The De Los Podcast

Hosts Fidel Martínez and Suzy Exposito sit down with Cheech Marin —comedian, actor, filmmaker, and one of the foremost champions of Chicano art in the world— for a conversation that spans Vietnam draft resistance, topless improv theaters in Vancouver, the birth of an era-defining comedy act, a film that was made in the 80s and could be filmed this afternoon, and a museum founded on a sign from the universe: 66,420 square feet. Cheech traces the full arc. Growing up in South Central LA with a father who spent 30 years in the LAPD. Turning in his draft card at Cal State Northridge. Getting tipped off that the government was coming for him and boarding a Greyhound to Canada. The broken leg skiing that got him a 4-F. It was in Vancouver that he met Tommy Chong, recruited into an improv group performing at a topless bar owned by Tommy's family, where they honed their act every night in front of bikers, loggers, and people who genuinely wanted to beat them up. He also talks about Born in East LA — a movie that started with a story he read in the Los Angeles Times about a kid who got swept up in an immigration raid and couldn't prove he was American — and why that film, made in 1987, describes exactly what is happening today. About buying his first three pieces of Chicano art and the journey that turned a personal collection into a traveling exhibition that set attendance records at 14 major museums in 7 years, including the Smithsonian. About landing the Cheech Museum in Riverside after walking through the building and asking how many square feet it had. Plus: his first record, made at age 5. His Dodgers prediction. And why weed always finds him, even in Russia. Produced by Los Angeles Times, L.A. Times Studios, and Sonoro. 🎙 De Los Podcast drops new episodes every week on YouTube and all major podcast platforms. Subscribe so you never miss a conversation.

Hosts Fidel Martínez and Suzy Exposito sit down with Alice Bag, founding member and frontwoman of The Bags, one of the pioneering bands of the LA punk scene for a wide-ranging conversation about five decades of fighting for space, staying loud, and refusing to ask anyone's permission to belong. Alice traces the arc from attending the Chicano Moratorium at age 10 with her father, being laughed off by a MEChA recruitment table for looking "too weird," and eventually deciding she didn't need anyone's permission to call herself a Chicana, a resolution that became the foundation for everything that followed. She talks about what it felt like to grow up in East LA and walk into the punk scene knowing she belonged there; about the Hillside Stranglers creating a climate of fear in the late 70s that forced the punk community –particularly its women– to protect each other in ways that showed what the scene was really made of; and about how seeing Patti Smith perform taught her that a woman could seduce an audience entirely with her mind. Chicana rock star Alice Bag addresses the revisionist narrative that punk was a white male invention and that others joined in — because, as she tells in her memoir “Violence Girl,” she was there from the beginning. She also talks about her recent inclusion in the Great Wall of LA, her band’s last show with Bikini Kill and her work with the youth summer camp Chicas Rockeras Plus: how a TV gig for a Peacock show filmed in Puerto Rico led to Juanita and Juan, her musical collaboration with Kid Congo; why she applied for Mexican citizenship after a phone call from her aunt in Mexico City; and what she saw at her final LA show opening for Bikini Kill that made her believe the next generation of punk is in very good hands. Produced by Los Angeles Times, L.A. Times Studios, and Sonoro. 🎙 De Los Podcast drops new episodes every week on YouTube and all major podcast platforms. Subscribe so you never miss a conversation.

Hosts Fidel Martínez and Suzy Exposito dig into family planning: what it means for Latinos in 2026, why it's still taboo in our communities, and how much has changed in one generation. The conversation starts with Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez openly sharing her process of freezing her eggs on Instagram, including the financial reality of paying out of pocket even as a member of Congress. Fidel and Suzy use that as a jumping-off point to break down the numbers: in 1950, the average woman in Latin America had 5.8 children. Today that number is 1.8. As the fertility rate declines in Latin America, Latinos in the U.S. are holding up the birth rate, accounting for 32% of all infants born. They also get personal. Suzy talks about growing up in a Catholic family where women got the sex ed talk, but not her brothers, and navigating family planning as a queer woman. Meanwhile, Fidel dives into having his first child at 40, and how his perspectives on becoming a father shifted after experiencing grief.

Hosts Fidel Martínez and Suzy Exposito sit down with Lorely Rodriguez –aka Empress Of– indie pop singer, songwriter, and producer, for a conversation about identity, resilience, and her new album Dream House, made while simultaneously rebuilding an actual house in Altadena alongside her mom. Lorely traces her path from growing up Honduran-American in Altadena, absorbing her mom's music and community at home while privately obsessing over jazz as a teenager, to catching Lady Gaga at the Avalon before anyone knew who she was, to moving to New York and falling into the indie music scene that would define her early career. She also talks about the afternoon she met Blood Orange walking down the street and how they made Best to You, a song that now apparently plays at quinceañeras and first communions. She talks about the emotional weight behind Dream House. How she wrote a song for her mom about building her a home without ever telling her, and what happened the day her mom stood in the house and said she had finally built her dream house. She also opens up about what led her to start listening to hardcore music, going to her first Sound and Fury festival alone in LA and why Knocked Loose became an unlikely form of catharsis. Plus: Why she thinks LA is a hard place to date. Produced by Los Angeles Times, L.A. Times Studios, and Sonoro. 🎙 De Los Podcast drops new episodes every week on YouTube and all major podcast platforms. Subscribe so you never miss a conversation.

Hosts Fidel Martínez and Suzy Exposito sit down with Dr. Vanessa J. Díaz, professor of Chicano and Latino Studies at Loyola Marymount University and co-author of P FKN R: How Bad Bunny Became the Global Voice of Puerto Rican Resistance, for a wide-ranging conversation about what Bad Bunny's ascent really means — for Puerto Rico, for Latinos in the U.S., and for the future of Latin music. They trace the through line from 2019 — when Bad Bunny abandoned his European tour to join mass protests against Puerto Rico's Governor Rosselló — to his Super Bowl halftime show, where he took the stage holding the light blue Puerto Rican independence flag, the same flag the U.S. government made illegal to own under the Gag Law of 1948. The conversation covers why the 2023 Grammys captioned Bad Bunny's performance as "singing in non-English," how that same erasure played out again during Super Bowl backlash, and why calling him a diversity hire — when he is the most-streamed artist in the world — says everything about how Latinos continue to be othered regardless of their cultural dominance. They also talk about Ricky Martin's appearance at the halftime show, why Vanessa and Suzy call that segment "Lo Que Le Pasó Ricky Martin," and what it means that he got to sing entirely in Spanish about refusing to assimilate. Plus: why Latin music generated $1.4 billion in revenue in 2024 and why the concept of a Latin crossover is not just obsolete — it never made sense. Produced by Los Angeles Times, L.A. Times Studios, and Sonoro. 🎙 De Los Podcast drops new episodes every week on YouTube and all major podcast platforms. Subscribe so you never miss a conversation.