Biography
New Breed emerged as a brother-and-sister Christian hip-hop duo rooted in Boston’s Puerto Rican neighborhoods. The pair’s co-MCs, Macho and Elsie Ortega, made their initial appearances alongside the California-based underground Christian hip-hop crew known as the Tunnel Rats. Their verses featured across the collective’s breakthrough album Tunnel Vision, released in 2001, which opened the door to a debut full-length of their own. Early in 2002 the upstart Christian hip-hop label Uprok issued that project, Stop the Music, a record that drew guest contributions from Tunnel Rats member Raphi and from CCM underground stalwarts LPG. The album highlighted the siblings’ assertive rhymes and pronounced Latin sensibility while delivering a positive message that avoided alienating non-religious listeners. In doing so, New Breed joined a broader CCM movement—in both rock and hip-hop—that promoted Christian values through song without resorting to overt devotional verse. Labels such as Uprok, Tooth & Nail, and Essential advanced this approach, as did acts including KJ-52 and Jeremy Camp.
Albums
