Skeey  
     
   

MC Skeey is probably best known for his appearance on the 1997 compilation Red Hot & Latin: Silencio = Muerte. But this Miami-based rapper is an activist in more ways than one -- he's pioneering the cultural mash-up of cumbia and rap, and he's doing it better than almost anyone in the game -- including heavy hitters like the Kumbia Kings.

You knew it had to happen. Ozomatli and the Kumbia Kings have danced around the line between hip-hop and cumbia for years (who knew there was one?), but Miami's MC Skeey waltzed across it in 2003. "El Corrido de Speedy G" rips off Eminem, but it's a masterpiece nonetheless. This is the music of today's urban Latino: embracing house and hip-hop without discarding tradition.