Fat Joe & NORE Join Latin & Hip-Hop Groups: Latin Music Week 2024

Hip-hop legends NORE (of fame with duo Capone-N-Noreaga) and Fat Joe teamed up during Billboard Latin Music Week 2024 for a captivating conversation about the intersection of Latin and hip-hop.

Chat by Jesus TrivinoTIDAL Senior Director of Industry Relations and Global Latin Culture and Content, focuses on the similarities between reggaeton and hip-hop and the roles they played in pushing the genre into the American mainstream.

Here are some of the best quotes from the Latinx/Hip-Hop Intersection panel:

Noel: when he first heard reggae music. “I had a party in Puerto Rico and I thought it was sold out, but it was Tego Calderon’s show and he didn’t show up. I heard reggaeton music and thought what is that? It sounded like ‘boom boom’ Mom, mom.” I was like, is that Spanish reggaeton? This music is played all over Puerto Rico. The radio in New York isn’t playing it, so how do I change that? So I kept asking DJs to play it [on the radio]. I think the best way to help this music is to sacrifice yourself.

Fat Joe: His interactions with General El. “Vico C he’s not reggaeton he’s hip hop because of him I heard El General from Panama. I tried to charge El General [something] He cursed me. It was through him that I first heard reggaeton, and then Puerto Rico exploded, and the people who paved the way were Daddy Yankee, Don Omar, Tego, Ivy Queen, Wisin y Yandel.

Fat Joe: About the similarities between reggae and hip-hop. “Hip-hop is the birth of it all. If you want to learn something here, it’s that hip-hop started it all. A lot of the stuff you see in reggaeton and Latin hip-hop we’ve seen before, from fashion to trends , now Latin trap and trap from Atlanta, hip-hop and reggaeton coexist.

Noel: On the influence of “Oye Mi Canto”. “Never in a million years would people support this. When you listen to this song, you become Latino in three minutes. The record company didn’t want to get behind this record, but when it hit 500 rpm they Just did it. I can say the first reggae song on MTV was mine. Daddy Yankee left it on a documentary he just released. Oye Mi Canto,” I don’t know why. I sacrificed my community for it.

Fat Joe: Recording reggae music. “They used to offer me millions of dollars to play reggae, but I’m hip-hop and I couldn’t do that because it looked like I was a wannabe. But I would do anything for him (NORE). I was like, “Are you sure you want to do reggae? “I like the feel of them, and it makes me feel more of my Latino side,” he said. “I was like, OK, I’m with you. He’s a legend. I work with reggae artists all the time. I’m the guy behind this mixtape Borica Guerrero But when I put the reggae guys on the mixtape, some people said, “Oh, Fat Joe doesn’t like reggae.” We embraced reggae music from day one.

Noel: About his place in reggae history. “When I started doing reggae, I had to fly to these artists, which was a great experience. R. Kelly was working on a gospel album at the time, and I thought, maybe it’s my turn to test what I’ve created. Powerful. I claim that it was me who brought reggae music to America.

Billboard Latin Music Week 2024 and the 2024 Billboard Latin Music Awards will air on Telemundo on Sunday, October 20 at 9pm ET. It will be available simultaneously on the Universo, Peacock and Telemundo apps, and in Latin America and the Caribbean through Telemundo Internacional.