Cumbia rap is a spin off of the original cumbia

Cumbia

Cumbia is a music genre popular across Latin America. The cumbia originated in the Caribbean coast of Colombia, where it is associated with an eponymous dance and has since spread as far as Mexico and Argentina...

 genre. It consists of a more traditional Colombia

Colombia

Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia , is a unitary constitutional republic comprising thirty-two departments. The country is located in northwestern South America, bordered to the east by Venezuela and Brazil; to the south by Ecuador and Peru; to the north by the Caribbean Sea; to the...

n rhythm, as well as some hip hop

Hip hop music

Hip hop music, also called hip-hop, rap music or hip-hop music, is a musical genre consisting of a stylized rhythmic music that commonly accompanies rapping, a rhythmic and rhyming speech that is chanted...

 and reggae

Reggae

Reggae is a music genre first developed in Jamaica in the late 1960s. While sometimes used in a broader sense to refer to most types of Jamaican music, the term reggae more properly denotes a particular music style that originated following on the development of ska and rocksteady.Reggae is based...

 type additions. Pioneers of cumbia rap include Crooked Stilo

Crooked Stilo

-Early years:The duo spent their early years in El Salvador, a Central American nation that was torn apart by civil war. In their youth, they immigrated with their parents to the United States in search of a new beginning and a better future...

 from Los Angeles

Los Ángeles

Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...

, Tropa Estrella, Chicos de Barrio

Chicos de Barrio

Chicos de Barrio was formed in 1995 in Torreon, Coahuila, Mexico. This musical group is formed from 11 elements, in which the percussion, harmony and swing are predominant. This Mexican eleven member tropical band have burst mainstream throughout our Northern American continent. This musical group...

 from Coahuila

Coahuila

Coahuila, formally Coahuila de Zaragoza , officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Coahuila de Zaragoza is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico...

, Mexico

Mexico

The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...

, and Bajo Palabra, in Argentina

Argentina

Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...

 as well as the Kumbia Kings

Kumbia Kings

Kumbia Kings was a Latin Grammy-winning Mexican cumbia group from Corpus Christi, Texas created by A.B. Quintanilla. Their music encompasses the styles of cumbia , hip hop and R&B. They produce songs in both Spanish and English. The band's producers from the beginning have been A.B. Quintanilla III...

 from Texas

Texas

Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...

.

Early Tex-Mex or Onda Chicana acts such as La Mafia

La Mafia

La Mafia is a four-time Grammy Award-winning musical group. It has its roots in the Northside neighborhood of Houston, Texas and has charted a course as a Latin music band.- History :...

, La Sombra

La Sombra

La Sombra de Chicago or La Sombra de Tony Guerrero is a Tejano band originally from Chicago, IL. The group was widely popular during the late 1980s and most of the 1990s, often described as "the number one show band in the U.S.A." and "the world." La Sombra is credited with over 20 major studio...

 & Selena y Los Dinos

Selena y Los Dinos

Selena y Los Dinos was the band in which Grammy-Award-winning Tejano music singer Selena performed, until her death on March 31, 1995. Selena fronted the band since 1980, started by her father Abraham Quintanilla, Jr....

experimented with rap lyrics over cumbia beats in the late 1980s and early 1990s.