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Cuban Link
Cuban Link
	Cuban Link in 2010
Background information
Birth name	Felix Delgado
Also known as	Cuban Link; Link; Lyrical Assassin; Cuban Linx;
Born	December 18, 1974 (age 50); Havana, Cuba
Origin	The Bronx, New York City, U.S.
Genres	East Coast hip hop; Latin hip hop; Mafioso rap; hardcore hip hop; reggaeton;
Occupations	Rapper; songwriter; actor; record producer;
Years active	1995–present
Labels	Atlantic; Terror Squad; Men of Business;
Formerly of	Terror Squad

Felix Delgado (born December 18, 1974), better known by his stage name Cuban Link, is a Cuban-American rapper. Emerging from the underground hip hop scene in the Bronx, he came to prominence upon discovery by fellow Bronx rapper Fat Joe and mentorship from his close friend Big Pun, and thereafter guest appeared on Pun's 1998 album Capital Punishment. He is also known for being a member of the Bronx-based rap group Terror Squad.

In 1997, Cuban Link made his first on-record performance on the single "Off the Books" by The Beatnuts.

Early life

Delgado 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 in 1984 when he was nine years old.^[2]

When Delgado was growing up, hip hop music was rising in popularity in his neighborhood. Delgado took on the stage name Cuban Link and associated with fellow rappers Big Pun, Triple Seis and Prospect in a group under the name Full-A-Clips. He originally went by the moniker Lyrical Assassin but eventually changed his stage name to Cuban Link.^[3]

Career

During the late 1980s, Cuban began writing rap lyrics and formed the underground rap group Full-A-Clips with Big Pun, Triple Seis and Prospect. Cuban made a number of recordings with the group in the 1990s, which are currently unreleased. At this point, Cuban was performing under the alias Lyrical Assassin. After changing his stage name to Cuban Link, he met fellow Latino rapper Fat Joe in 1995, which helped the crew get discovered and made his commercial debut in 1997 on the song "Off the Books" by The Beatnuts. He also appeared in the Big Pun song "Glamour Life" from Pun's debut studio album Capital Punishment.

The Terror Squad formation

After Fat Joe discovered Full-A-Clips, signed to Atlantic Records and launched Terror Squad Productions in 1997, he signed Big Pun, which led to the formation of the Bronx-based rap group Terror Squad, which consisted of Fat Joe, Big Pun, Cuban Link, Triple Seis, Prospect and Armageddon. Following this, 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".

The Terror Squad collaboration album

On September 21, 1999, Link and the Terror Squad released their self-titled debut album which reached number 20 on the Billboard 200. Cuban contributed vocals on seven tracks, some of them being "In For Life", "Pass the Glock", "As the World Turns", and "Tell Me What U Want". After signing to Atlantic and Terror Squad, Cuban Link continued recording for his debut LP 24K which he originally started working on in 1997.

1997-2001: Signing with Atlantic, 24K album, feud with Fat Joe

In 1997, Cuban began recording songs for his debut album 24K. One of the first songs he recorded was "Toe to Toe" with Big Pun. He recorded songs with Pun, Angie Martinez, SunKiss, Ja Rule, Triple Seis and many other artists. During the process, Big Pun passed away on February 7, 2000, due to a heart attack caused by weight issues. This led to Cuban writing and releasing "Flowers For The Dead" in Pun's honor. Three singles were released from the album: "Flowers For The Dead", "Still Telling Lies", and "Why Me?". The songs "Play How You Want" and "Toe to Toe" were released as promotional singles by Atlantic Records. In addition, "Why Me?" was featured in the 2000 action-comedy film Bait and another song from the album, "Project Party" was featured in the 2000 sports drama film Girlfight. The album was scheduled to be released in the summer of 2000 but changed to January of 2001. However, without Pun's mediation, personal tension between Fat Joe and Cuban Link, problems with Atlantic and bootlegging prevented the release of 24K. 24K is now available for digital download on Amazon Music, but has not been released physically. Cuban Link's feud with Fat Joe led to him being blacklisted from the music industry and forced to go underground.

2004-2005: Signing with M.O.B. Records, Chain Reaction

After his career derailed, Link was still recording music despite the 24K album being shelved by Joe and Atlantic Records. In addition, Cuban guest appeared on Triple Seis' debut studio album Only Time'll Tell, which was released on July 20, 2004 through Madd Records. Cuban featured on the tracks "Drinks Up", "Hustler" and "Be About It".

In 2004, a few years after leaving Terror Squad, Cuban joined independent label Men of Business in 2005 and released Chain Reaction. It included singles "Sugar Daddy" (featuring Mýa) and "Scandalous" (featuring Don Omar) with influence from reggaeton. It was the largest independent deal ($2MM) for a single album and an unsigned act at the time and a joint venture with Universal. Cuban linked up with several producers and artists such as Eliel, Swizz Beatz, Mr. Porter and Syleena Johnson. In addition, Cuban released two promotional singles: "Shakedown" and "Talk About It" featuring Jadakiss. ^[4]

Discography

Studio albums

24K (2000) (unreleased)
Chain Reaction (2005)

Collaboration albums

Terror Squad: The Album with Terror Squad (1999)

References

^ "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.
^ Gutierrez, Evan C. (August 16, 2005). "Chain Reaction > Overview". allmusic. Retrieved June 24, 2009.