Happy 50th Birthday, hip-hop: how Latin artists have contributed to the genre

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1. The Hot Spot: Latinos in Hip-Hop

Hip-hop celebrates 50 years of existence this August 11. Latinos have been a part every step of the way.

Overview: Hip-hop is a global phenomenon and a multi-billion dollar industry that encompasses music, dance, fashion, and many aspects of pop culture. August 11 is recognized as his official birth by accounts of a party at an apartment complex in the Bronx in 1973 where Jamaican DJ Kool Herc (inducted into the Rock'n' Roll Hall of Fame earlier this year) worked magic by mixing beats on two simultaneous turntables.

In his own words: It has been debated several times how early Latinos made inroads into hip-hop culture. However, for those who live immersed in the movement there is only one answer:

• "To ask that is almost nonsense, because the truth is that they have been since the beginning," says Elena Romero, a hip-hop journalist and documentarian whose new series Hip-Hop Subway: The L Line analyzes the musical-cultural genre through the lens of Latinos. The series will air on CUNY TV starting Friday.
• Romero, like many experts, says hip-hop existed in various forms before the famous party with DJ Kool Herc, but that the party did mark a before and after in terms of consolidating the genre. The documentary filmmaker emphasizes that there were several Latinos at that party, especially Puerto Ricans, and that since then the Hispanic community has been an active participant in hip-hop.
• "Certain elements that became especially commercial were the most focused on the African-American community in the genre. But for several cases people don't realize that black hip-hop figures were also Latina," Romero says.
• He names as examples artist Prince Whipper Whip, of Puerto Rican descent, and music video director Hype Williams, who is of Honduran descent.

Between the lines: New York City youth created hip-hop as a means of expression and solidarity at a particularly difficult time; there was a neglect of many underinvested communities in areas like the Bronx that were hit by high rates of violence and poverty.

Illustration: Brendan Lynch/Axios

• In that context, black and Latino children grew up together facing similar difficulties. One of the things that united them was hip-hop, according to Ruben Diaz Jr., former Bronx County leader and trustee of the Universal Hip Hop Museum (which is expected to open by the end of 2024).
• Diaz says that in those early days of hip-hop — whose range includes rap, graffiti culture, disc jockeying and breakdancing — there were already influential Latin figures such as DJ Disco Whiz, b-boy dancer Richard Colón and MC Ruby Dee.
• "If you're not talking about Latinos, then you're not really objectively telling the history and narrative of hip-hop," Diaz says. "Hip-hop is a unique force on the planet because it serves as a bridge with which many manage to find union."

2. How hip-hop has influenced Latinos

For many Latinos in the United States and the rest of the Americas, hip-hop has been formative for musical and style preferences, as well as lifestyle.

In his own words: "Hip-hop was the first genre that grabbed me, and it felt like mine. My friends and family were not interested in it and at that time it was not a particularly popular music in my country or hometown," says Max Rivera, a Honduran who lives in New York.

Photos of Senen 'Sen Dog' Reyes and Cuban-Mexican-American rapper B-Real (both of Cypress Hill)Photo illustration: Brendan Lynch/Axios. Photos by Raymond Boyd/Getty Images and Ron Bull/Toronto Star, via Getty Images

• "It was through hip-hop that I immersed myself in parts of American culture; It was evocative to me as an immigrant and someone who felt atypical or rebellious." "Today hip-hop represents a large part of my personal identity and professional identity as well, because I looked for work in areas that involved me in that music."

The Caracas John Cordero, author of The History of Miami Hip-Hop, still remembers the first time he was exposed to hip-hop: it was a screening of the 1984 film Beat Street, which captures how hip-hopera culture was lived in the 80s in New York. Cordero saw the film during a visit to Miami from Venezuela.

• He says that one of the elements of hip-hop that most marked him since his adolescence was the "knowledge of self", or self-awareness, the feeling that has moved many rappers to talk about the need for marginalized or oppressed groups to empower themselves.
• "There was talk of becoming wise, going to the library and things like that that influenced me a lot at that age, when you're still forging yourself as a person," Cordero says.

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Jesús Triviño Alarcón, a former hip-hop music journalist who now serves as an executive at the TIDAL platform, says hip-hop shaped him completely.

• "It wasn't until I heard A Tribe Called Quest, Wu-Tang or Cypress Hill, all those artists and groups, that I felt fully represented in the music, because they talked about things I saw every day in Brooklyn," Alarcón says.
• He read and consumed everything he could find about hip-hop, and vividly remembers that many journalists who wrote about the genre had Hispanic surnames. He felt that he could also write about hip-hop as work.
• "That changed my life forever, clearly, although for a long time people thought I was crazy," he says.

3. Standing out in today's hip-hop spectrum

Today's hip-hop is particularly global. Artists such as Chilean Ana Tijoux and Argentine rapper Duki (from the group Modo Diablo) are some of the many Latin Americans who give something to talk about.

Bad Bunny, Daddy Yankee and Residente have all said early Latinos in hip-hop influenced them. They are among the artists who have also gained ground in the United States, where Spotify puts them in the category of "Latin hip-hop":

Note: Spotify categorizes these artists as hip-hop. In the figures, 'm' stands for millions.

We want to hear more about what our readers are listening to: write an email telling us which of these artists you enjoy writing to axioslatino@axios.com

4. They make 113 promises for the Amazon

The leaders of the eight nations through which the Amazon extends pledged this week in a joint statement to work towards "zero deforestation". However, they did not commit to what their path will be to achieve it.

News momentum: The leaders of Brazil, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Peru, Suriname and Venezuela met this week to discuss Amazon rainforest conservation in the first such summit since 2009.

• They announced a joint agreement with 113 provisions, starting with a pledge to "combine efforts at the highest level" to set a common agenda for sustainability and conservation.
• They also announced that they will create a framework for police cooperation to combat deforesters and poachers; that they will work together to promote connectivity in the Amazon, and that they will create groups for transboundary scientific cooperation and for indigenous peoples to have direct communication with the eight governments on conservation issues.

Yes, but: Climate action organizations, such as the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), said the joint statement fell short.

The presidents and high-level representatives of the eight countries of the Amazon Cooperation Treaty OrganizationFilipe Bispo Vale/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

• Observatório do Clima, a coalition of 78 environmental nonprofits, criticized governments for failing to reach agreements on key issues such as mining or set common goals to reduce deforestation.
• The summit pact says that there is "urgency to agree on common goals by 2030 to combat deforestation", but that common goal was not agreed; At the moment, each country can set its own target for how much to cut logging.
• The countries pledged to "initiate a dialogue [...] on the sustainability of sectors such as mining and hydrocarbons," but did not agree — as Colombia had called for — to chart a path toward "decarbonization."
• Illegal mining besieges the Amazon, with devastating effects on the health of local communities. Oil exploration and plans to drill for oil continue.

Overview: The Amazon is the largest rainforest in the world. Its trees help absorb carbon dioxide into the atmosphere and it has one-fifth of all the world's freshwater reserves. Its biome contains flora and fauna that exist nowhere else.

• Deforestation increased significantly over the past decade, driven mainly by forest fires and the felling of trees for cattle ranching and soybean cultivation.

5. Summary of key news in Latin America and the Caribbean

Ecuador dawns under state of emergency after assassination of candidate Fernando Villavicencio

Aug. 10, 202301:40

1. The Ecuadorian government installed a national state of emergency on Wednesday night after Fernando Villavicencio, a journalist, former congressman and one of the eight presidential candidates for the August 20 election, was assassinated at a rally.

• Officials have said early elections, called in May to choose who will be president by 2025 when Guillermo Lasso's term was due to end, are still ongoing.
• The murder of Villavicencio was claimed Thursday morning by the organized crime group Los Lobos, which is credited with perpetrating several massacres in prisons in recent years.

2. Argentina will hold its PASO open primaries this Sunday to decide the presidential candidates who will be on the ballot for the October 22 general election.

• The list of 27 candidates would be reduced to about 12 in the PASO. Since primaries are open (voting is general rather than restricted to party members), they are usually a barometer of who voters prefer for the general election.
• Voters will also decide candidates for the two-thirds of the congressional seats up for grabs in the election.

Thursday of Pachanga

Every Thursday we publish our Pachanga to highlight readers' achievements. If you or someone you know has just celebrated an anniversary, adopted a pet or had a job success and wants to celebrate, send an email with information and photo to axioslatino@axios.com

Photo courtesy of Juleyka Lantigua. Background illustration by Axios Visuals

We extend many congratulations to Juleyka Lantigua, who this July published a podcast that analyzes the debate over whether the descendants of people who were subjected to slavery should receive compensation.

• The podcast, titled Still paying the price: Reparations in real terms, is 14 episodes that focus on how those compensations should be paid and to whom.

Thanks for reading! We returned on Tuesday.

If you want to share your experiences or send us suggestions and comments, send an email to axioslatino@axios.com.

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