- so good. - all right, y all, i m so glad you made it here to the special restaurant home. i brought you here because you all represent different aspects of my life, and i wanted to share because you know, latin people, we don t get our flowers. we don t get our dues like we deserve. to me, sergio represents broadway. and legendary rapper fat joe and tony, they re all about hip-hop. and aida, she s the comedy world. we dive in, starting with something that seems like it s pretty basic what we call ourselves. but it s not that simple. for years, the words hispanic, latino, and latina were most common. now, some younger folk in particular are gravitating towards a new term, latinx. but not everybody is on board. - latinx. are you for it or against it? or you prefer other terms? - i don t really know really what it is. - that s honest. - i kinda moved to the beat of my own drum. you know, if it sticks, it sticks. i do my thing. - labels don t mean anything to you. - i don t like the nam
unless it s pun and the terror squad - i got something here. mellow man ace had this record. - oh, i know that record. [hip-hop playing] - check this out, baby [rapping in spanish] - yo. - last night, you didn t go - [rapping in spanish] - that was hot, yo, when that song came out, it was revolutionary to my ears because it was like, oh, my god. there are latin words and latin artists. - yeah. - it s hip-hop. you just felt included. - that record hit. - you felt like, oh, my god, i have value. i m important. i don t know. it was big for me. - that record hit, bro. - right now, you re just a liar a straight-up mentirosa today you tell me something - y manana otra cosa - my brother made this beat, dzilla. - ohh. - all right, you got some raps for this, bro? - i might. i might. - oh, yeah? - oh. - ah! - ohh! ohh! - ahh.
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]
inspired by styles originating in black and brown communities. i m about to meet up with raul lopez, brooklyn native and designer behind luar, who is taking street style back and finally getting the recognition he deserves. what s up, raul? - hey. how are you? - good, good, good. [both speaking spanish] - good. good. - how cool is this place? oh, these are the famous purses, huh? - yeah, man. deemed it bag. - the it bag. dua lipa had one, or something? - dua had one, solange. - solange had one, too? luar has been featured on the vogue runway, as well as in the pages of its prestigious magazine. luar designs focus on universal, non-binary silhouettes that were born from a very personal place in designer raul s life. - gay, straight, non-binary, queer. doesn t matter how you identify. like, my brand is for everyone. - it s a tough industry to have a breakthrough, right?
oh, yeah. they were promised homes, [speaks spanish], community. - brown kids, it s like it s like their first exposure to something - that s people who look like them, talk like them. - exactly. - talk about things that they re interested in that is culturally theirs. - yeah. - i was a part of other ensembles, but i didn t get the stage time i deserved because they weren t doing shows that had roles for me. - yeah. - that s when i started writing even more because i was like, i m gonna just write my own stuff. i wanna see stories that i know my story s on stage. - that s how i started, too, cause i felt like i m in this rich community in new york city. everyone around me is a hero, an artist, and they re all latin. but i don t see them on television. i don t see them in plays. so i wanted to write the world that i saw. - yes. - not the world that was kind of falsely being projected. - right. why, when they do something latino, it has to be so latino? - yeah, yeah. - why can t we ju