Although the hip hop culture emerged through the cracks of the concrete jungle in the 70’s, it gained its respect and rose from its underground success in the late 80’s into the 90’s. Attracting the mainstream and invading the music world, record labels sought out hip hop artists to strengthen their bankroll. There was Bad Boy, Roc-a Fella, and so on. Many rappers gracing these labels brought their crew with them. In the Bronx, a unique group of Latin brothers were rising to the top, the Terror Squad. As rap music emerged on the scene and saturated the market, the people backing the music did not always have a business background and artists sought out opportunity to get in the game by any means necessary. Vulnerable, these performers decided to shine and grace their presences on mixtapes and albums even without deals or contracts. Some would agree to verbal contracts they didn’t quite understand, just to try to get that paper and get out of the ghetto. As much as it was a golden era, it was also a messy time in hip hop as tension and violence grew from coast to coast and within the music groups. By the 2000’s, technology was emerging and music consumption was changing; in effect, record sales quickly declined. In order to keep rising rappers looked to differentiate themselves to continue to live and rise to the top. Some embraced different areas of the music industry, some went on to acting or producing reality shows, while others decided to settle down. The Next Level Magazine recently sat down with Cuban Link an original member of the Terror Squad to talk about Big Pun, how Cuban rose to the top and what projects he has been working on. From the start, Cuban Link knew the struggle was real. During the time that hip hop was gaining widespread popularity, Cuban Link took refuge in the United States immigrating from Cuba as part of the Mariel boatlift. Along with his family, he was detained in a US Immigration Processing Center for about six months. Once his family received their green cards, they moved to Puerto Rico and later, to the mean streets of the Bronx. Coming up from the “Halls of Hell”, this lyrical assassin learned early on that music runs through his veins and that success comes from having a sick work ethic, having a tremendous amount of perseverance and taking risks. Cuban Link attributes his early success to Triple Seis and Big Pun. He recalls that Seis, inspired him to continue to rise, by taking the game seriously and setting up writing sessions in an apartment located in a Bronx housing project. Big Pun, Triple Seis and Cuban Link would meet up to write lyrics and practice their skills. They soon realized that they truly had a gift and could make it happen. Cuban’s friendship with Big Pun was more like a brotherhood. It wasn’t always about the music, they played ball together and would go to the gym to box. Big Pun was always inviting and he helped open the door to the start of Cuban’s career. The two would formulate a group, Rough and Rugged. At the time, Triple Seis was working with another group but would later join Big Pun and Cuban Link to form the group, Full A Clips. The group decided to make its mark by entering a hip hop contest hosted by Video Music Box VJ, Crazy Sam at the Victoria Five in Harlem. Uncle B from LES invested in the group by arranging performances for them and getting them recognition. The group worked with the likes of The Beatnuts. Uncle B also introduced them to Fat Joe and from there they got on Hot 97. At the time, Fat Joe was at the peak of his career and doing big things with D.I.T.C. So, he was someone the group looked up to and wanted to work with. Big Pun spit fire outside a bodega for Fat Joe, impressed Joe brought Pun into the studio. Pun’s album went platinum. Cuban didn’t get a contract at the time, but, Big Pun made sure he was on the album. Cuban continued to work as a free agent to get his name out there and worked on different projects. He did whatever it took to get out there. For example, he shared that he wrote the hook for Puff Daddy’s Senorita, but didn’t get credit for it. He got himself on remixes with Fat Joe and Pun and then Atlantic records finally cut him a deal.For one year, he worked on his album, 24K and sporadically on other projects with Pun and the Terror Squad. Much to his dismay, the album was never release, but, instead it leaked out to the streets. Working with a group can be stressful coupled with street negotiations can cause multiple issues, and after a violent fight, Cuban and Joe went separate ways. Backed by M.O.B. Records, Cuban went back into the studio to work on his next album, Chain Reaction. The album sold over 100,000 independently.
Currently, he’s been working on a new album, Missing Link. His mission is to bring back the true essence of hip hop but also adapting to what’s out there. Although hip hop music doesn’t have clear rules; except as, a voice for free expression, Cuban feels that the new music is hollow and doesn’t have a message. Cuban believes that music should have a message and make you analyze things. He calls good music – “trivia in your head”. He’s also working on his first Spanish album, Hijo De La Calle (Son of the Street). Music is not all he is focusing on; Cuban Link is working on his acting and dabbling in some movie projects. Sadly, the Fat Joe and Cuban Link beef still exists, Cuban talked about BET’s recent Big Pun tribute and disagrees with what was aired. Cuban mentions, “The show didn’t feature the team effort that was behind the music.” He credits Fat Joe for destroying the unity behind the Terror Squad. “Fat Joe focused more on building his business up rather than on the music”, Cuban laments. Cuban states, “Back in the days, a lot of things were done by street negotiations, everything was verbal. When Fat Joe offered Big Pun a deal, they went half on everything. So, Fat Joe took half of anything Big Pun did. When Big Pun proved himself, going platinum, Fat Joe didn’t want to renegotiate the deal.” Cuban states that Big Pun was the biggest door opener, he supported everyone’s music. To stay connected to Cuban Link, you can subscribe to his YouTube or follow him on Twitter https://twitter.com/cubanlinkclk . For booking, contact Rappy at CLK24K@YAHOO.COM OR 631-404-6026.