but what about us latinos? we ve been here in this city, and we ve got every kind of latino. you want your puerto ricans? wepa. you want your cubans? dale! dominicans? que lo que tigre. colombianos? todo bien, todo bien. mexicanos? no manches, guey. and this is where i grew up, too. and when i was a kid, i don t know what the streets were paved with, but it damn sure as hell was not gold. but that didn t stop latinx new yorkers from making big contributions. basquiat, rita moreno puerto rican. cardi b dominican. supreme court justice sotomayor, nuyorican from the bx. even the very first non-indigenous person to live and work in the island of manhattan in the 1600s was juan rodriguez, a dominicano. mira eso, right from the start, we ve been here making this city great. now, i don t know what new york would be without latinos, but it sure as hell wouldn t smell as good, it wouldn t taste as good, and it definitely wouldn t sound as good. that s right, cause salsa music was in
Basquiat, Rita Moreno Puerto rican. Cardi bdominican. Supreme Court Justice sotomayor, nuyorican from the bx. Even the very first nonindigenous person to live and work in the island of manhattan in the 1600s was juan rodriguez, a dominicano. Mira eso, right from the start, weve been here making this city great. Now, i dont know what new york would be without latinos, but it sure as hell wouldnt smell as good, it wouldnt taste as good, and it definitely wouldnt sound as good. Thats right, cause salsa music was invented here in new york, thats right. [vocalizing along to salsa music] youre welcome. I wanna retrace my steps from queens, where i grew up, all the way to the Bright Lights of broadway and show you how latinos have contributed to the culture of the greatest city on earf. Thats right, i said earf. And you cant tell Latino Stories without plenty of good food, music, and dancing. So come on, lets go, lets go. Come on. [upbeat music] welcome to Jackson Heights. Thats right, this i
everybody s competing cause there s too many turntables around, and that s how rap begins. it s incredible. - like i said, we couldn t afford the equipment, and as soon as the lights went out - everybody had equipment. - we went right for their dj equipment, bro. - hmm. imagine that. [beatboxing] - you know what hip hop did, bro, it brought us all together, kept a lot of kids off the street. and it gave kids, like, an interest, a hobby. - right, right. - it was art, or - something to rechannel all that young energy, yeah. - yeah, you know. - in a positive way. - kids had nothing to do. and then all of a sudden, they see somebody else breaking. they spend hours a day just trying to learn that move. - so like i said, we didn t create hip hop, but we were there. and crazy legs and the rock steady crew helped propel a whole new dance form. and joe conzo, another puerto rican, helped document the entire movement. all the photos you see of hip-hop back in the day
turntables around, and that s how rap begins. it s incredible. - like i said, we couldn t afford the equipment, and as soon as the lights went out - everybody had equipment. - we went right for their dj equipment, bro. - hmm. imagine that. [beatboxing] - you know what hip hop did, bro, it brought us all together, kept a lot of kids off the street. and it gave kids, like, an interest, a hobby. - right, right. - it was art, or - something to rechannel all that young energy, yeah. - yeah, you know. - in a positive way. - kids had nothing to do. and then all of a sudden, they see somebody else breaking. they spend hours a day just trying to learn that move. - so like i said, we didn t create hip hop, but we were there. and crazy legs and the rock steady crew helped propel a whole new dance form. and joe conzo, another puerto rican, helped document the entire movement. all the photos you see of hip-hop back in the day were all by joe conzo. - joe conzo, man.
all the photos you see of hip-hop back in the day were all by joe conzo. - joe conzo, man. - yeah, so what were the early records that influenced you? - ooh, man. so many. you know what? rather than tell you the records, i d rather play it for you than show you. - oh, yeah, yeah. please. - let s go upstairs. so this is the first time i heard a spanish rap on a hip-hop record. so this guy, mr. schick, was in a group called the mean machine. - all right. - and this is sugar hill records, bro. [hip-hop music playing] - oh. oh. - we got something we want y all to hear [singing in spanish] - wepa, wepa. - [rapping in spanish] - ooh. - ooh! and we can never forget big punisher. - ahh, big pun. - the first solo latino artist because cypress hill went platinum, also, as a group. [big punisher s still not a player playing] - [singing along in spanish]