Puerto Rican hip-hop

Puerto Rican hip-hop or Puerto Rican rap (also referred to as rap/hip-hop locally or hip-hop en Español in Spanish) is an underground subgenre of hip-hop music and conscious hip-hop that originated in Puerto Rico. At its peak in the late 1980s and early 1990s, it was one of the most popular styles of underground music in Puerto Rico sold by the mixtape. Puerto Rican hip-hop during its ascension in the late 1980s, and even during its earliest form, explored and touched on taboo and non-taboo societal themes in Puerto Rico like drug abuse, rising crime, governmental corruption, STDs, and sexual abuse. Due to its local relative niche and factors early on in the 1990s, it did not experience as much commercial success on par as other more popular Latin contemporary music such as reggaeton.

The first ever Puerto Rican hip-hop song to go on the local radio, TV, and vinyl oficially was the single "Las Drogas Matan" (1987) by D-Squad (Don Figgaro) and DJ Baron Lopez. However, it wasn't the first Puerto Rican hip-hop song as earlier artists had pioneered it a biennium before. Vico C is the pioneer of Puerto Rican hip-hop. He was also the first to pioneer the modern urbano genre, reggaeton, with "Bomba Para Afincar" from his hip-hop album Hispanic Soul circa 1991. Vico C set the first ever Puerto Rican hip-hop song with the making of "El Rapeo del Vikingo", recorded and distributed the same year, 1985, at 14 years old. Inspired by Run DMC and Sugar Hill, in 1984 he formalized his career by calling himself Vico, adding the 'C' just as a novelty. Although he had already gained popularity with Viernes 13' alongside Rubén DJ, it was with La Recta Final that he became the number-one rapper in Puerto Rico.