"Argentina's underground has long been a hotbed of unhinged creativity. It's an ecosystem of park rap battles, parties, collectives, and young artists intentionally trying to piss off rock-loving oldheads. The trap scene evolved locally in waves: It really took off in 2017 with stars like Cazzu and Auto-Tune god Duki, a freestyler who broke through after winning the El Quinto Escalón battle rap tournament."
"It's impossible to distill the depth of the scene in a few sentences-they pull generously from genres born abroad (baile funk, drill, the mutant, multinational rush of Latin Core) and at home. Peep cumbia villera (Argentine shantytown cumbia) and the popular reggaeton hybrid it influenced, RKT, whose dirty snares and dembow sway took off after 2020 with hitmakers like L-GANTE."
"In 2026, most of these artists have become the old guard. Some of them are more popular than ever, like critical darlings CA7RIEL & Paco Amoroso, who took home five Latin Grammys in 2025 for their slick and fame-sick jazz rap EP PAPOTA. But over the last few years, we've seen the rise of an even more out-there vanguard. Boomers will drop dead when they hear PILF, the newly formed "boyband" consisting of four of the nation's most carefree young MCs."
Argentina's underground developed through waves of trap and local scenes, breaking out around 2017 with artists like Cazzu and Auto-Tune vocalist Duki, who rose after winning El Quinto Escalón. During the pandemic Dillom co-founded RIP GANG, introducing new-gen acts such as digicore artist Saramalacara and hyper-dance singer Taichu. The scene draws from baile funk, drill, the mutant and Latin Core while foregrounding local forms like cumbia villera and RKT, which expanded after 2020 with artists like L-GANTE. By 2026 established figures like CA7RIEL & Paco Amoroso coexist with an odder vanguard—boyband PILF, TURRXCORE producers and a pan-Latin network of freaky, non-binary internet music.
Read at Pitchfork
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