Many were taken aback when they heard the surprise album GNX by Kendrick Lamar and the first voice they heard was that of a woman singing in Spanish: “I feel your presence here, last night, and we start to cry.”
Well, that voice belongs to mariachi singer Deyra Barrera, 49, from Tucson, Arizona. Barrera became friends with Mexican baseball player Fernando Valenzuela over the years, after meeting at Café Tepeyac in Los Angeles, according to Rolling Stone. So when the great Dodger died in October just as the Los Angeles baseball club was set to face the Yankees in the World Series, the Mexican artist was chosen to sing in honor of her dear friend before Game 1. Lamar was there, and the rest is history.
“I was in tears, singing for my friend who died, in a full stadium,” Barrera told Rolling Stone. “And Mr. Lamar was there. “He heard me sing.”
Lamar, who had apparently just defeated Drake in one of the most notable rap battles in the history of the genre and was chosen to headline the Super Bowl halftime show, invited Barrera to the studio. “I had no idea what I would record. “I do mariachi, not rap,” he said. “They told me they wanted my style, my voice. “I had no idea how it was going to end up on the record.”
“He welcomed me and was very kind. He said: ‘You have such a powerful voice. Thank you for coming.’ “I had no idea what to say,” he added of his meeting with the Compton rapper in the studio. “Lamar is a genius, a master. Everything he does is magical.”
He also mentioned that he woke up to a text message from a friend telling him that his vocals open “Wacced Out Murals,” the album’s intro track. “My skin crawls because all this happened to me so quickly,” he said. “I want to cry. “This is taking me by surprise.”
It’s unknown what Lamar will perform when he performs at Super Bowl 59 in February, but Barrera hopes to get a call from him again. “I know Kendrick is going to do the Super Bowl halftime show. … Imagine if he invited me to sing with him? “That would be amazing,” he said. “I hope people know that it is Deyra Barrera who is in these songs.”
