Felix Delgado (born December 18, 1974), better known by his stage name Cuban Link, is a Cuban-American rapper and an original member of Terror Squad.
Cuban Link | |
|---|---|
 Cuban Link in 2010 | |
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Felix Delgado[1] |
| Also known as |
|
| Born | December 18, 1974 Havana, Cuba |
| Origin | New York City, U.S. |
| Genres | Hip hop, mafioso rap, latin rap, reggaeton |
| Years active | 1997–present |
| Labels | |
Biography
editDelgado was born in Havana, Cuba, in 1974. He and his family emigrated to the United States in 1980 during the Mariel boatlift, settling in the South Bronx in New York City.[2] When Delgado was growing up, hip hop music was rising in popularity in his neighborhood. Delgado took on stage name Cuban Link and associated with fellow rappers Big Pun and Triple Seis in a group under the name Full-A-Clips.[3]
After Fat Joe signed to Atlantic Records and launched Terror Squad Productions in 1997, he signed Big Pun, which lead to Cuban Link's affiliation with Terror Squad. Cuban Link and Big Pun both made guest performances on The Beatnuts' single "Off the Books" in 1997 and they joined Fat Joe's Terror Squad by 1998. Cuban Link contributed guest appearance vocals to Big Pun's April 1998 debut album, Capital Punishment, on the song "Glamour Life". Following this appearance, Cuban Link was signed to Atlantic and Terror Squad and contributed guest appearance vocals to Fat Joe's September 1998 album Don Cartagena on the songs "Bet Ya Man Can't (Triz)", "The Hidden Hand", and "Terror Squadians". Link and the Terror Squad released their self-titled debut album on September 21, 1999. Cuban contributed vocals on seven tracks. After signing to Atlantic and Terror Squad, Cuban Link began recording his debut LP 24K. Big Pun died on February 7, 2000, so Cuban Link wrote and released "Flowers For The Dead" in Pun's honor. The album was scheduled to be released in the summer of 2000, however, without Pun's mediation, contract disputes between Fat Joe and Cuban Link and leaks prevented the release of 24K. 24K is now available for digital download on Amazon Music, but has not been released physically.
In April 2001, during an album release party for Angie Martinez at Jimmy's Bronx Cafe, Cuban Link was involved in an altercation in which he had his face slashed as he was trying to break up a scuffle between Fat Joe and rapper Sunkiss. By that time, Cuban Link left Terror Squad. He released a mixtape, Broken Chains, in 2003 put together by Dren Starr & Roy P. Perez.[4] He joined independent label Men of Business in 2005 and released Chain Reaction. It included singles "Sugar Daddy" (featuring Mýa) and "Scandalous" (featuring Don Omar) and combined some reggaeton sound as well. It was the largest independent deal ($2MM) for a single album and an unsigned act at the time and a joint venture with Universal.[5]
Discography
edit- Studio albums
- 24K (2000) (unreleased)
- Chain Reaction (2005)
- Collaboration albums
- Terror Squad: The Album with Terror Squad (1999)
References
edit- ^ "Cuban Link - ABOUT". cubanlinkclk.com. Archived from the original on October 20, 2020. Retrieved October 9, 2020.
- ^ Azpiri, Jon. "Cuban Link > Biography". allmusic. Retrieved June 23, 2009.
- ^ "Cuban Link - Full Biography". MTV. Archived from the original on February 18, 2006. Retrieved June 23, 2009.
- ^ Reid, Shaheem (February 3, 2003). "Cuban Link". Mixtape Mondays. MTV News. Archived from the original on February 20, 2003. Retrieved June 23, 2009.
- ^ Gutierrez, Evan C. (August 16, 2005). "Chain Reaction > Overview". allmusic. Retrieved June 24, 2009.