Music is in constant change. New artists and sounds are born everyday and what was trending yesterday is already forgotten tomorrow. The immediacy of social networks makes the industry go at breakneck speed. The urban Latin genre is positioning itself for the first time as the most listened to in the world. Latin music consolidates the top positions worldwide on streaming platforms for the first time in History. As it shows, Trap and reggaeton are breaking barriers and ending all stereotypes.
Duki, Bizarrap, Bad Bunny or Rauw Alejandro are some of the main characters breaking the urban scene in the present. They belong to a new generation of hitmakers that started from the bottom and changed the game in the industry. Thanks to the power of music and hard work, they finally made it to leave behind the streets and get straight to the world chart hot spots.
In the urban world panorama there’s a clear paradigma that explains what’s completely transforming the genre: the Argentinian scene has been one of the most coveted and uplifting ones in the last years. And many rising artists in the country came from the same place: the ‘Quinto Escalón’. But, what is that?
‘Quinto Escalón’: more than a freestyle competition
The ‘Quinto Escalón’ is the name of Argentina ‘s most important rap competition. Based in Buenos Aires, its battles were held on Sundays between 2012 and 2017. From these encounters stars such as Duki, Bizarrap, YSY A, Dani Ribba or Paulo Londra were born. It’s simply stunning the amount of talent present in this contest, which has surely become the cradle of all rising artists in the country.
One of the Quinto Escalon creators was Muphasa. “What was clear at a national level is that there’s no necessity for any brand, sponsor or the State collaboration to do something organic and created by the community”, highlighted in a Télam interview. Alejo, a.k.a Ysy A, was also one of the main founders, currently experiencing a great worldwide success.
Here are some of the great artists that you may not know came from the Quinto Escalón.
Duki
Duki (real name: Mauro Ezequiel Lombardo Quiroga) is one of the greatest exponents and pioneers in trap music popularization. Thanks to his hard-hitting rhymes and his catchy rythms with a great use of ‘Auto-Tune’, Duki has become one of the most succesful artist in the urban genre worldwide.
He was one of the main participants in the ‘Quinto Escalón’ back in 2016 and he got even viral in YouTube. In the sixth edition, the Argentinian freestyler became the winner of the competition.
Now he does not participate in rap battles anymore, but he has clearly succeded realeasing tons of chart-topping hits like ‘She don’t give a Fo‘, ‘Goteo‘, ‘Givenchy‘ or ‘Marisola‘.
DUKI performing during third day of Pa’l Norte Festiva / Medios y Media / Getty Images
Paulo Londra
Paulo Ezequiel Londra Farias (a.k.a. Paulo Londra) started his rise to stardom in the Quinto Escalon’s battles too. When he was a kid, Londra started to get interested in the rap scene after watching Eminem’s film ‘8 Mile’, but he was bullied for trying to represent the ‘rapper style’.
Paulo started to become popular in the scene after releasing his debut single ‘Relax‘, who reached more than 15 million views after a few months. When he participated in a rap battle in Quinto Escalón against Duki, their music got even more popular.
Londra has collaborated with some of the biggest names in the urban music industry, such as Becky G, Ovy on the Drums, Justin Quiles, De La Guetto or Bizarrap, among others.
Although he stopped releasing music in 2019 due to a conflict with his discography, he came back in 2022 with the song ‘Plan A‘, which debuted in the No. 1 position in Billboard Argentina Hot 100 chart. He even participated in the #23 BZRP session of Argentinian producer Bizarrap and dropped other hot singles during the last year.
Paulo Londra performs during the third day of Lollapalooza Buenos Aires / Santiago Bluguermann / Getty Images
Tiago PZK
Tiago PZK is another rapper that started early in the game due to Eminem’s influence on the genre. Little by little, he finally made a huge name in the underground scene. He is one of the few artists that reach its recognition as both freestyler and musician thanks to his hit ‘Sola’. Here he narrates the tragic story of a woman harassed by a drug abuser, which, in fact, represents a metaphor of what his mother went through under the abuses of his father in real life.
Dani Ribba began rapping at a very young age and his versatility and flow made him stand out. He fastly turned into a referent due to the depth of his lyrics. However in February 2019, Dani announced that he officially retired from freestyle rap battles. The Argentine MC made this decision to dedicate more time to his music career.
Together with Duki and Paulo Londra, Wos is probably the most talented on a musical level. His international hit singles go further than the urban genre: they represent a social critic and have a great music versatility. Like the rest of the Quinto Escalón rappers, he started freestyling and stood out because of his clever lyrics. He abandoned this scene to mostly focus on a discographic career.
Wos, Argentinian freestyler / Fabio Piva
Lit Killah
Born Mauro, Lit Killah achieved great success because of his ‘doble-tempo’ speed and witty lyrics. That ‘s why he got called ‘Ametralladora’ (machine gun) or ‘Modo Tomate’ (tomato mode) while he went battle through battle till he got to the Quinto Escalón. After he started dropping singles and collabs with artists like Duki or Nicki Nicole he got consolidated as an rising artist.
Lit Killah in the 2022 Latin American Music Awards in Las Vegas / David Becker / Telemundo / NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images
Which is the Argentinian key to success?
All of these rappers share great talent, but they come from a life marked by precariousness and instability. However, they have found in music not only a refuge, but also a family. Their success has united a whole country: Argentina is proud of this movement and its people blindly support it.
Artists connecting with their audience and receiving support from fans is the perfect combination to success. The former members of Quinto Escalón have collaborated with one another independently of the fame they had. When Duki started to get famous, he joined Lit Killah to help him gain more fame. And when Lit Killah became more popular, he featured another member, and so on. That’s why they all have risen together to become urban stars.
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