Due to the heaviest Puerto Rican migration to New York City in the '50s, during the '70s, the birth of hip hop involved Latinos from the Caribbean islands.
This song went platinum, leading Mellow Man Ace to be described as the "Godfather of Latin rap" and inducted into the Hip Hop Hall of Fame inductee.
LA's Akwid fused banda with hip-hop on hits like "No Hay Manera" while Milwaukee's Kinto Sol told tales of Mexican immigrant life over more minimalist beats.
[7] East Coast Latin artists such as the Beatnuts emerged in the early 1990s, with New Jersey native Chino XL earning recognition for his lyricism and equal controversy for his subject matter.
The genre even spawned a bicultural novelty, the Brooklyn-based crew Hip Hop Hoodíos, who fused their dual Jewish and Latino cultures on songs like "Havana Nagila" and "Raza Hoodía."
Jonny Z is considered to be a pioneer of Latin hip-hop, due to him being one of the first Latinos combining Spanglish lyrics with freestyle, salsa, mambo, and regional Mexican banda.
The genre also found prominence with Latin alternative artists who fused hip-hop rhymes with live instrumentation, including rap-rockers Molotov and cumbia-rockers El Gran Silencio.
[10] Hip hop in Uruguay has had a significant presence since the late 1990s, with groups such as Sudacas en Guerra, Oeste Pro Funk, Plátano Macho and El Peyote Asesino.
Since then, numerous groups and artists have emerged on the Uruguayan hip hop scene, including Beat Urbano, Arrajatabla Flow Club & The Warriors, Magia Negra Squad, Primate and Cubaguayo, among others.
[11] Introduction: Since the late 1990s, Uruguay has witnessed the development of a thriving hip hop scene, marked by the contributions of early pioneers and a variety of influential groups.
This dance music genre, not to be confused with improvised freestyle rapping, was dominated, at the time, by electro funk beats and electronic Latin melodic and percussion elements, over which Latino vocalists sang melodramatic pop vocals, usually in English even though it was started by Nuyorican natives and African-Americans primarily.
"[26] A remixed version of Cardi B's hit single "Bodak Yellow" (which reached number one on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart), dubbed the "Latin Trap Remix", was officially released on August 18, 2017 and features Cardi B rapping in the Spanish language with Dominican hip hop recording artist Messiah contributing a guest verse.
[27][28][29] In November 2017, Rolling Stone wrote that "a surging Latin trap sound is responding to more recent developments in American rap, embracing the slow-rolling rhythms and gooey vocal delivery popularized by Southern hip-hop.