Latin soul, a musical genre that emerged in 1960s New York City, blended Cuban mambo, Latin jazz, and soul music. While "Latin music" had been stereotyped as solely originating from the Spanish Caribbean due to the predominance of Puerto Rican and Cuban immigrants in 1950s NYC, Latin soul broke free from this limitation. With its Afro-Cuban rhythms and English lyrics, it aimed to reach a broader audience, marking an effort by Latin musicians to extend their music's influence beyond the local Latin community and into mainstream American society
