Leopoldo Méndez Alcayaga is a Chilean DJ, singer and producer better knows as DJ Méndez or simply Méndez. He was born in Valparaiso, Chile in 1975. That’s where he began producing his music, which is a mixture of rap and Latin rhythms. Some of his songs like “Estocolmo”, show-through a Latin song the attitude and opinion of Latin American migrants to lands so different from theirs as the Scandinavian countries. He has two number-one hit singles in Chile, Fiesta (House Party) and Lady.

The emerging interest for the Latin American music in Europe was one factor in the acceptance and music like this Chilean market as closed as the Scandinavian market, which until recently were only local artists and popular English-speaking. Méndez moved to Stockholm, Sweden, in 1986. He was raised in a modest family struggling to achieve a better future, sometimes getting in trouble while walking around immigrant slums. After joining a counseling institution called Fasta and meeting sound engineer Jordi Fuste, DJ Méndez started his career as a Latin rapper, making his live debut in a local festival. Mixing hip-hop and traditional Latin American rhythms, he was able to get a record deal in 1999, soon climbing charts in Sweden, Norway, Scandinavia, Denmark, Finland, and even Russia with his first hit “Chiki-Chiki”, featured in his debut album Latino for Life. In March 2001 he visited his native country, carrying out a successful promotional tour.