Mellow Man Ace was the first hip hop artist to score a hit in Spanglish. His 1989 hit single Mentirosa, a Santana-sampling club jam, had millions singing "Right now you're just a liar, a straight mentirosa, today you tell me something, y mañana otra cosa."

Mellow Man, real name Ulpiano Sergio Reyes, was born in Havana, Cuba and moved to the U.S. in the early 1970s with his family. After a few years on the East Coast, the Reyes family finally settled in the predominantly Mexican-American neighborhood of South Gate, California on the outskirts of Los Angeles. In high school, "Ulpianito" teamed up with Lawrence Muggerud (DJ Muggs), Louis Freese (B-Real) and his older brother Senen Reyes (Sen Dog) to start the rap group DVX (Devastating Vocal Excellence).

But after a few years, his crew's notorious pot smoking and related recreational activities posed a problem for Mellow Man, who had become a born-again Christian. According to the rapper, he "couldn't have one foot in the church and one in the club."

The move to a solo career proved to be more than a moral victory for the caramel-colored, bilingual rapper: his 1989 debut Escape From Havana was a huge commercial success and likely inspired a short-lived boom in Latino rap which catapulted the thuggish ruggish Kid Frost and "Rico Suave" Gerardo to the limelight. A less notable sophomore album followed and Mellow Man was soon dropped from major label Capitol. Meanwhile, his former outfit, DVX, was on its way to becoming the 90's sensation Cypress Hill.

A decade later, Mellow Man has regrouped with older brother Sen Dog to form The Reyes Brothers and in 2006 the pair released Ghetto Therapy – a collection of street joints that combines the lyrical content of Cypress Hill with Mellow Man's rounded corners.

Legends never die. Mexican-American rapper Malverde probably had those words on his mind when he named himself after Mexican folk hero Jesús Malverde, the kitschy "patron saint" of drug traffickers.

Born Jesús Martinez González twenty some-odd years ago in California's rural Coachella Valley, the rapper Malverde is the son of Mexican migrant workers who came to the U.S. through the Bracero Program in the early 60's. Malverde credits his family, all farm laborers, for teaching him the value of hard work, the importance of a good education and a commitment to social justice.

Malverde's debut album, the rap en Español Mi Palabra (My Word) and its fiery single, La Marcha, were released in 2004, quickly placing Malverde at the forefront of the small Latin Hip Hop scene. The goateed rapper with a flair for military accents continued to build his rep with the flute-y She Was My and a guest appearance on Snoop Dogg's remix of "Vato" by DJ Jam. This summer, his song Oye Mami was featured on an episode of HBO's Entourage.

An activist who supports various causes, Malverde was scheduled to put out his second album, La Leyenda Continua (The Legend Continues) later this year, though that release has been pushed back to 2008. However, preview tracks of La Leyenda can be heard on his MySpace, including a Spanish-language cover of Nas' Hip Hop is Dead.

How do you say "emo" in Spanish? Insite. The six-piece Mexicali band is cut from the same cloth as emotional rockers Dashboard Confessional, Thrice and Thursday, but, like their northern counterpart Yellowcard, Insite has a not-so-secret weapon: a violinist.

Formed in 2000, Insite consists of pixie-haired Aree (Violin), Konrado (Vocals), Kar (Guitar), Miky (Bass), Johis (Drums) and Gabo (Guitar and vocals). Their debut album, Una Vida No Es Suficiente (One Life Is Not Enough), was released on Movic Records, the indie label that launched popular Monterrey emo-punk outfit Panda. According to Insite's management, Una Vida sold 5,000 copies in its first week, a number that jumped to 25,000 albums sold after the band's videos – the brooding Cielos Que Lloran and the Kill Bill-inspired Sola, which became a cliffhanger after they went over budget – hit Mexican airwaves.

The melancholy "chicalenses" plan on releasing Una Vida in the U.S. sometime in 2008 and, once they save a little cash, completing part two of their Quentin Tarantino-inspired video double-feature.

see: myspace.com/insite