Rappers Talk Latin Trap At Billboard Latin Music Conference

Trap music – rooted in the ’90s underside of Atlanta – is a sub-genre of rap music traditionally marked by lyrics concerning violence and the drug enterprise. But it is also notably married to an 808 beat, which Dominican rapper Messiah El Artista pointed out at this year’s Billboard Latin Music Conference, so as to not confuse the alternative.

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Day 2’s “Latin Trap Panel” featured a bevy of rappers and producers from all over Latin America, including Bad Bunny, Bryant Myers and Farruko, to speak on the topic of Latin trap music, its origins and surrounding politics. Is Latin trap just trap music in Spanish—en español?

One thing’s for sure: Latin trap music – with origins in Puerto Rico, Colombia, and even Cuba – isn’t all that new. Apart from the likes of Messiah and Anuel AA, who’ve been making this kind of music for years now, Farruko points out that trap has always been the vehicle through which he and many like him best expressed their realities.

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“With trap, I’m afforded the liberty to express myself how I need to express myself, so that the public, those listening to my music, can gain access to reality,” he followed up after explaining why he felt boxed in by reggaeton. “[Trap] is the rebirth of what will give new generations of artists a future.” Thanks to the Internet and a new crop of Latino trap artists, the genre has been growing exponentially, and shows no sign of slowing down.