Amara La Negra | |
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![]() Amara La Negra, December 2018 | |
Background information | |
Birth name | Diana Danelys De Los Santos |
Born | Miami, Florida, U.S. | October 4, 1990
Genres | |
Occupation(s) | |
Instrument(s) | Vocals |
Years active | 1994–present |
Labels |
Diana Danelys De Los Santos (born October 4, 1990), known professionally as Amara La Negra, is an American singer, actress, dancer, author, and television host. [3] De Los Santos is of Dominican descent, [5] and is most known for her role on the VH1 reality TV show Love & Hip Hop: Miami . La Negra was dubbed by Billboard as the show's "breakout star", landing a multi-album record deal with BMG hours after the show's premiere. [6]
De Los Santos grew up in Miami, Florida as the only child of a single mother, Ana Maria Oleaga, who immigrated to the United States from the Dominican Republic. [7] [8] [9]
De Los Santos started her musical career at the age of 4 on the Spanish language television program Sabado Gigante as a regular cast member. According to an interview with DJ Vlad, De Los Santos was the only black girl on the cast [10] that the show has ever had in over 50 years. [2] After her 6-year run on Sabado Gigante, De Los Santos became a backup dancer for major Latin artists such as Celia Cruz and Tito Puente. [2]
During her teenage years, De Los Santos joined an all girl group named Amara. The group struggled to stay together and eventually split up. However, De Los Santos wanted to keep the name Amara and added the "La Negra", meaning "black girl" in Spanish, after the question was repeatedly asked "Who's the black girl of the group?" [11]
In 2013, she released the single "Ayy" which became a hit in the Latin market. [10] However, she has experienced difficulties being accepted in the industry of her home country due to her dark skin and afro, and was even parodied in blackface on the Dominican variety show Aquí Se Habla Español by former beauty queen Geisha Montes de Oca. [12] [13]
By 2015, De Los Santos was broke and spent three months homeless, she noted that she was washing her "ass in a freaking 24-hour McDonalds and Walgreens because I was embarrassed. I was already famous. I didn't want people to judge me or look at me in a different light because I had no money at that moment." [10]
In 2018, De Los Santos became one of the main cast members on VH1's Love & Hip Hop Miami . Her story line explores with colorism [14] and eurocentrism within the Latin community, which has garnered significant media attention. [15] [16] [17] The series chronicles her attempts to crossover to the mainstream American market. In the first season, she comes into conflict with light skinned Latino producer Young Hollywood after he criticizes her afro during a business meeting. [18] In the same year, De Los Santos landed a multi-album deal with BMG and then went on to release two singles, "Insecure" and "What A Bam Bam", which was the song that went on to hit the number 8 spot on Billboard's Latin Pop Digital Song Sales chart in March 2018. [19]
With the release of her debut studio album 'Unstoppable' in 2019, [20] De Los Santos performed at numerous venues across the United States and Latin America including 2019 Hispanic Heritage Awards, [21] 2019 Premios Juventud, Premio Lo Nuestro 2019, and co-hosted on the 2019 BET Live Experience with Safaree Samuels. [22] In the same year, De Los Santos appeared as lead role in the BET movie Fall Girls [23] directed by Chris Stokes in addition to acting in the Spanish language movie Bendecidas. [24]
In 2020, De Los Santos started a weekly Instagram show, where, together with her mother, she co-hosts a show called “Grind Pretty, My Mom is the Bomb” that highlights female entrepreneurs. [25] In describing the show, she noted that she defines "Grind Pretty as a great platform where women entrepreneurs, who have both small and big businesses, can come together and exchange ideas and help motivate each other and encourage collaboration.” [25] Also in 2020, De Los Santos teamed with tennis superstar Serena Williams in an online campaign to promote women. [26]
In October 2020, De Los Santos became the backstage correspondent on the Spanish-language competition show Tu cara me suena , airing on Univision. [27]
In April 2019, De Los Santos announced via Instagram that she is in a relationship with Bachata singer EmJay, [28] [29] who is the brother of Love & Hip Hop Miami co-star, Shay Johnson. She broke up with him in March 2020. In 2021, she announced she is pregnant with twin girls with her ex-Allan Muses. [30] She is currently dating and later, engaged to Love & Hip Hop co-star Safaree Samuels.
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
2018 | BET Experience Live | Herself | Host |
2018–2024 | Love & Hip Hop Miami | Herself | Main Cast |
2018 | Love & Hip Hop: Hollywood | Herself | 1 episode |
2018 | Most Expensivest | Herself | 1 episode |
2019, 2022 | Mira quién baila | Herself | Contestant; 2nd Place (season 7); Participating (season 11) |
2019 | Hip Hop Squares | Panelist | 2 episodes |
2019 | A Black Lady Sketch Show | Sydney | 1 episode |
2020 | Tu cara me suena | Herself | Backstage correspondent |
2022–2023 | VH1 Family Reunion: Love & Hip Hop Edition | Herself | Main cast (season 3) |
2023–present | Secretos de las indomables | Herself | Main cast [33] |
2024–present | Desiguales | Herself | Panelist |
Year | Title | Role |
---|---|---|
2018 | Bendecidas | Katya |
2019 | Fall Girls | Paige Davis |
Love & Hip Hop is a media franchise that consists of several reality television series broadcast on VH1. The shows document the personal and professional lives of several hip hop and R&B musicians, performers, managers, and record producers residing in various metropolitan areas of the United States. The original franchise version, Love & Hip Hop: New York, premiered on March 6, 2011. Its success resulted in spin-offs based in Atlanta, Hollywood, and Miami.
Love & Hip Hop: Atlanta is the second installment of the Love & Hip Hop reality television franchise. It premiered June 18, 2012, on VH1, and chronicles the lives of several people in Atlanta involved with hip hop music. The show features appearances from notable figures associated with Southern hip hop.
Love & Hip Hop: Hollywood is the third installment of the Love & Hip Hop reality television franchise. It premiered on September 15, 2014 on VH1 and chronicles the lives of several people in the Hollywood area, involved with hip hop music. The show features appearances from notable figures associated with West Coast hip hop.
Erica Jasmin Mena is an American actress, model, singer and video vixen. She is best known for her appearances in the Love & Hip Hop franchise from 2011 to 2023, particularly in the New York and Atlanta installments.
Safaree Lloyd Samuels is an American rapper. He began his musical career as part of the hip hop group Hoodstars in the early 2000s alongside rapper Nicki Minaj, with whom he would begin a heavily publicized relationship around the same time. In 2016, he joined the cast of the VH1 reality show Love & Hip Hop: Hollywood. In 2017, he moved back to his hometown of New York City and joined the cast of Love & Hip Hop: New York. He subsequently joined the casts of Love & Hip Hop: Atlanta and Love & Hip Hop: Miami, making him the only Love & Hip Hop cast member to have worked on all four shows.
Leave It to Stevie is a reality television series featuring American DJ/producer Stevie J. The show premiered on December 19, 2016, on VH1 and is the third spin-off of Love & Hip Hop: Atlanta.
Love & Hip Hop: Miami is the fourth installment of the Love & Hip Hop reality television franchise. It premiered on January 1, 2018, on VH1 and chronicles the lives of several people in the Miami area involved with hip hop music. The show features appearances from notable figures associated with Southern hip hop, as well as Latin music and reggaeton.
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The first season of the reality television series Love & Hip Hop: Miami aired on VH1 from January 1, 2018 until March 19, 2018. The show was primarily filmed in Miami, Florida. It is executive produced by Mona Scott-Young and Stephanie R. Gayle and co-executive produced by Maricarmen Lopez for Monami Entertainment, Toby Barraud, Stefan Springman, Mala Chapple, David DiGangi, Rick de Oliveira, Gilda Brasch and Alissa Horowitz for Eastern TV, and Nina L. Diaz, Liz Fine and Vivian Gomez for VH1.
Juliette "Juju" Castaneda is an American media personality, author, actress and businesswoman. She rose to prominence as a main cast member of the VH1 reality television series Love & Hip Hop: New York and she subsequently appeared as a supporting cast member on its spin-off show, Love & Hip Hop: Miami. Castaneda released her debut novel, Secrets of a Jewel, in January 2017.
The fifth season of the reality television series Love & Hip Hop: Hollywood aired on VH1 from July 23, 2018 until November 19, 2018. It was primarily filmed in Los Angeles, California. It is executively produced by Mona Scott-Young, Stephanie Gayle and Treiva Williams for Monami Entertainment, Toby Barraud, Stefan Springman, Dave Patry, David DiGangi, Rich Allen and Michael Lang for Eastern TV, and Nina L. Diaz, Liz Fine, Vivian Gomez and Jihoon Zun for VH1.
The second season of the reality television series Love & Hip Hop: Miami will aired on VH1 from January 2, 2019 until March 25, 2019. The show was primarily filmed in Miami, Florida. It is executive produced by Mona Scott-Young and Stephanie R. Gayle and co-executive produced by Maricarmen Lopez for Monami Entertainment, Toby Barraud, Stefan Springman, David DiGangi, Dave Patry, Rich Allen and Thomas Jaeger for Eastern TV, and Nina L. Diaz, Liz Fine, Vivian Gomez and Jihoon Zun for VH1.
The eighth season of the reality television series Love & Hip Hop: Atlanta aired on VH1 from March 25, 2019, until July 29, 2019. The season was primarily filmed in Atlanta, Georgia. It is executively produced by Mona Scott-Young and Stephanie R. Gayle for Monami Entertainment, Toby Barraud, Stefan Springman, David DiGangi, Jamail Shelton, Brian Schornak and Richard Allen for Eastern TV, and Nina L. Diaz and Vivian Gomez for VH1.
"What A Bam Bam" is a song recorded by Dominican-American singer Amara La Negra. It was released as a single on February 20, 2018, by Fast Life Entertainment Worldwide and BMG. The song was produced by DJ Mostwanted and features a sample by the reggae song "Bam Bam" by Sister Nancy. It peaked on Billboard at number 8 on the Latin Pop Digital Song Sales chart on March 3, 2018.
The third season of the reality television series Love & Hip Hop: Miami premiered on VH1 on January 6, 2020 until April 6, 2020. The show was primarily filmed in Miami, Florida and executive produced by Mona Scott-Young and Stephanie R. Gayle for Monami Entertainment and Dan Cesareo, Lucilla D'Agostino, Donna Edge Rachell, James Knox, Faith Gaskins and Brian Schornak for Big Fish Entertainment. Nina L. Diaz, Sitarah Pendelton, Lashan Browning and Phakiso Collins are executive producers for VH1.
Family Reunion: Love & Hip Hop Edition is an American reality television series featuring cast members from all four Love & Hip Hop cities. The series premiered on February 8, 2021, on VH1 as a crossover spin-off of Love & Hip Hop: New York, Love & Hip Hop: Atlanta, Love & Hip Hop: Hollywood and Love & Hip Hop: Miami.
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