They were exposed to a wide variety of music from a young age as their father Miguel had a large collection of records ranging from salsa and local chirimia bands to Western pop such as Michael Jackson[1][2] and Gloria has said that her nickname "Goyo" comes from the fact that as a girl she loved listening to her father's records, in particular "Goyito Sabater" by the Puerto Rican band El Gran Combo - she sang along to the song so often that her family started calling her "Goyito", which was later shortened to "Goyo".

[3] Their father, Miguel, was from a musical family: his cousin was Jairo Varela, founder of Grupo Niche, one of Colombia's best known salsa bands.

As Colombia's major Pacific port the town saw a lot of trade coming in from the US, and the Martínez children started to hear American hip hop music from Los Angeles and other parts of the US, brought by the sailors on the ships.

[2] Having graduated from school in Buenaventura, Gloria moved to Cali to study psychology at university, while also becoming involved in the city's fledgling underground hip hop scene.

The politically charged song is a "spirited lament of the hard-luck life: multinationals and corrupt politicians get rich off gold and platinum; poor blacks get run off their land by illegal militias.

Richard Blair, producer of Oro, commented on the nomination by saying, "To get some official recognition, and from outside of Colombia at that, is almost the first time in 400 years that someone has recognized the people from Choco for something other than slavery and gold mines and corruption.

"[5] Following the success of "De Donde Vengo Yo" at the Latin Grammys[6] the band signed with Sony Music Colombia to support its follow-up album Eso Es Lo Que Hay.

[7] The group's third album, Eso Es Lo Que Hay, was released on Sony Music in November 2011, and was produced by Andrés Castro and Slow.

[citation needed] In November 2017, the band signed with Sony Music Latin during a ceremony in Miami, and planned to release an album entitled Sin Miedo in 2018.

[18] In January 2018, the group collaborated with American pianist Arthur Hanlon on the single "No Tuve La Culpa", which peaked at number 25 on the Billboard Tropical Airplay chart.

[19] The group mixes the modern sounds of hip-hop with more traditional Colombian genres such as salsa, Latin jazz, and coastal rhythms, utilizing instruments such as congas, timbales, bongos, and trumpets.

[8][20] Billboard writer Leila Cobo describe's the band by saying, "Chocquibtown hails from Colombia's rural Pacific coast, but honed its sound in Cali, a gritty city, and one can hear both in the trio's music: a melange of hip-hop, reggaeton, electronica, ska, Afro-Latin rhythms and rapper-singer Goyo Martinez's soulful charisma.

[23] Songs such as "Oro" and "De Donde Vengo Yo" discuss exploitation of Choco's natural resources where minerals and other materials were extracted, leaving nothing for the region's inhabitants.

Through their music and success, ChocQuibTown provide hope that even someone coming from such a difficult area can overcome the hardships of life and achieve international fame.

"[11] In the band's lyrics and interviews, the members of ChocQuibTown have been openly critical of institutionalized racism in Colombia that they feel is often unacknowledged in Colombian society.