Santana - Maria Maria ft. The Product G&B

What this video is

Released at the apex of the Latin Pop explosion and the turn-of-millennium hip-hop/R&B crossover boom, 'Maria Maria' represents a generational reconciliation between classic rock legacy (Santana's 1970s roots) and contemporary Black and Latino urban culture. Lyrically rooted in West Side Story's Maria narrative but relocated to the streets of East L.A. and Spanish Harlem, the video aestheticizes barrio community…

Why it matters

A landmark artifact of the Latin-crossover wave of 1999–2000, 'Maria Maria' demonstrates how hip-hop production aesthetics could be grafted onto classic rock instrumentation to produce massive mainstream appeal. Its ten-week Billboard Hot 100 #1 run and Grammy win for Best Pop Performance by a Duo…

The director

Marcus Raboy (born November 30, 1965) is an American film and music video director who grew up in New York City and attended New York University. Since the early 1990s he has directed videos for Mary J. Blige, Rihanna, Shakira, Luther Vandross, Santana, and…