NPR Alt-Latino: How Hip-Hop Changed Latin Music Forever

by JASMINE GARSD

February 21, 2014

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47 min 3 sec

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Rapper Bocafloja is a pioneer of Mexican hip-hop.

Thomas De Los Santos/Courtesy of the artist

This month on Alt.Latino, we're celebrating Black History Month — and this week, that means diving into a genre that's near and dear to our heart: Latin hip-hop. We play hip-hop often, and have our favorite artists, but this week we get to go deep alongside Latin music blogger Juan Data, as well as a pioneer of Mexican hip-hop, rapper Bocafloja. Together, we discuss how hip-hop trickled into Latin America, changing our music scene forever.

And, since this week we're all about hip-hop, now is a good time for a special announcement: We're about to head to SXSW to participate in the inaugural SXAmericas, a series of events geared to connect U.S. Latino and Latin American technology, music and film-industry thought leaders. We'll host an intimate chat with French-Chilean rapper Ana Tijoux at the SXSW Convention Center in Austin, Texas, on Thursday, March 13. Hope to see you there!