LA MONA JIMENEZ – MONERO DE ALMA – CD 1
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Hip hop music arrived in Cuba via radio and TV broadcasts from Miami. During the s hip hop culture in Cuba was mainly centred on breakdancing. But by the s, with the collapse of the Soviet Union and the onset of the Special Periodyoung "raperos" were seeking ways to express their frustrations.
Initially hip hop was viewed with suspicion, not just by the government, but by many in the community as well. With raperos emulating US rappers' aggressive posturing and lyrical content, hip cd monero de alma la mona jimenez videos was seen as just another cultural invasion from the US, bringing with it the violence and problems of the ghettos. The importation and the birth of Cuban rap could be debatable, but many argue that the importation of U.
S rap and its influence was brought from Miami. Rap cd monero de alma la mona jimenez videos Cuba approximately quarter century ago but it was not imported to Cuba until the s after the fall of the Soviet Union. Cuban rappers injected a renovating energy into Cuban music that was taken from hip hop culture. G, Ice-T, Snoop Dogg and many more influential gangster rappers.
Gradually this began to change as raperos began to express their own reality and make use of traditional Cuban culture. One sentiment expressed involved how Cuban politics were not keeping pace with social reality.
All Cubans are discouraged from visiting government-designated 'tourist zones,' such as the fancy restaurants and night clubs in Old Havana, and police will ask most who show up there for ID. But statistics show that the police arrest Afrocubans all over the island more often cd monero de alma la mona jimenez videos Whites.
Many Afrocubans say the government assumes Blacks are more likely to be involved in criminal activity. The financial constraints of tourist geared night clubs that only accept dollars cd monero de alma la mona jimenez videos venues that cost up to the equivalent of a standard monthly Cuban salary for entry also aided in the significance of house parties in the Cuban hip hop cd monero de alma la mona jimenez videos.
The small, underground gatherings or cd monero de alma la mona jimenez videos parties were referred to as bonches. The bonches were for the true hip hop fans who were into the less accessible rap in Cuba. The venue did charge a small fee, but it stayed more of a social than commercial club, remaining loyal to the underground scene.
Many moneros were interested in creating their own rap, but lack of equipment prevented the formation of professional Cuban hip hop groups until the establishment of the Havana Hip Hop Festival. Ina group of rappers organized a Hip-hop festival. The annual Hip Hop festival consisted of 50 Cuban and cd monero de alma la mona jimenez videos foreign cd monero de alma la mona jimenez videos Mos Def and The Roots have supported the event as well as many others.
As Hip-hop became more popular, it reached the youth of Cuba and many other countries. As a result, several thousand people globally have attended the festival in previous years.
In the mids, the music scene was one of the most promising for Cubans to meet tourists and gain possible access to much needed hard currency. Hip-hop developed new dance moves involving the 'solo' female body: Often accompanied by hand and body gestures mimicking self-pleasuring, it constituted a noticeable change in dance style, of women dancing to be 'looked at' both by their partners, by other prospective partners, and by other spectators, using their body as a major asset.
This was in contrast to traditional dancing such as normative couple dancing. The change in both attitude towards hip hop and the move cd monero de alma la mona jimenez videos home grown expression was in part facilitated by the cd monero de alma la mona jimenez videos of New Afrikan Revoluationay Nehanda Abiodun, [11] a U.
Black Liberation Army activist in political exile in Cuba. Cuban rappers admire the success of U. Despite poor promotion and the remote location, the first festival, organized as a friendly competition among the growing group of rap artists in and around Havana, became a huge success with moneros' and 'raperos'. The same year, Cuba's first all-female rap group, Instintosecured second place for their energetically charged rap flow and performance.
Fidel Castro deemed hip hop music to be at the "vanguard of the Revolution" because of its revolutionary message. The Agencia Cubana de Rap is the state's organization that runs a record label and hip hop magazine, Movimiento. Upset with what she saw as blind imitation of commercial US rap culture with its depiction of thug life, violence, and misogyny, Abiodun began working with the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement in the US to bring progressive US hip hop artists to Cuba.
The Black August Collective cd monero de alma la mona jimenez videos was formed, and the concerts these progressive US artists gave in Cuba, played a key role in expanding and raising the profile of conscious, politicized rap within Cuba. Many Cuban rappers felt an affinity to the revolutionary aspects of the work these artists created.
The youth of Cuba were fascinated not only by this style of music, but also by the Black Pride of the performers. Cuba however, had neither turntables nor black vinyl, making it impossible for these exotic new sounds to be duplicate within Cuba. Due to a lack of sophisticated equipment in Cuba, the hip hop that has emerged features simple beats [19] which naturally leads to an emphasis on the lyrical content.
Just like earlier American hip hop, Cuban hip hop has developed as an outlet to convey politically charged and socially conscious messages. Some say that Havana, host of the Hip Hop Festival, is the new home of old school.
Another contributor to hip hop's recognition as authentic Cuban culture was Grupo Unoa collective from an East Havana cultural center, and rock promoter Rodolfo Renzoli. In an effort to spurn political criticism that Cuban rap was not nationalistic, the festival teamed with the Asociacion Hermanos Sais to help jump start the project. The greatest boosts to this movement came from the Hermanos Saiz Associations support, the Orishas phenomenon, the foundation of the Cuban Agency of Rap and an increase in public appreciation.
The aesthetics and style of the Cuban rappers draw from Afro-Cuban rhythms and roots, the influences of jazz, reggae, funk, soul and rock and roll, and social consciousness. Attracted to the social themes embedded in the lyrics and the energetic, rhythmic beats, the festival was a hit. Hundreds of rappers converged on the stage and for the first time were publicly able to share their words and ideas.
The winner of the festivals rap contest was a group by the name of Primera Base, a name that made reference to both Cuba's national sport, baseball, and that a base for rap in Cuba was being established. In Music, Space, and Place, ed. Whitely, Bennett, and Hawkins, In his words, "The social role it is playing is very important, Cuban rap is criticizing the deficiencies that exist in society, but in a constructive way, educating youth and opening spaces to create a better society.
Harry Belafonte is credited with explaining hip hop culture to Fidel Castro at a luncheon. Fidel was so impressed that he called hip hop "the vanguard of the revolution" and was even seen rapping alongside the group Doble Filo at the opening of a baseball game.
Fernandez claimed that the founders of Nueva Trova "showed the direction for how to make revolution with the music Hip hop and rap clubs, while scarce today in Cuba, have emerged as an open and affordable gathering space for lower and middle-class Cubans who are increasingly excluded from other forms of Havana nightlife due to rising prices, dollarization of popular clubs and increasing segregation on behalf of tourists and the wealthy Cuban elite.
Under these divisive socio-economic conditions, hip hop and rap concerts have now come to represent a space of open debate and social and political discussion for many young Cubans. Topics such as racism, tourism and police harassment are often addressed openly in these spaces through music and performance as well as through participatory discussion. Many Cuban rappers use their music as an opportunity to speak out against problems within Cuba or on global issues including war, racism, and pollution.
By involving these social and political themes, they try to make their music constructive and influential to their listeners. The United States was such a big influence due to the close economic relationship between the United States and Cuba, as well as the successful U.
Due to a corrupt history of U. Hip Hop A Lo Cubano, she writes about the US rap scene's effect on Cuban rap, "A generation of people born after the revolution are expressing themselves through art, expressing their African identity through culture—doing a lot of things that hip-hop initially started out doing here in the United States.
Probably the most successful rap group to come out of Cuba was the Orishas. Starting off under the name "Amenaza" or "Threat," the group was the first to deal with issues of race and challenge Castro's idea of colorless, or "color-blind," society. There, they produced rap and hip hop with the classic Cuban sounds of salsa and rumba. Cuban hip hop thrives while it is contingent upon Fidel Castro 's maxim "Within the revolution, everything," an idea that allows for critical debate as long as it is not seen as counter-revolutionary.
Inevitably, as an art form based on individuals' expressions of everyday life, Cuban hip hop often finds itself at the cutting edge of this boundary. As with all industries in Cuba, music production is closely monitored by the government.
However, due to publicity campaigns run by hip hop zealots such as Havana University Professor Pablo Herrera, Cuban hip hop has been accepted by the authorities as "an authentic expression of cubanidad " and as such has elicited funding from Cuba's Minister of Culture, Abel Prieto, for the annual rap festival. Every day is a social and political balancing act, however, and rap cubano faces increasing encroachment by reggaeton, a music with less political and arguably more misogynistic lyrics that is "easier" to dance too.
This 'feminism' in rap cubano is predominantly aimed cd monero de alma la mona jimenez videos denouncing the machista attitude prevalent in Cuban society in spite of tremendous strides for women's rights by the national, state-run Federation of Cuban Women FMC. Sujatha Fernandesand Dr.
The majority of these women have left Cuba, however, along with many other male rappers due to ongoing censorship and lack of performance opportunities. The female group Explosion Femenina or Oye Habana combines sex appeal with wit to captivate its audience. Although Cuban hip hop challenges certain norms, bands must be careful not to offend the government with their edgy lyrics, and a careful balance of the two has ultimately led to state-run promotion of various bands, i.
Cuban stars Anonimo Consejo, and funding from the government for tens of thousands of dollars of audio equipment through the Young Communist Union's cultural arm, Asociacion de los Hermanos Saiz. As such raperos often find themselves harassed by the Cuban police, whose job includes guarding against counter-revolutionary acts. However the perception of what is and what is not counter-revolutionary is a debate unto itself.
To illustrate the dynamics of the situation, during one instance of police trying to shut a hip hop event down for being subversive, the minister of culture arrived to insist that what was taking place was vital to the revolution and must go ahead. In the early stages of Cuban hip hop there was minimal technology to record their beloved hip hop. This made it virtually impossible to duplicate the exotic sounds in Cuba. This lack of technology led to the private gatherings of very devoted fans called, bonches.
Eventually, these bonches attracted too many people and cd monero de alma la mona jimenez videos were forced out of private homes. This place would be a spot to find beautiful women, great drinks, and innovative Cuban hip hop. This is not a place for tourists, but mostly for young, black Cubans. This price is too high for a lot of the destitute Cubans in Havana.
In the underground scene of Cuba, freestyle becomes a manifestation of a communal establishment usually the community of rappers and audience come to form a cycle where those who are not rapping provide vocalized "backing track", opened for anyone to jump it for a freestyle.
Rap Penas-a communal interactive performances in which a number of artists share the space, collaborate, creating a space for freestyle, which challenges the social order, where speaking about sensitive issues in the community, are limited or even banned. Many have criticized the new movement of Cuban Reggaeton and hip hop artists for their recent change in meaning of the music.
Cuban rappers attack social and political issues concerning Cuba such as racism, class struggles and police harassment etc. But as pressure for commercial success increases, some artists have toned down their political or socially conscious content, and instead have focused on tropes common in commercial rap. Many of the grass roots artists do not understand the recent change of rapping about partying, cars, and women.
Some see it as dominant if the women dance in front of the men in a "doggy style" position, but critics see it as a way of letting the male take initial control over the female. Also many argue that the females in those music videos are objectifying themselves to seem lower than men.
Music videos are becoming more explicit. To gain a following of their music, Cuban hip hop artists are continuously using provocatively dressed females.
