It started out as an ode to Pittsburgh, but a pair of Washington Heights actors have transformed a popular rap song into an uptown Manhattan anthem that’s gone viral.
Michael Diaz, 33, and Oscar Martinez, 24, released their comedic spoof video, “Pan Con Queso,” (bread with cheese) and it’s picked up nearly 200,000 views on YouTube since debuting earlier this month.
Diaz and Martinez, who perform under the alias “Juan Bago and O,” came up with the spoof in response to Pittsburgh rapper Wiz Khalifa‘s chart-topping song, “Black and Yellow.” Khalifa’s song pays tribute to his hometown using the colors of their sports team.
“We wanted to kind of duplicate that, and show Washington Heights in a positive light,” Diaz told the Daily News.
Pan con queso, he explained, is a popular breakfast food or snack in the Latino culture.
“We wanted to make it comedic…It’s a comedy spoof, like something you would see on ‘SNL,'” he said, admitting they committed the Milli Vanilli crime of lip-synching. “It’s not a secret that we lip-synch.”
The three-minute Spanish language video, about two guys obsessed with bread and cheese and coffee – also known as cafecito – provides a quick tour of Washington Heights.
It was shot inside the restaurant El Presidente on Broadway and on the rooftop of the Bridge Apartments. There are also glimpses of Duarte Square, Wadsworth Ave. and W. 177th St.
“That’s the beauty of it,” he said. “Everyone who created it is from here, in front of the camera and behind the camera.”
The local spoof is just the latest recreation of the rap song that has reached No. 1 on Billboard charts. Lil’ Wayne released “Green and Yellow” in support of the Green Bay Packers. There’s also a Japanese version, “Red and White,” and another spoof called “Ramen Noodles.”
Khalifa has heard the uptown remix and recently commented on the wave of reincarnations of his hit song.
“I like all the remixes. There’s like a Dominican remix,” he told Fader TV. “It makes the record bigger every time. It gives it like new life when people remix it.”
Diaz hopes the popularity will continue to spread. He already has plans to get the song on iTunes, and hopes to get the video aired on television in the Dominican Republic.
On Sunday, Dominican Republic Independence Day, the viral superstars will perform their smash hit for the first time at S.O.B.’s in SoHo.
But Diaz’s biggest dream is that the video will get played on George Lopez‘s TBS show, “Lopez Tonight.”
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Daily News
BY MICHAEL J. FEENEY