Think “Latinas in hip-hop,” and you also’re very likely to conjure up pictures of curvaceous movie vixens than rappers slaying it — however the the fact is Latinos have actually existed in hip-hop from the inception. The music and dance bears as much resemblance to African-American styles like blues and jazz as it does to Puerto Rican musical forms like bomba and plena in fact, as hip-hop scholar Raquel Z. Rivera reminds us in her book New York Ricans From the Hip-Hop Zone. Fundamentally, hip-hop culture is inherently Puerto Rican culture.

A lot more than four years following its genesis, Latinas of varied nationwide and social identities have actually already been an integral part of hip-hop. From rappers like Trina and Hurricane G to Latin-American designers like Ana Tijoux and Arianna Puello to reggaetoneras like Ivy Queen to graffiti musicians like Maria “TooFly” Castillo, and DJs like Angie Martinez and Jasmine Solano, Latinas could be related to every section of the tradition. Listed here are simply eight up-and-coming Latina rappers deserving your instant attention.

1. Nitty Scott, MC

Being an unsigned, independent musician, 24-year-old Nitty Scott, MC, has headlined her very own national tour, done into the cypher in the BET hip-hop prizes and, of late, had been endorsed by Sprite within an NBA All-Star campaign. A poet-turned-rapper, Nitty’s rhymes — about psychological state, intimate punishment, and women empowerment — are poetry-driven, just what she calls “conscious storytelling.” The Rican that is half-Puerto Brooklyn emcee’s strongest musical impacts consist of designers like Mos Def, Stevie Nicks, and Sam Cooke.

Pay attention to her mixtape: The Art of Chill

2. Zuzuka Poderosa

Zuzuka Poderosa’s musical design can be diverse once the numerous places she calls house. Created and raised in Brazil, the half-Indonesian Brasilena’s desire for music came early with freestyle and Miami bass. As a teenager, she relocated along with her mom into the Cayman isles, where she had been introduced to reggae and dancehall. In Jamaica, Queens, where Zuzuka Poderosa relocated after senior high school to russian-brides examine jazz vocal improvisation, she fell so in love with ’90s hip-hop. Since that time, she is been combining these art kinds with her baile funk vocals. Seeing her musical mixture of rap and party additionally as a type of social justice, Zuzuka Poderosa told Cosmopolitan.com She wants her music to make you think about racism and colonialism that she doesn’t just want your hips to shake.

Watch her movie: “Seda”

3. Bia Landrau

Bia Landrau started waves that are making 2014, featuring as you of five rappers on Oxygen’s truth television series Sisterhood of rap. Signed with Pharrell Williams’s label, I will be DIFFERENT, Bia makes music that is true to her experience growing up Puerto Rican in Boston. Her influences that are musical from Jay Z , Foxy Brown, M.I.A., and Aaliyah, to Selena, Ivy Queen, Tego Calderon, and Cosculluela.

Watch her video clip: “La Tirana”

4. Nani Castle

Dubbed the “Frida Kahlo & Zach de la Rocha for the rap game,” Nani Castle is just a lyricist that is young of Staten Island. She states growing up Chilean-American in Shaolin had been isolating — outside of her home, she never ever came across anyone from the island like her — so she invested lots of time alone playing her bro’s hip-hop, her dad’s Latin and records that are indigenous and her Irish-American mom’s stone and heart music. She spits rough, venomous pubs over party beats, and, being a self-described educator, is exactly about bringing light to disregarded and misrepresented problems.

Pay attention to her mixtape: The Amethyst Tape

5. Snow Tha Item

Mexican-American rapper Snow Tha Product started rapping whenever she ended up being 16. Ten years later, Snow has been on tour, doing within the cypher in the BET hip-hop honors and songs that are landing the VH1 series Hit The Floor. Through her music, Snow is designed to bring light to your Mexican-American experience with California, help break tired stereotypes of all of the Latinos being gardeners and housekeepers, and lastly place the misconception for the “taco rapper” to sleep. Pointing to Big Pun, Lauryn Hill, El General, and Celia Cruz as a number of her major musical impacts, Snow views her type of rap as dyadic, which range from celebration songs to upset freestyles.

6. Danay Suarez

Cuban rapper Danay Suarez has done with hip-hop pioneers Public Enemy before a gathering in excess of 100,000 people, most of them performing her songs. But Danay would not make reference to that concert of a very long time as her biggest minute in hip-hop. Rather, she states that her greatest joys result from seeing the rips inside her fans’ faces and once you understand she impacted their everyday lives in a positive method. Hailing from Havana, Danay’s noise infuses hip-hop, jazz, and Cuban music.

Watch her movie: “Yo Aprendi”

7. Aye Yo Smiley

Washington, D.C.-based rapper Aye Yo Smiley describes her style as hybrid hip-hop. Growing up Peruvian-American when you look at the ’90s straight impacted her musically with rappers like popular and D.C. artist Logic inspiring Aye Yo Smiley up to playing her dad’s boleros, Selena, TLC, additionally the Spice Girls did. Each noise aided her develop a mode of rap that is at the same time hip-hop, pop music, and R&B.

Watch her video clip: “Too Busy”

8. Maluca Mala

Dominican-American Maluca Mala’s music can be diverse as the populous town she calls house: nyc. She describes her musical style as “ghetto-techno, Latin-dance, hip-hop, rave music,” — probably not just exactly what many people imagine once they think about a Dominican musician. But Maluca is about defying stereotypes. Beyond music, the self-described artista atrevida’s personal design and message shatter prevalent images of Latinas. Her fashion design is much more “banjee woman, neo-rave, and tribal” than Jenny through the block, while songs like “Vernaculo” provide a crucial message concerning the beauty industry.

Watch her video: “Vernaculo”