By Emmanuel Espinal and Nelson Santana
Spetember 8, 2025
Lea en español: Chimbala conquista Fortnite con «Che Che» y lleva el dembow dominicano al mundo gamer
· 🔹 Chimbala's track “Che Che” is now an official emote in Fortnite, one of the world’s most popular video games.
· 🔹 The viral movement was captured by Dominican dancer @luis.manuel23_, who created the original choreography.
· 🔹 The song has over 258,338,202 million views on YouTube and millions of streams on Spotify.
· 🔹 This achievement marks a cultural milestone: a street rhythm born in Santo Domingo is now being danced on global virtual stages.
SANTO DOMINGO — What began as an irresistible rhythm in Dominican neighborhoods now conquers the planet’s most influential digital platforms. Urban artist Leury José Tejeda Brito, globally recognized as Chimbala, has achieved something extraordinary: his hit track “Che Che” has been integrated into the Fortnite universe after being selected as an official emote for the video game.
The choreography, created by Dominican @luis.manuel23_, was transformed through motion capture technology to become one of the game’s new gestures, available for 500 V-Bucks in the digital store. This incorporation is part of the Icon Series, a select category that has featured major artists like J Balvin, The Kid LAROI, and Travis Scott.
For numerous young Dominicans and dembow followers, this triumph transcends a commercial collaboration: it represents global recognition of the cultural impact of Dominican urban music. Instead of resonating only in corner stores or vehicles with powerful sound systems, “Che Che” now plays —and is danced— in gaming sessions by millions of gamers from New York to Tokyo.
“Toy contentón. Muy calentón...Mi mujer me dio un botón... y to' mi ropa la tiró por el balcón" (I’m happy. Very hot...My woman threw me out... and threw all my clothes off the balcony), proclaims the catchy chorus of the song, which was already a TikTok phenomenon before transforming into a digital gesture. With provocative verses and an unmistakable beat, Chimbala preserves his authentic style, bringing the essence of the Dominican barrio to a completely new stage: the gaming world.
On social media, followers reacted immediately. Videos of Fortnite avatars dancing to the beat of “Che Che” flooded the platforms, accompanied by messages of pride at seeing the Dominican flag represented —even symbolically— within a game that mobilizes more than 400 million users worldwide.
What does this represent for Dominican music? This type of integration marks a new phase of cultural export, where the urban and popular no longer limits itself to the national level, but transforms into globally-reaching content. If “Che Che” can jump from the barrio to battle royale, how many other rhythms originating from the Caribbean are ready to make the same leap?