AbstractHip Hop has spread to all parts of the globe and has had a profound influence on mainstream culture. Hip Hop is firmly rooted in African American culture and follows a long lineage of black music. Since its birth in the United States it has spread to all parts of the globe in an uncontrolled and organic way. For some countries such as Puerto Rico, the influence of hip hop has had time to mature and develop in comparison to countries like El Salvador and Guatemala where an underground movement is beginning. I will delve into the factors behind this musical advancement in Puerto Rico and explore the seeds that have created the Central American movements in Guatemala and El Salvador. I hope to touch on the erasure of black bodies in the Americas and how Hip Hop culture has allowed them to be seen and heard on their terms and is an inherently political act in itself just to exist and express yourself. How were the conditions in New York during the 1970s when Hip Hop emerged similar to the conditions in Puerto Rico and Central America? What are the impacts of Settler Colonialism and racism across the colonized Latin American nations? Capitalism and the strong adoption of Neoliberalist policies have created stark injustices and inequality for many of the poor of this world. Out of these conditions of oppression we see Hip Hop emerge as a vehicle for expression.
La Semilla Hip Hop has spread to all parts of the globe and African American culture has had a profound influence on mainstream culture. Since its development in the Bronx during the onset of criminalization and neoliberal devastation of Black and Puerto Rican communities, Hip Hop has found expression throughout and has spread to all parts of the globe, uncontrolled and organic. For Puerto Rico, the influence of hip hop has had time to develop and to some degree become a commercially viable means of sustaining oneself, in comparison to countries like El Salvador and Guatemala where an underground movement has been developing over the past two decades but still lacks the infrastructure to sustain many independent artists. Further, Hip Hop scenes provide a space for the visibility of the working poor, marginalized, and Afro-Latin Americans who have been criminalized and systematically shut out of society. Hip Hop is often a medium for the denunciation of injustice, colonialism, and racism and the assertion of rights and articulation of liberation (Robin Kelley). This paper delves into the factors that have led to the ways Hip Hop has developed in la isla and in Central America (Guatemala and El Salvador) and how youth have adapted this form by blending traditional music forms to create unique regional sounds that are then used as vehicles for social and political expression. Hip Hop emerges as a form of resistance to neoliberal racial capitalism as it expands from New York in the 1970s to Puerto Rico and Central America. Capitalism and the strong adoption of Neoliberal policies have created stark injustices and inequality for many of the poor of this world. My focus will be on Puerto Rico and exploring how the economic conditions on the island and programs, like Operation Bootstrap, have brought many Puerto Ricans to the United States as forms of cheap labor. This Puerto Rican diaspora would allow Hip Hop to reach the island at the exact time of its birth as the diaspora flowed freely back and forth from Borinken to New York. Borinken is the Taino name for the island of Puerto Rico and I use the two interchangeably throughout this paper. I will then attempt to critically analyze the comparisons between how Hip Hop arrived in Central American countries like Guatemala and El Salvador. These places marred by civil wars and imperialist control by the United States government and transnational corporations have a vastly different story of how hip hop arrived and was ultimately adopted as a vehicle for change. As Hip Hop scholar Jeff Chang states, “The tension between culture and commerce would become one of the main storylines of the Hip Hop generation.” (Chang 134). Consequently, raising tension that has played out in uniquely different ways within the United States, Puerto Rico, El Salvador, and Guatemala. Let's dig deep into the soil and see what we can uncover. The Rhizome Hip Hop has spread across the globe like a rhizome and deterritorialized itself in the process. I use it in the sense of how Deleuze and Guattari described the metaphor of a rhizome’s unpredictability, its resistance to being contained or boxed in, a truly organic and spontaneous growth; That is Hip Hop to me. It is a rhizome because it was able to adapt and be adopted by so many cultures around the world that are far removed from its genesis in the slums of the South Bronx, New York, created by African American and Puerto Ricans primarily, as a response to the horrid conditions that they were living in and being exposed to by the state in the form of racist policing, and economic disenfranchisement. Deleuze and Guattari describe the rhizome as: “The rhizome itself assumes very diverse forms..., any point of a rhizome can be connected to anything other, and must be…, A rhizome ceaselessly establishes connections between semiotic chains, organizations of power, and circumstances relative to the arts, sciences, and social struggles…, The point is that a rhizome or multiplicity never allows itself to be overcoded…, A rhizome may be broken, shattered at a given spot, but it will start up again on one of its old lines, or on new lines…, perhaps one of the most important characteristics of the rhizome is that it always has multiple entryways.” (Deleuze and Guattari 12). These ideas and theories around a rhizome help us to understand the emergence of Hip Hop culture and its spread around the world. It was uncontrolled and spread because of the colonialist conditions that remain in Latin America that have subjugated and marginalized Black and Indigenous people. The rhizomatic properties of Hip Hop culture are powerful and provide the inspiration for all my work. These catalysts are not strictly New York phenomena, with the spread of capitalism and neoliberalism across the planet the number of poor and wretched has increased. The state violence keeps the capital flowing and the number of people subjugated has also increased creating these openings to embrace a culture and style that speaks directly to the people in these communities (Fanon). This culture has allowed them to express themselves creatively, release pent-up angst, and maintain visibility while the state is actively trying to erase and criminalize their very existence. This research project is important to me in many ways. As a first-generation mixed Puerto Rican and El Salvadoran, I have a direct connection to these lands and have made it my life’s mission to reclaim and rediscover my roots. As a young boy growing up, I became enamored with Hip Hop culture early on. I recall transcribing lyrics of songs word by word, pausing, and rewinding the cassette tape back and forth, dissecting every rhyme scheme and pattern, cadence, and flow that the rappers used. If the rewind button did not work, I would use a pencil to help rewind the cassette to the start. I would attend Hip Hop events and marvel at the way break-dancers would perform amazing feats of acrobatic artistry on the floor, battling. The art of battling is a crucial component of Hip Hop in all of its elements. Battling is essentially going head-to-head with your opponent and seeing who can best the other, with the audience usually crowning the winner. I think that this was very important given that most people gravitated towards Hip Hop as a means to escape the trappings of street life and gang life which I will touch on later in the paper. It was an avenue to make legitimate money and try to escape the violence of the streets, the lines are always blurred. I want to find a way to bridge these two connections and investigate how Hip Hop arrived in these countries and what the circumstances were. I want to find out which regional cultural elements were fused together and blended to create something unique. Puerto Rico, El Salvador, and Guatemala are countries with diverse histories that have shaped their acceptance and adoption of Hip Hop in different ways. Political turmoil has also affected the lyrics of the music, what kinds of messages are conveyed, and the motivations behind the lyrics. I hope to scratch the surface of this amazing web of research and contribute a provocative piece that is able to answer some of these pressing questions, and along the way find some of the missing pieces to my own story. Grafting My work uses an ethnographic approach to conducting my research. It is very important to me that while conducting my research I do not fall into the extractive cycles of many other researchers before me and in this vein, I slowly built relationships with the artist that I interviewed over a year before I ever even started my interviews. I made it a point to conduct my interviews in person instead of over Zoom so that I could truly absorb the vibe and make an authentic connection. This research draws from a lifetime as an admirer of Hip Hop and participant in the culture. Over the course of a year and a half, I visited El Salvador, Guatemala, and Puerto Rico many times to conduct interviews as well as gather information for my research. It was during these visits that friendships were forged with the artist that far extended beyond the project. It was important to me to give back as much as I could and help these artists to continue to create their art. My work builds off the work of Deleuze and Guatarri, Raquel Z. Rivera, Jeff Chang, Robin Kelley, Yoel Gaetan, Marisol Lebron, Alejandro Jacky, Steven Osuna, Elizabeth Bell, and James Spady. Through a series of several interviews, I was able to piece together the oral histories of some of the pioneering artists in Puerto Rico, Guatemala, and El Salvador a region that has been ignored but has a Hip Hop movement that is currently exploding in popularity. I interviewed Dj Flako one of the pioneers and founding members of the Bacteria Soundsystem crew, one of the first waves of artists making Hip Hop music in Guatemala, and Gabriela Bolten one of the waves of new revolutionary female emcees making waves in Guatemala's underground, I also interviewed Omne, a producer who is part of the second wave of artists creating Hip Hop music out of San Salvador, and Puerto Rican music historian Yoel Gaetan. All these artists really allowed me to see the varying perspectives and generational approaches to Hip Hop culture and what their thoughts were on what the future of the culture was in their respective countries. One thing is certain and that is that Central America is not a monolith, and each country has a unique story of how Hip Hop culture has been adopted by the people, and supported or villainized by the state and what its current trajectory is. "Broken glass everywhere" (Grandmaster Flash) Hip Hop was born in the late 1970s in New York in the South Bronx, many would say by the great DJ Kool Herc. Kool Herc was the first person to take the drum break of many popular disco, funk, and soul records and play those parts only. The drum break is the part in the song where there is no singing and the drummer typically solos or plays alone with musical accompaniment. These breakbeats, as they were to be called, really were instrumental in the creation of Hip Hop music. During these breaks, DJ Kool Herc would say clever rhymes and give announcements in a style derived from Jamaican dancehall parties that were known as “toasting”. This would be the beginning of the Emcee, or rapper. Truth is there were bubbling movements across many of the boroughs and one of the great innovators was Grandmaster Flash and the Furious 5. Grandmaster Flash was a student of the emerging art of DJing, he would study the craft and create equipment that would revolutionize Hip Hop and DJ culture. Two of his greatest innovations were the juggling technique where he would cue up the same breakbeat record on both of his turntables and with his mixer switch seamlessly from beat to beat, left to right, essentially looping the same beat segment indefinitely, this would allow more time for the break-dancers to dance and for the emcees to rap over. His other great innovation was punch phrasing, in which a small segment of a beat was isolated such as a horn stab, and was punched in over the breakbeat as it was playing. This added a layer of complexity and dynamics to a DJ show and began to make the performances a lot more interactive than just playing a record from start to finish. Early Hip Hop was geared towards the party vibe and DJs were the main stars and all of your popularity relied on how well you could rock the party. In this vein, early emcees would perform routines and rap groups would rhyme in a chant style to pump the party up. These early exhibitions did not rely on super complex rhyme schemes and patterns but were more performative in their crowd participation aspect. Hip Hop is a revolutionary act of art and visibility, a reclaiming of the narrative by the community and for the community. The back-and-forth participation with the audience was and remains a crucial component of being an emcee, not the sole component, but an important one. The dress of early Hip Hop artists reflects the place that Hip Hop was in as far as still trying to determine and define its identity. Many artists would dress in eccentric attire, mimicking groups like Parliament Funkadelic and Earth Wind and Fire, with leather pants, feathers, and spikes. This is best reflected in acts such as early pioneer and super influential Hip Hop legend Afrika Bambaataa and the Zulu Nation. The influence of groups like Run DMC and Eric B and Rakim brought the street style that all of the street culture dressed in into the forefront and in essence, the identity of Hip Hop was beginning to materialize. Dapper Dan was a famous clothes designer and would take popular prints of the time like Louis Vuitton and Gucci and tailor custom clothes for artists and others in the hood. He was the main stylist for a new generation of Hip Hop and redefined the genre. He is currently working in collaboration with Gucci at his atelier shop in Harlem. The conditions in the South Bronx were dismal and many young men and women banded together in various street gangs, “In 1971, however, the South Bronx gangs came together to sign a truce. Afrika Bambaataa, a young warlord from the Black Spade gang, emerged as a peacemaker. In 1975 he created his own organization, the Universal Zulu Nation, which brought together the four components of hip-hop culture: DJing, MCing, B-boying, and Graffiti. Bambaataa organized the first block parties, informal gatherings where DJs illegally ran sound systems off the municipal power supply. The block parties catalyzed the South Bronx youth, for a time contributing to a more peaceful gang culture.” (Lamotte). The Zulu Nation was crucial in providing somewhat of a moral compass for Hip Hop conduct in those early days and were a formidable force at enforcing these codes of conduct. Hip Hop really emerged out of an environment of the poor and forgotten. Jeff Chang states so poignantly in his book, Cant Stop Wont Stop that “Hip Hop culture would arise from the conditions of no work” (Chang 13). During the 1960 and 1970s, invisible and marginalized communities, primarily black and Puerto Rican, were experiencing some of the worst conditions of economic poverty and complete and utter abandonment by the city and the state of New York. Hip Hop scholar Bench Ansfield wrote in, The Broken Windows of the Bronx: Putting the Theory in Its Place that: “Industrial relocation, white and black middle-class flight, in-migration of black and Puerto Rican residents, redlining, blockbusting, destructive urban renewal projects, and the withdrawal of social services took a heavy toll on the borough. By the mid-1970s, as New York City teetered on the edge of bankruptcy and the stream of federal dollars into welfare and antipoverty programs began to dry up, the Bronx absorbed the shocks of austerity. The myriad effects are repeated at the risk of rendering banal the violence of racial capitalism during this period. Health care, education, and employment, already in dire straits, approached crisis levels. And housing abandonment and landlord arson obliterated the built environment, leaving South Bronx neighborhoods in ruins.” (Bench 106). Many landlords would purposefully burn down their buildings to collect insurance money. The burning of the Bronx was horrific and led to the destruction of over 100,000 homes and residences. Out of this environment of marginalization, neoliberalism, racist policing, economic divestment, ashes, and broken windows arises Hip Hop like a phoenix. The date was December 1, 1981, a day in Hip Hop history that would change the course of rap music forever. On this day a seismic shift occurred in Hip Hop culture that would shake up the way that music was created and consumed. This is the day that the famous emcee battle between Busy Bee Starski and Kool Moe Dee occurred at the famous Harlem World. Busy Bee Starski is a legend and was the main party-rocking emcee. His style was very performative and included tons of crowd participation. He represented the old guard from Hip Hop’s genesis in the 70s. His rhymes were simple and focused more on the “When I say Hip, you say Hop”, approach to rapping and crowd engagement, which was very exciting for the audience, Kool Moe Dee, on the other hand, was part of the new wave of artists starting to make their mark in the game. He was a member of the famous Treacherous Three. Kool Moe Dee had a different approach to rap that included a lot more complexity in his delivery, using metaphors and similes, double entendres, multisyllabic rhymes, internal rhyme schemes, and much more varied rhyme patterns than the standard AABB. The AABB rhyme pattern is when the first and second stanzas rhyme with each other and the third and fourth stanzas rhyme, the rhymes usually falling on the last word of the stanza. Kool Moe Dee was also deliberate with his content and tailored it towards the situation, while Busy Bee Starski was much more focused on the crowd and maintaining the party vibe as was common in the 1970s during the birth of Hip Hop. This was shaping up to be a battle of the Old School party style versus this new lyrical Emcee style that was emerging. Kool Moe Dee would end the night the victor and the game would never be the same. You could no longer appease the audience with just gibberish and simple party rhymes, they demand substance. As the rap lyric goes, “Talking all day but ain't saying nothing” (unknown). This was no longer acceptable as the people wanted more. Hip Hop's rhizomatic nature allowed it to expand into many areas and address many issues and feelings and vibes that the community needed. It was created by the community, for the community and catered to the needs of the people. James Spady speaks in his article on the spread of Hip Hop throughout the globe: "Nowadays, Hip Hop on a global level is not only an exclusive expression of the Afro-American and Latino identities, but it also represents an interconnected global movement (we could call it a movement of protest, but in a particular sense, more 'virtual'). There exists a global and urban Hip Hop culture that is propelled by transatlantic exchange and transfer. It's part of the Atlantic Negro, Black Atlantic, as part of a historical, cultural, and political interchange system, just as Paul Gilroy formulated. In the last two decades, hip hop has begun to be understood as an articulation of local conflicts which have the sole function of integration for the ethnic minorities in European cities. It emerges from the migration and encounter of different cultures that when merged allow the revelation of new codes. Because of its specific aesthetic of participation, Hip Hop culture has transformed into a form of 'protest against' the urban crisis, social fragmentation, and racial or ethnic segregation. We are not talking about the dominant Hip Hop culture shown on MTV, we are referring to a transnational underground culture network, which has its roots in the Afro-American experience but has transformed into a global urban language employed by the ethnic minorities in several cities of the world" (Spady). I really loved the ways that James Spady was able to contextualize the spread of Hip Hop as organic and used as a form of protest. It falls perfectly in line with the Rhizomatous nature of Hip Hop culture, and the overt political act of protest that Hip Hop’s mere existence created. Just like a rhizome Hip Hop cannot be contained to a single geographic location. The conditions that birthed it exist in so many other parts of the planet. Hip Hop deterritorialized spaces and is a truly transborder and transnational form of cultural expression that morphs and changes as it traverses these spaces. Black and Brown's folks reeling from the effects of settler colonialist policies, racialized forms of policing, economic divestment, and the “thingification” of black and brown folks that have simulated and recreated these exact conditions all over the colonized nations (Cesaire). From these conditions have arisen new forms and representations of Hip Hop. The unique cultures of each region have an amazing influence on how music is created and expressed. From Puerto Rico to Guatemala and El Salvador, each story is different and unique, and this culture allows for the expression of a truly decolonized narrative, told from the perspective of the conquered, the oppressed, and the wretched of this earth (Fanon). This is a powerful form of art because of its deep connection to the African American experience in America and how that experience has been mirrored to some extent by black and indigenous communities in Puerto Rico and Central America. How did Hip Hop culture arrive in these countries and once there how did it morph and evolve into something truly different yet similar? In places like Puerto Rico, we see Hip Hop arrive a lot sooner than in Central America. Each country has a distinct history that then shapes the people’s participation in Hip Hop. How have the scars of colonialism and war affected this transmission? How does Hip Hop allow Black and Indigenous people to exist before it becomes commodified? Borinken Puerto Ricans were given second-class US “citizenship”, granted to them by President Woodrow Wilson on March 2, 1917, as part of a piece of legislation known as the Jones Act. This act officially wiped out the autonomy and individuality of Puerto Rico as a separate and sovereign nation with a distinct cultural history. As a result of this citizenship status that was thrust upon the island of Borinken, Puerto Ricans were able to freely travel to and from the island and the mainland US in a circular migration. In 1939, Operation Bootstrap would bring many Puerto Ricans to the United States to fill cheap job roles in the industrial sectors such as steel and automotive. Through this program my family would make their way to a small town near Cleveland, Ohio called Lorain where many Puerto Ricans arrived and still live today in a Boriqua community enclave. Neoliberalism and circular migration were powerful forces in the arrival and evolution of Hip Hop in Puerto Rico. Marisol Lebron states in her seminal work, Policing Life and Death: Race, Violence, and Resistance in Puerto Rico, “The forces that contributed to the development of underground rap illuminate a series of larger transformations affecting Puerto Rican society during the 1980s. As cultural theorist Mayra Santos Febres notes, Puerto Rican rap is a musical expression of the failures of US colonialism and development. Rap music and the culture that developed around it highlight the difficult realities of circular migration and the implementation of a neoliberal economic agenda. Young people from marginalized communities became key participants, both as fans and artists, in Puerto Rico's bourgeoning rap scene over the course of the 1980s and 1990s, as they were the population most likely to be exposed to neoliberal dislocations and circular migration survival strategies.” (Lebron 85). With the free flow of travel between Puerto Rico, we see Hip Hop and other influences from the United States seep into Puerto Rican mainstream culture. When Hip Hop arrived in Puerto Rico it quickly established a diverse underground movement. This began in the early 1980s brought by the Nuyoricans (Puerto Ricans from New York) returning home to the island and bringing back the cultural influences they were exposed to in the boroughs. The underground Hip Hop scene would initially start to bubble in the town of Carolina, near the airport, and on the west side of the island by the former Ramey military base near Aguadilla. The base has since been converted to the Aguadilla Airport. The movement would begin with the 4 elements of Hip Hop being thoroughly represented, graffiti artists, break-dancers, DJs, and emcees. The rapping style was a mix of Spanish and English known as Spanglish and I attribute this to a lot of the early pioneers being Nuyoricans who were already being exposed to the English language in New York and mixing it with their native language to create this unique Spanglish hybrid. This was all taking place roughly from 1987-1988, at a time when in the United States the Hip Hop scene was experiencing a drastic shift that many would laud as its “Golden Era”, at this exact time, this Spanglish hybridization of language and music was happening across the island of Puerto Rico. Puerto Ricans were some of the very first people to rap in Spanish and start to blend and mix their native language and sounds. Puerto Rican musical historian Yoel Gaetan tells us in his book, Al Destierro Los Farsantes Una Historia Oral del Hip Hop Boriqua about the first Spanish rappers, “Se conoce exactamente quién fue el primero que rapeo palabras en espanol en una canción y este fue Mr. Schick (Daniel Rivera) en la canción “Disco Dream” de su grupo, The Mean Machine en 1981, editado por Sugar Hill Records.” (Gaetan 5). Around this time on the island, the topics began to change to address more conscious themes and the underground artists were infusing these themes into their music. Early Pioneers of this socially conscious movement were artists such as D-Squad, Vico C, and MC Base. This early Hip Hop scene really birthed and influenced a lot of what was to become Reggaeton music on the island of Puerto Rico. This mashup really begins in Panama with the mashing up of reggae music and “riddims” (reggae beats) with Spanish covers of popular reggae songs. This would eventually evolve into original songs in Spanish over reggae beats sung in a patois style. The Caribbean influence in Panama arrived as a result of workers brought over to work on the Panama Canal, the musical influences they brought with them quickly hybridized with local sounds and language. Eventually, it would make its way to New York and become popularized by the likes of artists like El General. It would then make its way to Puerto Rico where it would become the “underground” and eventually become the Reggaeton we know today. Both Hip Hop and Reggaeton really came out of the Black experience and from the start was criminalized by the authorities and not supported by the government or the Puerto Rican community at large, it was “underground” and had cult followings in primarily poor black communities. This was evident with the creation of “Malianteo”, a street-based genre of reggaeton/hip hop that spoke about street life and police brutality. The targeting of the music had more to do with the attempt to exert force and power over populations that have been historically marginalized and silenced, this culture allows for a direct rejection of these policies and amplifies the voices of the people. As Raquel Rivera states in her seminal work Reggaeton, “Hundreds of cassettes and compact discs of underground rap and reggae music- a genre known on the island as simply “underground” and which later developed into reggaeton- were confiscated…The high-profile raids brought underground music to the forefront of public discourse and triggered a fierce debate regarding morality, censorship, and artistic freedom.” (Rivera 111). This is a common way that the black community in Puerto Rico has been erased and marginalized. The myth of mestizaje has misconstrued the realities of the colorism and overt racism that many dark-skinned and Afro-Boriquas experience by the government, police, and society in general. Hip Hop crews would form in this period of the early and mid-1990s. They would come to represent the new wave of Puerto Rican artists, expressing themselves primarily in Spanish and mixing and blending various influences. The most popular crews at this time were groups such as No Mel Syndicate and Vanguardia Subterranea. Many see this as the “Golden Era” of Puerto Rican underground Hip Hop. A shift was also occurring in la Isla in the content of the music and its approach, shifting from a primarily party type of music and vibe to something that was infused with more socially and politically conscious topics. Tego Calderon is one of the strongest examples of this at the time, infusing Afro-Latin rhythms from Bomba y Plena, and including instruments such as conga and bongo into his music. His lyrics painted a vivid picture of how life is growing up on Borinken when you are black and shone a light on the myths of racial unity and harmony. By the 2000s, new musical influences had already arrived and started to hybridize with the local underground Hip Hop scene. There was certainly a blending and somewhat of a divergence as well with those that wanted to keep it “pure”. The fight between underground and mainstream is a common and constant debate amongst fans and pundits alike. Influences that began to emerge and feature more prominently were Jamaican Dancehall and Spanish reggae spilling out of Panama. These movements unto themselves would coalesce in Puerto Rico and create something truly unique. These mashups are best heard through mixtapes like The Noise, Playero, and Las Gargolas. A divergence occurred with those that gravitated towards Reggaeton as a means of expressing themselves through “rap”, and others that stuck to the underground aesthetic. There were some artists such as Tego Calderon who were able to toe the line between underground rappers as well as a Reggaetonero. As Reggaeton was thought of as a party type of music the infusion of social and political topics was not as present early on, however, there were some exceptions, especially with the music of Tego Calderon. On his debut album El Abayarde, Tego seamlessly infuses elements of Hip Hop, Reggaeton, Bomba y Plena, and even Salsa into the album, showing up the possibility of creativity and the limitlessness that this art form can provide. This split wasn’t definitive, and some artists were able to juggle both of these genres, the underground Hip Hop scene as well as the party-type atmosphere of the Reggaeton scene. It took pioneering artist such as Tego, an Afro-Puerto Rican from Loiza, Puerto Rico, to begin to address the issues of race and inequality in Puerto Rican society and speak to the hypocrisy of the government, all to a catchy “Dembow Riddim”, which is the backbone of all Reggaeton music. The “Dembow Riddim” is a beat from a song called “Dem Bow” written and performed by Jamaican artist Shabba Ranks. It was released in 1990. It is common in Reggae for beats or “Riddims” to be reused and sampled many times over from different artists. In this vein of fair usage and inspiration the “Dembow Riddim” became the backbone beat for all Reggaeton music and even influenced its own genre of music by the same name. The power and influence of this early underground Hip Hop scene in Puerto Rico cannot be overstated. It set the foundation for what was to be one of the most popular musical genres of our generation, with the adoption of Reggaeton from Panama and the growing and evolving of that art form into a worldwide phenomenon. The global impact of Reggaeton artists such as Bad Bunny has shown us the far reach that this musical genre has and the ability for Hip Hop to adapt and morph into new and unique expressions of art and resistance, a true rhizome. It does not stand alone either with Hip Hop just as strong of a worldwide influence if not arguably stronger and on the island, the two genres are uniquely intertwined. The early underground Hip Hop and Reggaeton scenes in Puerto Rico were a subculture unto themselves, like those of the early Punk Rock movement. The early Puerto Rican rap groups did touch on some of the social issues present at the time in Puerto Rican society, but there was also this deep longing to be on the radio and to “make it” in the mainstream. Just their mere existence was a political act as they were marginalized Afro-Latino communities rebelling and making a stand. My thoughts are that this is why it was easy for many early underground Hip Hop artists to make the pivot to Reggaeton as their primary form of expression. This would allow them the possibility of greater exposure to the mainstream due to the relative palatability of Reggaeton to a mainstream audience, as opposed to the hard-hitting beats, flows, and lyrics represented in the underground Hip Hop movement at that time (Gaetan). I must give tremendous credit to Puerto Rican music historian Yoel Gaetan, who was able to unlock the history of Hip Hop in Puerto Rico. These stories intersect with my time on the island from 1997-1998 where I was being exposed to some of these underground Hip Hop mixtapes. To be able to speak with Yoel really allowed me to see the transnational reach of Hip Hop and how it is uniquely intertwined with the Puerto Rican experience and how it has birthed countless genres and subcultures, all splinters from the same tree, fed from the same roots of creativity, marginalization, and cultural expressions. His encyclopedic knowledge of groups and artists put into perspective the depth to which this art form penetrated Puerto Ricans on the island and how it was used as a vehicle to speak about the very present issues of colonialism, poverty, racism, and discrimination. “Hip-hop provides both a politics of recognition and rage and an aspirational focus (Pieterse, 2010) for urban youth up against marginalization, isolation, and exclusion. As Pieterse (ibid.: 432) argues, hip-hop music challenges urban exclusion, violence, and exploitation by ‘offering an alternative sense of place, a means of interpreting the world’ and, I would add, also a different way of being” (Lamotte). Central America Hip Hop arrived in Central America and more specifically El Salvador in a drastically different way than it did in Puerto Rico. The conditions that existed in El Salvador because of the United States-funded Civil War that ravaged the nation created a mass exodus of refugees fleeing the war-torn country. Many would make their way up North in hopes of applying for asylum and being granted entry. However, that is not how things played out. They were criminalized and not allowed in. As the United States was in direct financial support of this conflict, they refused to accept anyone as it would indict them of supporting a murderous regime. Many would arrive clandestinely in Los Angeles and settle in the MacArthur Park area and eventually into parts of South Los Angeles and East Los Angeles. Here in Los Angeles, some Central Americans would often band together to survive the conditions of Los Angeles Street life during the 1980s and 1990s and even into the present. It would become the genesis of the MS-13 and 18th Street gangs. With the incarceration and eventual deportation of these men back to El Salvador and Guatemala, they would take more than just the gang culture with them. They would also take back some of the influences that they had come to love and associate with while living in the new home they had made, or for some, the only home that they had ever known in Los Angeles. One of these influences was the culture, specifically in the way of dress, talk, graffiti art, and musical expressions that they had come to relate to. Guatemalan Hip Hop legend Dj Flako states, “Cuando entro aquí la influencia así fuerte de las pandillas tenía un poco también de la mano con hip hop verdad porque había muchos deportados que traían nuevamente pues ya la música, la cultura, entonces eso en alguno u otra manera hizo lo que más gente tuvieran nos contactó” (DJ Flako interview). Gangster rap music in Los Angeles has been described by some as a form of “Street Reporting”, telling news reports from the streets as told by people who live and work on those blocks. It provides an alternate perspective that is rarely seen or heard. This style of rap and “Street reporting” was also deported back to El Salvador. Upon their deportation and arrival in El Salvador, many were instantly targeted for their gang affiliations from all sides. You have rival gang factions, extrajudicial “death squads” made up of ex-police and military, and then the actual state itself which exercises the power to kill with impunity. This leads many to begin to use this music to tell their stories and provide an alternative perspective to what is portrayed in the media where the story is always one-sided. Robin Kelley speaks of the importance of not dismissing gangster rap, “But it would be a mistake to dismiss gangster rap and other genres of hip hop as useless creations of the marketplace. If we want to know the political climate among urban youth, we should still listen to the music and, most importantly, to the young people who fill the deadened, congested spaces of the city with these sonic forces” (Kelley 225). This has an especially personal connection for me as my father was involved in gang culture for most of his life and was incarcerated for over 80% of his adult life in the United States. Upon his release from prison, he was deported back to El Salvador in the mid-1990s. This is during a time of extreme oppression and targeting of gang members who have been deported back to El Salvador. He would lose his life in a confrontation with a police officer. Upon further study, I find this tragic story the norm for many young men returning to El Salvador, for some a familiar place but for many their first-time setting foot on their native soil. To instantly feel the pressure of being targeted is an intense prospect and one that many must contend with immediately, which leads some to seek the safety of familiarity and numbers. One of the ways to deal with angst is the creation of Mara Salvatrucha rap. “Mara Salvatrucha hip hop reflects violence, yes, but it also articulates the poverty and hardship that this marginalized community experiences, while also asserting the notion that banding together as a group provides the only real protection from these many societal ills that threaten to wipe them out.” (Jacky 4). By no means are these musical expressions polished and advanced in their production or recording efforts, but they are in the vein of many of the early pioneers who used what equipment they had at their disposal in a very organic and grassroots way. Many influences are gleaned from West Coast gangster rap culture such as music production, style of dress, music video representation, and to a small degree, similar themes are addressed in the lyrics. One of the main themes of Mara Rap, especially in the representations present in their music videos, is that they are completely in charge of controlling the narrative around how they are perceived. They provide positionality that is unmistakable and shows the public, “This is us, and this is what we are about!” This decolonized narrative is powerful in its authenticity and frame of reference. In their music, the Maras frequently tout their transborder and transnational reach, shouting out different towns and countries in which they have strongholds. They also “bang their sets” (represent their gang’s name and territory) on their songs to proudly proclaim their affiliations. “Rap allows these urban youths to tell their stories, narrate their lives and the history of their community, and persevere despite the violence and misery. Rap becomes their means towards durability and permanence in a fleeting and often truncated life” (Jacky 12). This connection to gang culture has been a stigma that has been very hard to shake for the Hip Hop community in El Salvador and Guatemala. The fear and violence that have been perpetuated by the state and by the gangs have created an image that has become inextricably linked to Hip Hop culture. From the style of dress, way of talking, and artistic expression all aspects of Hip Hop culture have been tied to gangs and many artists have had close run-ins with police and gangs alike, some ending very violently. To practice Hip Hop in Central America can be a dangerous act and, in my opinion, a direct political action fighting for visibility in a place and space that is attempting to silence and erase your very existence. Neoliberal policies in El Salvador began to intensify the most during 1989-2009 when the elites shifted to a transnational economic model of accumulation. Steven Osuna states in his article, Transnational Moral Panic Neoliberalism and the Specter of MS-13, “The peace accords and the postwar policies replaced a revolutionary war with an economic one. ‘Reforms, especially privatization, allowed elites to regroup under the postwar conditions and to colonize new spaces of power, thereby reproducing the inequities at the base of Salvadoran social conflict’, Haglund argues. 48 The privatization of state industries, the banking system, tax reforms, defunding of public institutions, the growth of the maquiladora industry, free trade policies with Mexico and Chile, the dollarization of the Salvadoran economy and the signing of the Dominican Republic-Central American Free Trade Agreement in 2004 produced economic inequality far worse than before the revolutionary war. To respond to crime emerging from this immiseration, the Salvadoran government under ARENA passed the Private Security Services Law in 2014 that proliferated an industry of private security whose profits in 2003 reached an estimated $82.9 million and soared to $319 million in 2005.49 The emergence of a transnational capitalist class did not mean the end of the Salvadoran oligarchy; rather, this led to the reorganization of the ruling class into business groups such as Grupo Cuscatlan, Grupo Banagricola, Grupo Banco Salvadoreño and Grupo Banco de Comercio” (Osuna 11). I argue that these Neoliberal policies mirrored a lot of the same conditions that birthed Hip Hop culture in the South Bronx during the late 1970s. Black, Brown and Indigenous folks are marginalized, and their voices are silenced, this culture allows for them to express themselves and protest these attempts at erasure. In Guatemala, we see the emergence of a blending of Hip Hop with indigenous Mayan language, and sounds like a true hybridization. One of the pioneering groups in Guatemala has been Balam Ajpu who dropped their first official project in 2012 titled, Jun Winaq Rajawal Qij (Tributo a los 20 Nawales). They incorporate different Mayan languages such as Tz’utujil, K’iche, and Kaqchikel as well as Spanish. The group comes out of Lago Atitlan, more specifically San Pedro La Laguna where the members also run a school named Casa Ahua Escuela de Hip Hop, where lessons in Hip Hop and Mayan culture are taught. This blending of local culture and activism is what truly fascinates me. One of the artists who work on this project is Doctor Nativo, one of the founding members of the Bacteria Soundsystem crew and cousin to Dj Flako. He is also the founding member of Barrio Candela and is a prolific artist currently residing in Florida. DJ Flako While speaking with pioneering Guatemalan artist Dj Flako, founder of Bacteria Soundsystem Crew, Hip Hop really entered the scene from the influx of Hip Hop movies in the 80s such as “Breaking”, "Style Wars”, “Beat Street” and later “WildStyle”. These films would introduce the youth in Guatemala to a new culture, a new aesthetic, and a new avenue to express themselves creatively. It wouldn’t be until the arrival of the deportees from Los Angeles that the Hip Hop culture would begin to take off. There was and remains a stigma in the region connecting Hip Hop culture to the gang culture that initially brought it down to Central America. This stigma has cost many people their lives and livelihoods and has been one of the greatest obstacles in the majority of the population, media, and government accepting Hip Hop music, practically no local Hip Hop artist gets any radio play on their local stations. The stigma is starting to dissipate but there is still quite a way to go towards national acceptance and support of this cultural art form that is expressed through the 4 elements of Breakdancing, Graffiti, Emceeing, and Djing. According to DJ Flako, the first elements to make an impact were Breakdancing and Graffiti. Graffiti has always been prevalent in Guatemala and El Salvador in the form of gang tags that would denote a gang’s turf that they controlled especially in the 70s and 80s. What hip hop did was change the style of these “tags' ' and start to add a more artistic approach to putting your name up and would begin creating “pieces”, short for masterpieces, elaborate works of art that required lots of skill, can control, and paint. This is a far cry from the random “throw-ups'' and quick gang tags that adorned the city walls. Regardless of the obvious distinction between these two styles of artistic expression, hip-hop graffiti artists were targeted by the state and labeled as vandals and gang members and were targeted by the gang members themselves. Many Hip Hop artists lost their lives or retired outright to avoid the drama caused by their artistic expression. This inclusion of Hip Hop into the gang conversation has prevented Hip Hop from truly expanding as it has in the United States, Europe, Mexico, and other countries in the West. Local Hip Hop is rarely if ever played on the local radio stations and shows are few and far between. Finding locations and promoters is also rare and only a select few even venture to put on consistent hip-hop shows, and it is always a challenge. It appears to me in my preliminary research that Hip Hop in Guatemala and El Salvador had influences early on in its genesis that were more focused on the social and political expression and the reach that Hip Hop provided, more so than the “party” atmosphere or mainstream commercial appeal that was evident in the early stages of Hip Hop in New York and Puerto Rico. This is perhaps directly correlated to the harsh conditions in Central America, exacerbated by the war and social repression that may not have existed to that extreme degree on la Isla. Abandonment and neglect are common themes that arise when discussing these communities and Hip Hop has been a powerful amplifier of the voices in these very communities to share their stories and air their grievances all the while expressing themselves creatively. This isn’t to say that there wasn’t any party type of record, Hip Hop being inherently rhizomatic it is uncontrollable in its spread and where it draws its inspiration from. Hip Hop music has always allowed the creator to express a myriad of feelings and emotions from fun, carefree and party lifestyle to politics, protest, and critique, that is the beauty of the rhizome; spontaneous and uncontrollable. Blossoming Hip Hop is a culture that is very special to me. It is something that I discovered as a young child and jumped into wholeheartedly and have been actively living it ever since. It has shaped me and guided me along my path through life and allowed me to be different, to be myself, and to have an outlet to express myself creatively. Having the opportunity to weave my academic journey with my love of Hip Hop has set me on a very special trajectory of discovering my own identity and finding out who I am. Being El Salvadoran and Puerto Rican I knew that I wanted to do a dive, even if only merely dipping a toe into the water of these amazing cultures and discovering how they have intertwined themselves with hip-hop culture. Having the opportunity to create an album that allowed me to explore these deeply personal themes was very special to me. Combining my love of research and my love of artistic creation was something that I never imagined would be possible. This album that I created Raizes, is a testament to my roots and ancestry, an ode to Hip Hop music, a dive into identity, a rhizomatic harvest of sorts, and a true expression of myself. While making it I was able to uncover themes that arose throughout the readings and lectures in this program and connect them directly to my experience in school and life in general. Addressing themes like identity, loss, love, family, capitalism, indigeneity, contradictions, artistic expression, goals and growth, friendship, and roots allowed me to simulate the themes from my academic journey into something that was personal and an authentic expression of myself and my trajectory. One of the common themes that I noticed arose many times in my work was the absence of my father in my life. It was not an intentional addition but a subconscious one that has shown me the power of absence and the trauma of not knowing. Through my studies in Latin America, I was able to discover some of the conditions that my father came out of and how those experiences may have shaped his life choices. His long and perilous journey to the United States, his initiation into the 18 street gang, his drug and alcohol problems, domestic violence at home, his countless incarcerations, and his eventual deportation, up until the fight in San Miguel, El Salvador that would leave him with a head injury that would cause his death. All these things resonate and influence the decisions I have made and will continue to make in my life. My mother who was a rock and the foundation that kept us from being swept away does not get enough credit from me in my memory bank. This has a lot to do with the trauma caused by remarriage and being fatherless attempting to find my place in this new family dynamic. It is now in my adulthood that we have forged a strong bond that defies the usual mother/son dynamic. Being a part of the LAS program and getting the opportunity to dive into the history of Puerto Rico really gave me a deeper understanding of my family, specifically my great-grandmother and great-grandfather and the journey they undertook trying to raise such a large family on the farm in Lares, Puerto Rico being so poor. The journey that was taken by my great uncle to Lorain, Ohio as a part of Operation Bootstrap really opened the door for my family, like many other Puerto Ricans, to make their way to the US and begin to put down deep roots into the earth. It is through these roots that I was able to be myself and discover Hip Hop at a young age and use it as a form of expression. Just like all of those before me, Hip Hop has allowed me to be myself and express any emotion that I may be feeling, this album Raizes is a representation of the multifaceted nature of the human being and the ways that music can help us share these stories with the world. Harvest Hip Hop has spread across the globe and has become a part of mainstream culture through capitalism and its ever-present grip and influence on the world. A magical thing occurred when Hip Hop reached parts of Latin America when the hybridization of Hip Hop with local music and culture created something special and unique. New sounds emerged from the mash and a new way to express oneself was born. In Guatemala it is best seen in groups like Balam Ajpu and Rebeca Lane mixing Mayan languages and indigenous instrumentation into their orchestrations, discussing themes relative to the struggles of indigenous Mayan communities. In El Salvador, the Mara rap has strong ties to the gangster rap of Los Angeles and has morphed into something uniquely guanaco, puro El Salvador. Jacky Alejandro studies the song “La mara anda suelta” and concludes that, “Rap allows these urban youths to tell their stories, narrate their lives and the history of their community, and persevere in spite of the violence and misery. Rap becomes their means towards durability and permanence in a fleeting and often truncated life” (Alejandro 12). In Puerto Rico, the complicated legacy of colonialism that is still very much alive, as Puerto Rico has never ceased to be colonized and controlled by the U.S. has made Puerto Ricans uniquely tied to the mainland. Their forced US citizenship has allowed them free travel back and forth between the island and the U.S. mainland and has resulted in large communities of Puerto Ricans emigrating to New York City and Florida. This free flow of travel resulted in the mixing and blending of cultures and a unique transborder experience in which Hip Hop was existing and developed simultaneously across the island and in the boroughs of New York. Back on the island rappers began to create their own music incorporating influences from reggae music including the accents and patois of Jamaica and the West Indies. Artists like Tego Calderon would begin to blur the boundaries between rap and Reggaeton and incorporate sounds of traditional Afro-Puerto Rican music like Bomba y Plena and Salsa into his music. These hybrid sounds would become the bedrock of Puerto Rican urban music. Through Hip Hop culture many artists were able to take control and truly decolonize the narrative around their identity and their fight against the system and own it, showing a positionality that is the foundation of cultural expression. These neglected and marginalized Black and Indigenous communities have many things in common and are all victims of the echoes of colonialism and use this Black form of cultural expression to tell their story. It is a uniquely African American art form that has a direct connection to the Black communities throughout Puerto Rico and Central America, all remnants of colonies past and present. Like a rhizome, Hip Hop could not be contained in a single area, it could not be controlled, manipulated, or coerced, it spread as organically and spontaneously as a rhizome underground. Perhaps it is fitting that the early movements in Hip Hop were looked at and spoken of as an “underground” movement because it is there in the dark and crowded underground where the rhizome was biding its time and slowly propagating clones of itself that would morph into something truly special and unique depending on where they burst out of the soil, whether on the island of Puerto Rico or the war-torn and blood-soaked soils of El Salvador and Guatemala. A small caveat that I would like to add about Hip Hop in El Salvador. There are currently many changes happening on the ground at a rapid pace. The government has been working hard to co-opt the Hip Hop movement and mobilize the youth around President Bukele and the government of Nueva Ideas. They have created CUBOS (Centros Urbanos de Bienestar y Oportunidades) in low-income communities at one time plagued by violence but since the state of exemption and brutal crackdown of all dissidents have become “safer” according to the government. These CUBOS are places where the youth can go, there is free Wi-Fi, recording equipment, and other activities and services. On April 29, 2023, an event was held in the capital where thousands of people attended. It was a free show and was sponsored by FMS Caribe (Freestyle Master Series), connected to the label Urban Roosters, where elite battle rappers from Latin America competed for the crown. The media arm of the government ran a robust media campaign promoting the event and their involvement. There are 8 more stops in other countries throughout Latin America and it is yet to be seen how those other shows will stack up to the one held in San Salvador. All the money to organize the event was provided by the government of Bukele which really means the taxes collected from the people of El Salvador. Hip Hop has always been the music of the people, by the people, and for the people, with an anti-systemic tone that critiqued the government and the conditions that they forced the people to survive under. This co-opting of the Hip Hop movement is a singular event that is only occurring in El Salvador now, but can potentially become the model for other dictators in the region to use to buy the popular vote. Hip Hop is not for sale. Work CITEDAnsfield, Bench. “The Broken Windows of the Bronx: Putting the Theory in Its Place.” American quarterly 72.1 (2020): 103–127. Web. Baker, Geoffrey. “¡Hip Hop, Revolución! Nationalizing Rap in Cuba.” Ethnomusicology, vol. 49, no. 3, University of Illinois Press, 2005, pp. 368–402, http://www.jstor.org/stable/20174403. Balam Ajpu. Jun Winaq Rajawal Qij (Tributo a los 20 Nawales). Performance by Tzutu Baktun Kan, M.C.H.E. and Dr. Nativo. 2020. Bell, Elizabeth R. "“This Isn't Underground; This Is Highlands”: Mayan-Language Hip Hop, Cultural Resilience, and Youth Education in Guatemala." Journal of Folklore Research 54.3 (2017): 167-197. Cesaire, Aime. Discourse on Colonialism. AAKAR Books, 2018. Chang, Jeff, et al. Can't Stop Won't Stop: A Hip-Hop History. Wednesday Books, 2021. Fanon, Frantz, et al. The Wretched of the Earth. Grove Press, 2021. Flores, Juan. From bomba to hip-hop: Puerto Rican culture and Latino identity. Columbia University Press, 2000. Gaetán, Yoel. Al Destierro Los Farsantes: 30 Años De Hip Hop En Puerto Rico, 1985-2015. Forgotten Youth Records, 2022. Gaetan, Yoel. “Contra Viento y Marea: The Best Underground Hip Hop in Puerto Rico” RelojBomba.org, 2015 https://relojbomba.org/2016/01/01/reloj-bomba-contra-viento-y-marea-the-best-underground-hip-hop-in-puerto-rico-2015/ Jacky, Alejandro. "Hip Hop is not Dead: The Emergence of Mara Salvatrucha Rap as a form of MS-13 Expressive Culture." (2014). Kelley Robin D. G. Race Rebels: Culture, Politics, and the Black Working Class. Free Press, 1996. Lamotte, Martin. “Rebels Without a Pause: Hip-Hop and Resistance in the City.” International journal of urban and regional research 38.2 (2014): 686–694. Web. LeBrón Marisol. Policing Life and Death: Race, Violence, and Resistance in Puerto Rico. University of California Press, 2019. Nava, Alejandro. “Afro-Latin Soul and Hip-Hop.” In Search of Soul: Hip-Hop, Literature, and Religion, 1st ed., University of California Press, 2017, pp. 204–34, http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1525/j.ctt1rrdb1f.12. Osuna, Steven. “Transnational Moral Panic: Neoliberalism and the Spectre of MS-13.” Race & Class, vol. 61, no. 4, 2020, pp. 3–28., https://doi.org/10.1177/0306396820904304. Rivera, Raquel Z., et al. Reggaeton. Duke University Press, 2009. Rivera-Rideau, Petra R. Remixing reggaetón: The Cultural Politics of Race in Puerto Rico. Duke University Press, 2015. Riviere, Melisa. Son dos alas: A multimedia ethnography of hip-hop between Cuba and Puerto Rico. University of Minnesota, 2010. Spady, James G. “Mapping and Re-Membering Hip Hop History, Hiphopography and African Diasporic History.” The Western journal of black studies 37.2 (2013): 126–157. Print. MOREListen to Carlos' new and original song "Nuevas Raizes" below! Give a Listen to Carlos' Podcast: Loud - The History of Reggaeton
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