The first dramatic production to use the term was a 2001 telefilm by MTV, titled Carmen: A Hip Hopera.
The film featured Beyoncé Knowles, as well as other rappers and modern musicians, and was renowned as "the first hip hop musical.
"[4] Rome & Jewel, a 2006 Rennie Harris film is another hip hop rendition of William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet.
Aguirre, channeling his own personal experience and youth as a minority, is using musical expression as a form of therapy.
Theater critic Steven Oxman gave his feedback on Carmen: A Hip Hopera, stating "Carmen is MTV's first 'Hip Hopera', and while that phrase may be way too cute for its own good, this reworking of Bizet's opera into a contemporary, hip-hop musical works quite well, and represents one of the more original recent efforts to create a new form from an old one.