That Eric Alper

An all too familiar tale, Umbe B delivers a fiery retelling of a toxic love triangle, battling with internal impulses while trying to act with self-preservation. Dramatic storytelling is paired perfectly with hard-hitting string swells and perfectly timed breakdowns to create an all-encompassing visual novella, “Confiesale.”

Named by several publications throughout Latin and North America as the Latin King Of The North, Umbe B upholds his record of dropping absolute bangers with the release of “Confiesale.” In addition to a seemingly perfect track record, Umbe B’s doubles down on his ability to allure listeners with infectious breakbeat Latin drums and enticing melodic movements.

“Confiesale” describes the ups and downs of a heated love affair – from the swelling feelings of passionate love to the dread associated with getting caught and worse, losing a partner forever despite never really having them. This dichotomy is represented perfectly within lines such as “when I pull your hair that brings the devil out of me” stood next to “I am packing a 40 in case he is spying on us.”

A trailblazer in his own right, Umbe B has been producing Latin bangers since 2013, right around the time that the American embargo on Cuba was lifted. Mainstream artists started leaning more into the Latin genre, looking for Cuban and Spanish features to accentuate a borrowed style. More honorable efforts were made by J Balvin and Rosalia, capturing what it meant to be a proud Latin musician instead of producing one-offs to appeal to a demographic within a listening base.

Latin music has had a tremendous impact on pop culture for decades – baseball, television, music, and cuisine. There is hardly a facet of pop culture that Cuban tradition and culture have not had an impact on. While some may accredit this to the American embargo and the “taboo acceptance” of “illegal goods,” most would chalk this up to whitewashing.

Latin music has hardly changed through the years, and while production efforts may have progressed with the advancement of production equipment, Cuban music has maintained an elegant air of old-fashioned quality and talent, and Umbe B is a prime example of this vintage eloquence.

Umbe B is a Latin artist born in Alamar, Cuba. Faced with the hardships of growing up during an embargo, Umbe B found the value of family very early on. Despite growing up in areas with high levels of crime, Umbe B never strayed from the importance of family and friends, using that to bolster him as he worked his way into a better situation.

Despite migrating to Canada in October 2019, Umbe B’s music career has been progressing steadily since 2013, when he founded an urban Cuban music group named Los Extraterrestres. Focusing on creating subgenres of urban music while innovating around the dance scene in Cuba, the group found great success across the island.

In 2016, Los Extraterrestres were nominated for one of Cuba’s most renowned music shows, Los Lucas, where they were spotted and hired by a European show and promotion company to perform in 3 venues during the summer festival in Ibiza and Majorca.

From there, things slowed down a bit for Umbe B until 2018 when he began his solo career, focusing his music more on the trap and hip-hop genres, which sparked some controversy among a handful of top artists and directors in Cuba. After his bandmates migrated to Europe and the rising controversy surrounding Umbe B’s productions, he decided to move to Canada.

Umbe B’s music can most accurately be summed up as a mix of Latin reggaeton, dembow, and dancehall sounds – all perfectly intertwined with trap elements made popular in Western music. Umbe B uses his passion for these genres as a springboard for his love for Cuba to tell stories based on personal experiences – both in Canada and Cuba.

Umbe B is set to release his first solo studio album in 2023.