layún began his professional career in 2006 with Gallos Ca ...

. 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 Catholic hierarchy of angels, based on and put forward by Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite in the 5th or 6th century in his book ''De Coelesti Hierarchia'' (''On the Celestial Hierarchy'') ...

, Westcol,

Germán Garmendia Germán Alejandro Garmendia Aranis (; born April 25, 1990) is a Chilean YouTuber, singer-songwriter, comedian and writer. He became famous for his YouTube channel HolaSoyGerman, which uploaded humorous videos about everyday situations. In 2013 ...

, Chicharito, or James Rodriguez, 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