Any rap pundit knows the Bronx is the birthplace of hip-hop, but fewer are aware of just how big a role Latin residents of ‘70s-era New York played in the genre’s expansion. Puerto Rican immigrants dwelling in the big city brought the style back to their island, where it got the tropical treatment. There, Vico C became its pioneer and earned the title Father of Latin Hip-Hop. Mixtapes and bootlegs made their way across the Spanish-speaking world, planting the first seeds of rap. Spanish wordsmiths became early adopters of lyrical rap, with SFDK, Tote King and Violadores del Verso spitting hard-hitting bars at the forefront of the scene. Mexico inherited a kind of fusion hip-hop through El Gran Silencio’s sardonic rap-rock banter and Bocafloja’s socially conscious flow. Latinos in the U.S. shook things up too, like the humorous debauchees of SoCal’s Cypress Hill, who in 2019 became the first Latino rap group to earn a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.