Don Dinero

The first major American-born, Spanish-rapping hip-hop artist to make the major-label jump and find widespread commercial acceptance, Don Dinero was one of a kind -- for a moment, that is, before a legion of followers like Pitbull followed in his footsteps and likewise found an eager market for stateside Spanish-language rap. Granted, stateside Latino rappers such as Cypress Hill, Lil Rob, Nore, and Big Punisher had preceded Dinero by years, and south of the border there long had been plenty of Spanish-language rap, for instance the Mexican hardcore rap of Control Machete or the massive reggaeton movement. But Dinero was different: he was an American who rapped in en español for Spanish-speaking Americans, which set him apart from his aforementioned predecessors and made him a unique presence in the hip-hop world -- and also earned him much respect from American Latinos, who felt he was rapping for them, not for a crossover audience as his American predecessors had.

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