Songfacts®:

• "Maria Maria" is loosely based on the play West Side Story, where the main character is named "Maria." In the song, Maria has moved to East LA and become a big Carlos Santana fan. She dreams of making the world a better place, and has won the heart of the singer.
  
  The song incorporates all the hallmarks of a Santana song: silky guitar licks, a love story, and a call for justice and equality. And also, lots of Latin flavor.
• Some Spanish words and phrases are peppered into the lyric, including this refrain sung by Carlos Santana, which roughly translates to "now I come, beautiful woman":
  
  Ahora vengo mama chula
  
  In 1999 many hit songs included some Spanish, but just enough to spice them up. One of the biggest hits that year was "Livin' La Vida Loca" by Ricky Martin, which seems Spanglish but really has just the three Spanish words in the entire lyric: "la vida loca."
• The vocals are by an R&B duo called Product G&B. Santana returned the favor in 2001 when he played on the track "Dirty Dancin'" from their first album, Ghetto And Blues. Unfortunately for Product G&B, the album was never released. They were signed to Arista Records (Santana's label), who decided not to release the album after putting out two singles from it that promptly tanked. Because it cost so much to promote and distribute an album, record companies would cut their losses by refusing to release records that didn't show promise, and the artists were then forced to distribute them through bootlegs or find another record company to pick it up. The unreleased album contained this song.
• Wyclef Jean produced this song with his cousin, Jerry Duplessis; they wrote it along with Carlos Santana, Product G&B, and two percussionists from Santana: drummer Karl Perazzo and Raul Rekow (Santana is a group, named after and led by Carlos). The Supernatural album is loaded with big-name guests brought in by Clive Davis of J Records, including Dave Matthews ("Love Of My Life") and Wyclef's Fugees bandmate Lauryn Hill ("Do You Like the Way"). Davis called in Wyclef to work on the project, and he brought along Duplessis and Product G&B, who were his protégés.
  
  Duplessis explained how the song came together in the Billboard Book Of #1 Hits. "We went to San Francisco and met with Carlos and we created the beat in less than three hours," he said. "All we need is an MPC and an SB 1200 drum machine and my bass guitar. I was at a drum machine creating the beat and Wyclef was on the keys getting a groove on. Soon we caught the vibe and said, 'Record it!'"
• "Maria Maria" was the third single from the Supernatural album, which introduced Santana to a new generation. They were huge in the late '60s and throughout the '70s, but started trailing off in the '80s and were inactive for most of the '90s until Clive Davis spearheaded the album. The first single was the Rob Thomas collaboration "Smooth," the biggest hit of 1999, with 12 weeks at #1 starting in October. The brooding "Put Your Lights On," featuring Everlast, was the next single, but it stalled at #118. "Maria Maria" brought Santana back to the top, with a 10-week run starting in April 2000. The album went on to sell over 15 million copies in America and many more worldwide.
• Marcus Raboy, who directed the "Smooth" video, was back behind the lens for "Maria Maria." In both videos, he used vivid saturation with lots of tight shots of Santana and outdoor scenes of young people dancing to the song. These videos were both modern enough for MTV and tame enough for VH1, helping the songs reach a huge audience.
• Wyclef Jean also lends vocals to the track, doing the intro at the beginning and a few ad libs throughout. He's a big part of the music video as well.
• The song won the 2000 Grammy for Best Pop Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocal. Santana won eight Grammys that year, including Album of the Year for Supernatural.
• Wyclef Jean remixed "Maria Maria" for the 2003 Santana album Ceremony: Remixes & Rarities.
• In 2007, Carlos Santana opened a chain of music-themed Mexican restaurants in Northern California called "Maria Maria," named after this song.
• In 2017, DJ Khaled, Rihanna, and Bryson Tiller joined forces to create the mega-hit "Wild Thoughts," drawing heavily from "Maria Maria." The track skyrocketed to the Top 10 in multiple countries and claimed the coveted #1 spot on the UK Singles chart.
  
  In 2023, the Dutch DJ and producer Tech It Deep dropped his slick "dance remake." That track made its way onto the UK singles chart, sparking a renewed interest in Santana's original track, which made a triumphant return to the UK singles tally. This time it peaked at #43.