Chicano Rap - Early Years

Early Years

The first widely recognized Chicano Rap Artist was Kid Frost, whose 1990 debut album "Hispanic Causing Panic" driven by the hit single "La Raza" brought new attention to Chicano rappers in Hip Hop.

Cuban-American artist Mellow Man Ace was the first Latino artist to have a major bilingual single attached to his 1989 debut. Although Mellow Man often used Chicano slang as a result of his East Los Angeles upbringing, Kid Frost receives the credit as the first major Chicano rapper given Mellow Man was not of Mexican descent. Mellow Man, referred to as the "Godfather of Latin Rap", brought mainstream attention to Spanglish rhyming with his platinum single "Mentirosa", which was based on a riff from the song Evil Ways by Chicano Rock musician Carlos Santana. In 1991, Kid Frost, Mellow Man, A.L.T. and several other Latin rappers formed the group Latin Alliance and released a self-titled album which featured the hit "Lowrider (On the Boulevard)". In 1990, A.L.T. released the album "Another Latin Timebomb", featuring his hit remake of the song Tequila. In 1990, the Chicano hip hop group A Lighter Shade of Brown released their album Brown & Proud, which included hits "On a Sunday Afternoon" (a top 40 hit on the Billboard Hot 100) and "Latin Active". Cypress Hill, of which Mellow Man Ace was a member before going solo, is sometimes considered Chicano rap due to their use of popular Chicano slang and because they often reference Chicano culture in their music and videos, along with the fact that the lead rapper, B-Real, is of half Mexican descent. They were the first Latino rap group to reach platinum status, with Big Pun credited as the first Latino solo artist to reach platinum sales for an LP. Cypress Hill has also collaborated with another Chicano group, Psycho Realm, which is led by brothers Sick Jacken (Joaquin Gonzalez) and Big Duke (Gustavo Gonzalez).