Alt.Latino: Special Guest Calle 13

John Guardo/NPR

Residente and Visitante at the NPR offices in New York.

Calle 13 is one of the most exciting and creative groups to hit the Latin Alternative scene in the last decade. But not everyone agrees: The duo is as polarizing as it is provocative.

Many people came to know Calle 13 through its 2005 mainstream club hits "Atreve-te-te" and "Se Vale To-to," two sexually explicit, danceable songs that can still be heard in Latin clubs today. And when I say sexually explicit, I'm not talking about your run-of-the-mill sexual innuendo (cue Daddy Yankee's "Gasolina," also on heavy rotation at that time) or obvious in-your-face sexuality (cue Pitbull's "Culo," also a club favorite back then). I'm talking about lyrics that I can't even republish here, that leave listeners dancing while laughing and wrinkling their noses in disgust.

I came to know the Boricua duo when a Puerto Rican friend of mine sent me the underground hit "Querido FBI" ("Dear FBI"), a song also released in 2005, while Calle 13's first album was being mixed. It's an angry, political song which was published on the Internet 30 hours after the assassination of Puerto Rican revolutionary and fugitive Filiberto Ojeda Rios in a raid led by the FBI. It was controversial and criticized for promoting violence. But the song also showcases the best of Calle 13: The band is as intelligent as it is goofy, egotistical and self-deprecating; as angry as it is hilarious; as witty as it is raunchy. I was hooked.

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Calle 13's Rene Perez Joglar, a.k.a. Residente.

Last week, we got a special treat: The guys from Calle 13 stopped by our New York studios to talk about their new album: Entren Los Que Quieran. This album is more mature. The guys seem to have grown past bashing other rappers and graduated to more important issues, like what's happening in Latin America and Puerto Rico today. At the same time, while the album is more political, it's also less vitriolic. "La Bala" asks for change through dialogue, a change from earlier works like "Querido FBI." But Calle 13 fans need not despair: There's also some classic sex and raunch — and even a love song. And, as listeners have noted, there's a provocative first track in which the band welcomes audiences to Puerto Rico, calling it "the most important colony in the world, and the only place in the world where we pay more attention to Miss Universe than our education system."

Calle 13 is exactly what mainstream Latin music needs right now: an injection of rebellion, thought and real sexuality. As evidenced by this year's Latin Grammys — which were (with some exceptions) a stagnant parade of artists who are doing nothing new or exciting — it's great to finally have some rabble-rousers in the spotlight. Sure, they get pigeonholed as a reggaeton group. But Calle 13 is all rock 'n' roll in attitude.

In this discussion, the Calle 13's members explore all of this and more, and share some of their new songs. As always, let us know your thoughts.