A couple years ago, Diplo met Maluca (bka Nathalie Yepez) at a karaoke night at 205 Club in New York. They dated for a while, and when they broke up she played him the music she’d been working on and became a part of his Mad Decent family. She released a song with Mad Decent and a mixtape on her own, hung out at the mausoleum in Philly and helped clean it up.
Last week in Sally Singer’s revamped T Magazine, Maluca bemoaned that in spite of her high-profile affiliations (she just toured with Robyn, who commissioned plenty of Diplo production for her Body Talk albums), she’s hard for cash. She told Marcus Chang that, “It can be really expensive for an opening act. I had to pay for my travel, my manager came with me, who helped out with a lot of the expenses, but obviously I have to reimburse that money eventually. I got paid a performance fee, but it didn’t cover the costs for renting equipment, DJ, hair and makeup, my outfits.”
This week, La Mala continues alarming folks to the trials of being acknowledged for looking good but not getting paid by launching a series of “wepasodes.” In the first, she reenacts the MTV News segment where ODB drove in a limo with his daughters too apply for food stamps.
In the clip she’s got a Mud Truck coffee cup in-hand. We’re crying about our taxes, too, but have watched enough Oprah to know that Suze Orman suggests anyone struggling to stash stacks immediately do away with their latte per day. If being loved by Wes and the internet hasn’t made Maluca fat in the bank, perhaps she should brew something from TJ’s (still tastes lujo!) at home, if only to ensure the integrity of her inspiring dressing-budget and keep paying her incredible back up dancers. Oscar, we love you!
