The Latin Kings, abbreviated TLK, was a

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

hip hop group from the municipality of

Botkyrka Botkyrka Municipality ( ) is a municipality in Stockholm County in east central Sweden, not far from the capital Stockholm. Its seat is located in the town of Tumba. In 1971 ''Grödinge'' was merged with Botkyrka and in 1974 ''Salem'' was add ...

in the southern suburbs of

Stockholm Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

. The members of the group are the lead

rapper Rapping (also rhyming, spitting, emceeing or MCing) is a musical form of vocal delivery that incorporates "rhyme, rhythmic speech, and street vernacular". It is performed or chanted, usually over a backing beat or musical accompaniment. The ...

Dogge Doggelito Douglas León, known by his stage name Dogge Doggelito (born 24 July 1975) is a Swedish rapper, lecturer, author and artist. He is also among the founders of '' The Latin Kings'' (TLK) -- one of Sweden's most successful rap groups. Doggelito is ...

(Douglas Léon) and the two brothers,

Salla Salla (''Kuolajärvi'' until 1936) ( smn, Kyelijävri) is a municipality of Finland, located in Lapland. The municipality has a population of () and covers an area of of which is water. The population density is . The nearby settlement of S ...

and Chepe. They all have roots in

Latin America Latin America or * french: Amérique Latine, link=no * ht, Amerik Latin, link=no * pt, América Latina, link=no, name=a, sometimes referred to as LatAm is a large cultural region in the Americas where Romance languages — languages derived f ...

(

Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...

and

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

), which is why they took their name from the gang Latin Kings. They grew up in the concrete suburbs in Botkyrka where a large proportion of the population are

immigrants Immigration is the international movement of people to a destination country of which they are not natives or where they do not possess citizenship in order to settle as permanent residents or naturalized citizens. Commuters, tourists, and ...

and

refugees A refugee, conventionally speaking, is a displaced person who has crossed national borders and who cannot or is unwilling to return home due to well-founded fear of persecution.

and the

poverty Poverty is the state of having few material possessions or little income. Poverty can have diverse social, economic, and political causes and effects. When evaluating poverty in ...

is more visible than elsewhere in Sweden. The hip hop subculture has a large following in these areas of Stockholm. Their songs reflect life in the less affluent suburbs. TLK were, in 1994, among the first to release a hip hop album with lyrics in

(the first was

Just D JustD ( en, That's right) was a Swedish hip hop trio formed in Stockholm in 1990. The group consisted of Gustave Lund (Gurra G), Wille Crafoord (Doktor C) and Peder Ernerot (Pedda P). They had several chart successes during the early-mid 1990s ...

). Swedish rappers had before that time almost always used

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

. The debut album was ''Välkommen till förorten'' (Welcome to the suburb) and the very first single was "Snubben" (The dude). The group felt like they had been ripped off by their record company and decided to start their own label
Red Line Records
on which they have signed a number of hip hop artists in Sweden such as Fattaru, Kalle Kath, Fjärde världen and

Ison & Fille Ison and Fille more commonly Ison & Fille is a Swedish hip hop duo consisting of Ison Glasgow ("Ison") and Felipe Leiva Wenger ("Fille"). The two met in 1994 in JKS basketball club in Bredäng, Sweden. Their initial songs were included in a 200 ...

. If their contemporaries

Infinite Mass Infinite Mass is a Swedish hip hop group formed in 1991. In 1992 the group won the talent show Swedish Championship of Rap. The same year, they achieved fame by participating in the movie '' Sökarna,'' and released the single "Shoot the Racist" ...

were influenced by the

West Coast West Coast or west coast may refer to: Geography Australia * Western Australia *Regions of South Australia#Weather forecasting, West Coast of South Australia * West Coast, Tasmania **West Coast Range, mountain range in the region Canada * Britis ...

sound, TLK has more of an

East Coast East Coast may refer to: Entertainment * East Coast hip hop, a subgenre of hip hop * East Coast (ASAP Ferg song), "East Coast" (ASAP Ferg song), 2017 * East Coast (Saves the Day song), "East Coast" (Saves the Day song), 2004 * East Coast FM, a ra ...

flavor. The Latin Kings has become famous for rapping in the local

Rinkeby Swedish Rinkeby Swedish () is any of a number of variety (linguistics), varieties of Swedish language, Swedish spoken mainly in urban districts with a high proportion of immigrant residents which emerged as a linguistic phenomenon in the 1980s. Rinkeby in ...

, a "multiethnolect language" that is used in areas with many immigrants. This is a phonetically distinct form of

, with loanwords from

Turkish Turkish may refer to: *a Turkic language spoken by the Turks * of or about Turkey ** Turkish language *** Turkish alphabet ** Turkish people, a Turkic ethnic group and nation *** Turkish citizen, a citizen of Turkey *** Turkish communities and mi ...

Aramaic The Aramaic languages, short Aramaic ( syc, ܐܪܡܝܐ, Arāmāyā; oar, 𐤀𐤓𐤌𐤉𐤀; arc, 𐡀𐡓𐡌𐡉𐡀; tmr, אֲרָמִית), are a language family containing many varieties (languages and dialects) that originated in ...

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Cana ...

Finnish Finnish may refer to: * Something or someone from, or related to Finland * Culture of Finland * Finnish people or Finns, the primary ethnic group in Finland * Finnish language, the national language of the Finnish people * Finnish cuisine See also ...

Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...

Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic languages, Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C ...

and other languages.

Discography

Albums and singles

*'' Välkommen till förorten'' (Gold 50 000 sold) (1994) **"Snubben" **"Kompisar från förr" **"Mecka" **"Fint väder" **"Halva inne" *''Bienvenido a mi barrio'' (1995) Spanish version of ''Välkommen till förorten'' **"Latino somos" *''I skuggan av betongen'' (Platinum 102 000 sold) (1997) **"Botkyrka Stylee" **"Borta i tankar" *''Mitt kvarter'' (Gold 83 000) (2000) **"De e knas" **"Blend dom" **"Ainaziz" *''Omertà'' (2003)

Collections

*''Familia Royal'' (2005)