A LargeUp Exclusive Webisode – Words by Eddie STATS Houghton, photos by Martei Korley. Video by Martei Korley, edited by Noah Workman.

We decided to launch our new Now Things series–focusing on cutting edge artists across all genre boundaries who happen to have roots in the Caribbean–with an exclusive profile on Ms. Maluca Mala of Mad Decent fame. Injecting a powerful dose of Dominican culture into what she describes as “banjee rave” music, Maluca has been generating tons of heat this year with her merengue-inflected club anthem “El Tigeraso” and her mixtape China Food, which dropped last month. Ms. Mala linked us uptown before the weather turned cold to show us around the park-scapes where she used to rave in the shadow of the Geo. Washington bridge, speak on the Caribbean element of her sound and all the other influences that shaped the tracks on China Food, from ESG to Dutch house. One of the Dutch cats she put us up on, in fact, was Oliver Twizt and their collaboration “Loca” just went up on the Mad Decent blog. Stream it here and get the full, immersive Maluca video experience after the jump.