Latin Hip Hop - Early Latinos in Hip Hop Music

Early Latinos in Hip Hop Music

According to B.Boy Omega, a writer for The Source, the first Latino in hip hop music was DJ Disco Wiz, a product of a Puerto Rican father and a Cuban mother who was born in The Bronx. DJ Disco Wiz, along with Casanova Fly (Grandmaster Caz), formed the pioneering Mighty Force Crew from 183rd Street and Valentine Avenue in the mid-1970s. Later on they both were joined by the first Latino MC,to rap in English Prince Whipper Whip, a Puerto Rican. Whip, unlike Wiz was exclusively an MC; Wiz was a DJ too. Casanova Fly (Grandmaster Caz) would rap and DJ at the same time.

Since hip hop was experienced primarily via audio and not by video, most people never knew that DJ Disco Wiz was Puerto Rican and Cuban until they saw him. As explained by Kevie Kev in the book Yes Yes Yall, Prince Whipper Whip felt it necessary to keep his Afro-Puerto Rican background a secret in order to gain more positive acceptance. The audience perception of Whip as a Black-American made Rubie Dee the first public Puerto Rican MC according to the book. After DJ Disco Wiz, the second Puerto Rican DJ was an ex-salsa bassist turned DJ named Charlie Chase, who became the DJ along with DJ Tony Tone for the Cold Crush Brothers.

Another early rap group with all Latino members was La Familia, formed in 1980. La Familia member Roski began rapping live entirely in Spanish in 1981.

In 1981 a group called The Mean Machine released a 12" single on Sugar Hill Records called "Disco Dream" which was the first rap record to emphasize Spanglish. In the same year The Sugar Hill Gang featured a solo by Tito Puente on "The Sugar Hill Groove". DJ and producer Tony Touch also mentions (in an interview on blackmagazine.it) the track "Spanglish" by Spanish Fly & The Terrible 2, came out in the same year on Enjoy Records but was not as well known.

In the early to mid-1980s quite a few Latin-Caribbean rappers and DJ's hit the scene. Producer and DJ Master OC and The Devastating Tito were both a part of The Fearless Four. The Master OC was also the producer of another crew named The Fantasy 3 which featured another Puerto Rican MC named Charlie Rock. Both of these crews were from Harlem. Out of the East New York section of Brooklyn came Prince Markie Dee of The Fat Boys, who later went on to produce Mary J. Blige; and Wise, the beat box from Stetsasonic. Both were Puerto Rican; as was Super Lover Cee from the Astoria Projects in Queens. Like Whipper Whip; Markie, Wise and Super Lover Cee's ethnic heritage was not that well known. Other lesser known MCs and DJs included Johnny Rock, DJ Candido, DJ Muscle and DJ Shiz(today known as B.Boy Omega) who were all Puerto Ricans from The Bronx, while Mr. L of the TDR crew was half Puerto Rican and half Dominican. DJ Dr. Dust along with his DJ partner and cousin DJ Duran from the Bronx are considered to be the first Dominican DJs in Hip-Hop (documented in The BX Factor magazine in 1996). Of Brazilian heritage, Breez Evahflowin from the Hell's Kitchen section of Manhattan, and is most famous as a member of the Stronghold Crew is the first MC in hip hop with parents from Brazil.