NORE & Fat Joe Team Up for Crossover Latin & Hip-Hop Panel at Billboard Latin Music Week 2024

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

The conversation, with a moderator Jesus Triviniosenior director of industry relations and global Latin culture and content, TIDAL, focused on the similarities between reggaetón and hip-hop and their role in pushing the genre into the mainstream in the United States.

Below, some of the best quotes from The Intersection of Latin and Hip-Hop panel:

NONE: When he first heard reggaetón. “I was in Puerto Rico and I had a party that I thought I sold out, but it was Tego Calderon's show and he didn't show up. I heard reggaetón and I was like what is this? It sounded like “boom boom mummy”. I was that is this Spanish reggae? Everywhere in Puerto Rico they played it. The radio stations in New York weren't playing it, so I thought how can I change that? So I kept asking DJs to play it [on the radio]. I thought the best way to help this music was to sacrifice myself.”

FAT JOE: His interaction with El General. “Vico C wasn't reggaetón, he was hip-hop and because of him I heard El General from Panama. I tried to charge El General once [something] and he cursed me. Through him I first heard reggaetón, then Puerto Rico had its explosion and the guys who paved the way were Daddy Yankee, Don Omar, Tego, Ivy Queen, Wisin y Yandel.

FAT JOE: On the similarities between reggaetón and hip-hop. “Hip-hop is the birth of everything. If you want to know anything here it's that hip-hop started it all. A lot of what you see in reggaetón and latin hip-hop we've already seen, from fashion to flows, right now it's latin trap and trap comes from Atlanta, hip-hop and reggaetón are side by side- next to ”

NONE: On the impact of 'Oye Mi Canto'. “Never in a million years would people be behind that. When you listen to this track, you become a Latino for three minutes. The record company didn't want to get behind this record, but they did when it hit 500 spins. I can say that the first reggaetón on MTV was mine. The first reggaetón track on BET was mine. Daddy Yankee dropped “Oye Mi Canto” from a documentary that just came out and I don't know why. I sacrificed my own community for this.”

Fat Joe: When registering reggaetón. “They offered me millions of dollars to do reggaetón, but I was hip-hop, I couldn't do that because it looked like I was unpredictable. But I will do anything for him (NORE). I said, “Are you sure you want to do reggaetón?” And she said, “I love the way they feel, it makes me feel more Latino.” I was fine, I'm with you. And he was legendary. I've always worked with reggaetón artists. I was behind this mixtape called Boricua Guerrero but some people say, “Oh Fat Joe didn't embrace reggaetón” when I put the reggaetón guys on that mixtape. We've embraced reggaetón from day one.”

NONE: In his place in history when it comes to reggaetón. “When I started doing reggaetón, I had to go to these artists and it was a great experience. Then R. Kelly did a gospel album and I thought, maybe it's my turn to try my creativity. I claim it was mine when reggaetón came to America.”

Billboard Latin Music Week 2024 coincides with the 2024 Billboard Latin Music Awards airing at 9 p.m. ET on Sunday, October 20, on Telemundo. It will be available simultaneously on Universo, Peacock and the Telemundo app and in Latin America and the Caribbean through Telemundo Internacional.