Miami comes hard with yet another fusion; this time musicians skillfully blend Miami bass and crunk into a style all their own called crunkiao.

With tracks such as Snapealo (Snap Your Fingers), the crunk music scene in the South is being blended and fused with the reggaetón flavor in Latino Miami. Coined as crunkiao, it's the first genre to successfully mix a distinct southern sound with Latino sabor.   Don’t underestimate it  just because you may not have heard of it, crunkiao is a powerful and popular force in Miami. It's not just the music anymore: look for crunkiao television hosted by Sito Oner Rock later this year.

Although the more widely known Pitbull prefers to be called a "rapper" who just "happens to be Latino," one cannot deny the crunkiao sound in his latest CD, El Mariel. Although it seems he does not like to apply hard and fast labels to himself, many of his peers rep crunkiao as the next big thing to come out of Miami. Another artist quickly gaining popularity is Plátano, repping the Dominican Republic.

But, let me clear this up: although Pitbull and other crunkiaoeros have found powerful allies in the reggaetón scene and are often thought of as just more reggaetoneros, they are not reggaetón. Their sound is distinctly 305 Dade County (as in the area code).

Miami's crunkiaoeros are especially proud that their music is a product all their own, strictly made in Miami. They wanted to create something all their own, citing that reggaetón is is more of a Puerto Rican thing. With the crunkiao scene in its infancy, the artists seem to have the same passion and feeling and power of creation that we saw back in the Bronx in the eighties. Don't sleep on it!