It’s one of those early December nights in New York City that forewarn of the seasons’ harshness, and long after the workday is well over for most, The D.E.Y. are just warming up. At a wardrobe fitting for Batanga Latin Music magazine, The D.E.Y., a trio of urban-Latin eclectic artistes, fills the otherwise sterile conference room at Sony Epic with laughter … and mischief. As Élan, the group’s petite vocal powerhouse explains her love for Indian music (she has vocal training in the form), she playfully bursts into a Bollywood interlude, her lashes fluttering like petals on a daisy. “I think we’ve reached the point where we’ve gotten delirious!” she exclaims. Clearly, it’s been a looong day.

A security guard of Desi descent wanders in, lured by the echoes of Élan’s Hindi harmonizing. Yeyo, the blue-eyed, Miami-based bilingual MC and his cornrowed South Bronx-bred partner in rhyme, Divine, 25, see this as an opportunity to escape the confines of their chairs and join the randomness. The D.E.Y. are buggin’! But Yeyo soon puts a stop to the mayhem: “All right guys, asses back in the chair!” And just like that, The D.E.Y. are focused, man.

Making music is their life force and their aim is to “dent history” as el puro boricua Divine says. With his partners, Élan (who is Puerto Rican, African-American) and Yeyo (who is a Puerto Rican-Cuban combo) they already are. As the first bilingual group signed to a major label it would be foolish of the industry to sleep on their rare brand of fusion, one where all the elements are decipherable yet inseparable.

This vital symbiosis is at the heart of their work. The D.E.Y.’s sound is as dynamic as their energy, a frenetic game of pinball –– a wild ricocheting of rhythms, cultures, harmonies and flows. Their debut album, The D.E.Y. Has Come, scheduled to hit shelves this Spring, features production by hitmakers J.R. Rotem, Timbaland, Stargate, as well as

Yeyo –– half of it was recorded in his Miami studio — comes correct. On the sexy “Dame un Momento,” Élan channels both Asha Bhonsle and Christina Aguilera on what could best be described as a Bronx bhangra. “Bendecida Mi Nación,” has some serious tumbao as Marc Anthony’s stellar band plays on the track. Having written or co-written all of the songs on their album, the trio’s first effort is a true reflection of their diverse talents.

Above all else, The D.E.Y.’s sound is not for the faint of flavor. Though they’ve been together two and a half years, their accomplishments thus far speak volumes, a testament to their artistic agility and kaleidoscopic qualities. In addition to shining on the remix to Paula DeAnda’s “Walk Away,” they performed at the 2007 Latin Alternative Music Conference, were MTV Tr3s’ Descubre & Download featured artist this past December and most recently reinterpreted “Triste y Vacía” for the star-studded Tributo Urbano a Hector Lavoe.

The D.E.Y. recognizes that who and what they represent, in addition to the music they make, possess a certain je ne sais quois. “It’s like the evolution of music,” Yeyo explains. “Élan and Divine are from a port city [New York], the same as Puerto Rico and Miami. Latin music influenced the United States, but it’s influenced a lot of musicians around the world. And American music and world music have infiltrated Latin America. I think it’s just natural that music evolves into something new, taking from all these different genres that we have all been influenced by, not just as three individuals, but as a community.” The ever-rhythmic Divine, true to form, jumps in. “[Our music] is love, peace and happiness,” he adds. “It’s the hustle, the bustle and the beauty. It’s yesterD.E.Y., toD.E.Y. and tomorrow!”

Before becoming The D.E.Y., each member was involved in other endeavors but their experiences were all paths that inevitably led them to each other. For years, prior to meeting in Puerto Rico, Divine and Yeyo optimized their MC skills –– which resonate from the South Bronx to South Beach to San Juan. Divine advanced in his way with words as a member of the People's Army Collective, who counts dead prez and Saigon among it’s members. Later he became a frequent contributor to Yerba Buena, co-writing their hit “Guajira (I Love You Too Much)” earning him a Grammy nod for his songwriting prowess. Yeyo, who has been rapping since the age of 13, was a founding member of the Shanghai Assassinz, one of the first hip-hop groups on la isla. In 1999, Divine moved to the island to help his family and relentlessly worked the open mic circuit when he discovered Yeyo's video for "Viequez." On this track, Yeyo, the son of a Cuban revolutionary, lashed out against the U.S. naval occupation of the island. Having familial roots in Vieques, the song struck a chord with Divine, and as the story goes, he just had to meet him. In 2000 they became a team — two MCs on the same mission: to make real music — but with two very different approaches.

“I bring the lost art of first creating a flow,” Divine says of his brand of MC’ing. “I bring that old school, in the Bronx, talking about something in my flow that fits the aggression or my mood. I like to call it ––‘conscious gangsta.’” Yeyo raps in English and Spanish. His lyrical strength resides in the latter, but his dexterity between both languages is seamless. “People tell me that when I rap, it sounds like it’s in English –– ‘cause of the flow,” Yeyo says. “My flow is something I take great pride in –– not just the substance but how I deliver it. I put some tone in my voice. That has kinda’ become my trademark. I’m sonando –– like a mixture between rap and sonando.”

Élan was what the two rhymesmiths needed –– an organic female presence, at once powerful and pixyish. The group’s chanteuse has been in the biz for about 15 years and has worked and recorded all over the world, including studio time with Britney Spears, Ricky Martin and a Broadway run as “Cookie” in Paul Simon’s The Capeman.

Violator A&R man Anthony Ramirez, the man who brought Daddy Yankee stateside, orchestrated their union. Divine explains that Ramirez loved his work, but he knew he couldn’t do it without his right hand man. “[I told him I had] a partner,” Divine says. “‘His name is Yeyo, and we’ve been trying to do this for a long time.’ He was with it.” The record exec would formally introduce Élan to the duo, but fate intervened first. “We were all performing [as solo acts] at Miami’s Soulfrito Music festival,” Divine recalls. “I met [Élan] on the airplane and we kicked it real quick. When Anthony tells me that he had a girl for the group –– I knew it was her.”

And thus, The D.E.Y. was born. Their debut single, “Give You the World” which dropped last fall, is a take on “Fantasy” by Earth, Wind & Fire, just one of the group’s many inspirations which is a roster filled with musical icons. Divine credits Tupac, Big Pun and Ismael Rivera as inspirations, while Élan looks to Stevie Wonder, Musiq Soulschild, Björk, Indian composer/producer A.R. Rahman, Patti LaBelle and world artist/electric harpist Andreas Vollenweider. Yeyo, who comes from a musical family, sees his percussionist father and singer mother as his musical raices. But his biggest influence, hands down, is Bob Marley. “His music transcended every culture, race, generation and language,” Yeyo says. “He expressed emotions and situations that every person on earth could identify with. That's what I want to do with The D.E.Y.'s music!”

Transcendence is the name of the game for The D.E.Y. and, perhaps, their ultimate mission statement. For them, it is not enough to make it big on the East Coast or the West Coast but all coasts — they aim for universality.

“[Our] music is not just [New York],” Élan says. “We’re trying to do it everywhere. So if we’re talking sociopolitical [on the track “Que Vamos a Hacer?”], we want people to understand it. This is a world album.”

“We keep it universal,” Yeyo continues. “If you can identify with me in another country … I think it’s more powerful. We can really see that we’re all the same people and stop this separation and this ignorance to each other’s situations.

“We don’t create music that’s fabricated,” Divine adds. “We tell it how it is and how it could be. Straight up. We don’t sell a lot of smoke and mirrors. When we make a song, it comes from our heart or it’s inspired by something relevant that needs to be addressed.”

Clearly, for The D.E.Y., music is more than music — it is indeed a complete lifestyle, one which has informed their passion for flashin’ and fashion –– as they see themselves in, and take sartorial cues from, hitmakers of the past and present.

“I’m a mixture of Fela Kuti and street hustler, mixed with …” says Divine, clad in a smoky gray wifebeater and wooden beads, searching for the right person. “Don Magic Juan!” Yeyo butts in. As they all laugh, Divine finishes his thought: “I’m gonna say someone like Pharrell–like a Fela-Pharrell-Diddy.”

Yeyo, rocking a fresh Tee and jeans, is not wearing his signature (and preferred) guayabera and linens, but on any other day, he’d be channeling his fashion icon, “the super Spanish pimped out” Cheo Feliciano. “Cheo, he might have worn some sandals, but he was pimped out – three-piece suit.” Yeyo says. “Crazy with the hat, he was just looking sexy.”

The earthy Élan, donning luxe, woolen winter vintage, goes for something a la “I’m every woman”: “I respect Björk and Gwen Stefani ‘cause they take chances with their artistry. [Gwen] is an overall innovator. [Bollywood actress] Madhuri Dixit – a beautiful woman, dancing, not too skinny, with gorgeous embellishments all over them – I think Indian beauty is great…”

After such a comprehensive namedropping session, the trio, which has been relentlessly likened to The Fugees, goes on without mention of the legendary hip-hop outfit. So how do they feel about all the comparisons?

“We love it,” Élan says.

“We got Wyclef’s blessing and Pras’s blessing,” Divine says. “The Fugees sold [millions of] copies. They changed music. I know we have a classic album. So if we can sell worldwide what The Fugees sold – then I’m with it.”

But the group, who dreams of working with artists like Janet Jackson, Marc Anthony, Snoop Dogg, Ice Cube and Jose Feliciano, has learned from the missteps of their predecessors. “Groups split the same as marriages,” Élan says. “Some make it, some force themselves to stay together for what they think is the bigger picture. I think groups [like The Fugees] are at their best when they are having fun ... People naturally want to do other things once they have been successful at one. If we understand this and give each other the space to do as we wish, [The D.E.Y.] will always have the respect and the love to continue doing music and working together.”

It’s good to know that The D.E.Y. are also aiming for longevity in addition to the one thing they’ve intently and meticulously crafted, and essentially guaranteed for themselves: a legacy.

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