| Santiago Matías | |
| Birth Name: | Esmelin Santiago Matías García |
| Birth Date: | 1981 12, mf=yes |
| Birth Place: | El Capotillo, Distrito Nacional Dominican Republic |
| Nationality: | Dominican |
| Other Names: | Alofoke |
| Occupation: | host and producer, record producer, celebrity interviewer, businessman |
| Years Active: | 2000-present |
Esmelin Santiago Matías García (born December 6, 1981), known as Santiago Matías or Alofoke is a Dominican radio host and producer, record producer, celebrity interviewer, businessman and media mogul.[1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7]
Santiago Matías was born on December 6, 1981, in El Capotillo, Distrito Nacional, Dominican Republic. He started recording rap songs at a young age in Capotillo and began his professional career in 2000, touring as the backing vocals for Vakero, a famous Dominican Rapper.[8]
While touring in many of the provinces of the country, Matías saw the lack of coverage of Urbano music or Latin Urban music in the Dominican media and the enthusiasm of the people wherever they performed, which motivated him in 2006 to start AlofokeMusic, a media group dedicated specifically to cover Urbano music artists in the Dominican Republic.[9]
The company started with the AlofokeMusic website, where he uploaded exclusive content about the underground rap movement and rap battles between artists. Within months of its launch, the website had thousands of daily visitors, which made Matías stop his rapping career and dedicate his time to interviewing and writing about Urban artists. In 2013, he started Alofoke Radio Show, a radio talk show that interviews Urbano music celebrities broadcast on Power 103.7 FM and then on KQ 94.5 FM.[10] [11] The same year he started the Fuse Music record label and signed the Dominican-American rapper Mark B and positioned him internationally through collaborations with artists like Bad Bunny and Maluma.[12]
In 2021, Ozuna and Santiago Matias bought Sonido Suave, a Spanish-language Bolero and Ballad radio station serving Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. That same year, it was rebranded as Alofoke FM, and its format changed to an urban contemporary. Alofoke Music Group now operates it.[13]
Alofoke Sin Censura is a segment of the Alofoke Radio Show broadcast on KQ-94.5 FM produced and hosted by Matías, in which he asks the artists to interview personal questions and their opinions on social issues. He has interviewed the majority of the most recent influential Urbano music performers from Dominican Republic and Internationally such as Anuel AA, Bad Bunny, J Balvin, El Alfa, Arcángel, Natti Natasha[14] and more, as well as politicians like the Dominican vice-president Margarita Cedeño de Fernández,[15] former Dominican president Hipólito Mejía[16] and the Dominican presidential candidate Gonzalo Castillo.[17] [18] [19]
In 2021, he denounced receiving threats from Venezuela after interviewing Dominican musician and culture Vice Minister Bonny Cepeda, where he declared that he received $60 000 to sing at a birthday party of the Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro, showing a WhatsApp screenshot where he received racial slurs.[20]
Santiago's mother had him when she was only fifteen, and his grandmother and aunt helped her raise him. He attributes all he has become to them. Santiago started college studying Computer System Engineering and dropped out in his junior year to devote himself to music. However his mother made him learn English and other computer courses, he later got involved in entrepreneurship.[21]
Since early 2024, he has been part of the project Americas Kings League, led by Miguel Layún. He is president of one of the participating teams, Galácticos del Caribe (Caribbean Galactics). In this league, he competes against other content creators and celebrities such as Arcangel, Germán Garmendia, Chicharito, or James Rodriguez, with the aim of becoming champions of the competition.[22] [23]