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Archives - Archivos: 2001-2012

Obsesion: Disco Negro, 2011

Alkana. Reggaetonera, rapera, mc  12/20/2012 Havana Cultura: "Mileidys González, alias Alkana, is one of the main ambassadors of the feminine branch of the Cubaton Hip Hop. Describing herself as a true “feminist”, she regrets the lack of representation that afflicts women in her musical scene. “If you speak about hip-hop, you’ll always end up speaking about men first, and you’ll have to dig deeper to find something else. That scandalizes me, because there’s a lot of women doing a great job”, she explains."

Soandry - Modus Operandi 2012  12/11/2012 YouTube: "Aqui tienes un track de Soandry (Hermanos de causa) este es el track numero 15 del album titulado M.O Modus Operandi un exelente disco para todo el que siente el real hiphop disfrutenlo gracias a SOANDRY por darnos la autorisacion de subir este album. BOMBAAAAA"

Magia de OBSESION : Festival de Poesia Havana 2012  9/4/2012 YouTube: "Presentacion de ¨Mi Belleza¨ realizada en el Convento San Francisco de Asis, Habana Vieja como parte del la programacion del Festival de Poesia 2012."

Revolution documental (Los Aldeanos) *completo  8/28/2012 YouTube: "documental presentado el la 8va muestra de jóvenes realizadores del icaic .entrevista exclusiva al grupo de rap cubano LOS ALDEANOS...."

New Beat rising: Krudas Cubensi's revolutionary sound reaches Austin and beyond  7/4/2012 Austin 360: "They took the microphones and rapped about being fat and proudly so, being feminist, black and vegan. The power of these never-before-heard rhymes hit the mostly male crowds in Cuba's capital hard. Unsuspecting audiences during early Krudas Cubensi shows left shocked, in a dizzying haze of powerful poetry and socially conscious rap. During Cuba's hip-hop infancy, male rappers had already begun raising consciousness about race and class. "But the topic of gender was never touched," said Krudas Cubensi MC Olivia Prendes in Spanish. Krudas Cubensi now call Austin home. Still on a mission for social justice, their hard-hitting music has spread to an international crowd. Their new album, "Levántate" ("Get Up"), debuts Friday with a CD release party at Esquina Tango in East Austin. "Levántate" features collaborations with both Mexican and Cuban artists."

Entrevista- Magia Lo´pez, Directora de la Agencia Cubana del Rap  6/11/2012 Cubainformación TV: "Hablamos de esta entidad ligada al Instituto Cubano de la Música con su directora, a la vez vocalista del grupo de hip hop Obsesión."

Danay Suarez_Cuando Ya No Este  5/23/2012 YouTube

“La Nueva Filosofía de Lucha”: nuevo disco de Raudel Collazo, Escuadrón Patriota  3/18/2012 UNPACU: "El disco será lanzado gracias a la financiación colectiva que se produzca espontáneamente en la pagina de crowdfunding VERKAMI."

Festival de rap en La Habana (I)  2/29/2012 Havana Times: "Los presentes quedaron sorprendidos y emocionados con el material, lo que reveló sus criterios, cuestionamientos y análisis."

Festival de Rap regresa a Alamar  2/17/2012 Red Observatorio Crítico: "El día 24 a las 10 am hasta las 5 pm se comenzará con un Coloquio, cuyas Ponencias versarán sobre la Memoria Histórica de la población negra y mestiza de Cuba y otros temas actuales como la relación del Hip Hop con la Industria Cultural, Racialidad, Racismo, Instituciones Culturales y Política, entre otros."

Escuadrón Patriota: de nuevo en La Habana  2/14/2012 Marti Noticias: con video - "Raudel Collazo Pedroso de Escuadrón Patriota regresa a Cuba después de pasar tres meses en Ecuador, donde grabó el disco 'La Nueva Filosofía de Lucha' como parte del proyecto artistico 'Alma Cubana' de, Ana Olema una artista visual, que se enfoca en el exilio cubano, fundamentalmente en Ecuador."

Controversia entre raperos cubanos (Soandry)  2/8/2012 Havana Times: "Hermanos de Causa, conocida agrupación cubana de rap, fundada en 1997, es miembro de la Agencia Cubana de Rap desde el 2010. Su causa más reciente: lograr la democión de Magia López como directora de la Agencia. Soandry del Río Ferrer, integrante único, tiene la palabra."

The Cuban Rap Agency Controversy (Soandry’s Version)  2/8/2012 Havana Times: “Hermanos de Causa” (Brothers of the Cause), the well-known Cuban rap group founded in 1997, has been a member of the “Cuban Rap Agency” since 2010. Their latest cause: getting Magia Lopez removed from the directorship of the agency. Soandry del Rio Ferrer, explains his reasons."

Escuadrón Patriota dedica disco a cubanos del exilio  2/7/2012 CaféFuerte: “¿Qué reformas?”, se preguntó. “Yo no veo que la mayoría del pueblo se haya beneficiado. En Cuba la pobreza es terrible, todo sigue igual, la situación es tensa y los cambios reales no llegan”, señaló. “Lo primero que debe suceder es que los cubanos comiencen a despertar, a trabajar por el cambio y a tratar de influir”. Para Collazo, es esencial que se eliminen las barreras mentales que separan a los cubanos entre “los de afuera” y “los de adentro”, y por eso ha dedicado su nuevo disco a todos, especialmente a los que no viven en la isla."

The Cuban Rap Agency Controversy (Sekou’s Version)  2/1/2012 Havana Times: by Yusimi Rodriguez - "HT: You weren’t bothered that Magia was a woman who was directing a lot of male rappers? Sekou: That’s not the case. We’ve always had female directors at the Rap Agency. If another woman director comes later, that’s fine. I think men have held more than enough management positions in the world for more than enough time. If a woman is leading and doing the job, at least in my personal case, that’s not a problem. But it’s a problem if someone is in that position to carry out certain responsibilities but they don’t fulfill them as they should. If tomorrow they make another woman the director, that’s fine. But as artists we want them to do their job for us. We want to have a director who facilitates things for us. I want someone who will help me if I want to do a concert that requires a lot of logistics. I want someone who will support me with the expenses. However, if you can’t help me but you can spend money on yourself, then what’s up with that? Those are things one might suspect and comment about, but when you go through the paperwork you realize that it’s an objective fact."

New Year’s Hip Hop Concert in Alamar  12/29/2011 Havana Times: "The Alamar housing projects on the east side of the Cuban capital will host a massive outdoor New Year’s Day hip hop concert starting at 10:00 pm on January 1, 2012. Sponsored by the Cuban Rap Agency, the concert, which also comes on the 53rd anniversary of the Cuban revolution, has the following invited guest artists: Doble Filo, Brebaje Man, Obsesión, Anónimo Consejo, Yimi Konclaze, La Real, Adverzario, Eldiscipulorealsetenta Mano Armada Bárbaro el Urbano Vargas, Cuentas Claras, Hermanazos, Hermanos de Causa y Ruta 11."

Cuba Hip Hop Has Its Magic  12/22/2011 Havana Times: Interview with Magia Lopez - "One of the emblematic groups of Cuban hip hop is the duo “Obsesion,” made up by Alexei Rodríguez (aka: El tipo este) and Magia Lopez, who is also the manager of the Cuban Rap Agency."

Cuba Hip Hop Has Its Magic  12/22/2011 Havana Times: by Yusimi Rodriguez, interviewing Magia Lopez - "Recently a large part of the rappers that belong to the Cuban Rap Agency sent a letter to Culture Minister Abel Prieto, in which they complained about the work of Magia López at the head of the agency and asked that she be removed. This is an interview with Magia for Havana Times made before the sending of the letter. She talks about the CD Disco Negro and other topics including her work at the Cuban Rap Agency."

X Alfonso y las venturas o desventuras de un click  12/17/2011 Cuba Profunda: "Primero, una “flotilla buscapleitos” procedente de la Florida pretendió armar todo un espectáculo de fuegos artificiales ante el Malecón habanero, en ocasión de la celebración del Día de los Derechos Humanos. Pero fuera de algunos disidentes –famosos por sus poco veraces informes- y de algunos colegas de la prensa extranjera, nadie los vio. Y mucho menos X y sus seguidores que estaban a diez cuadras del mar muy ocupados en hacer y regalar música cubana, a pesar de la lluvia. Al músico no le gustó mucho la idea de que lo relacionaran con el intento provocador. “El concierto –aseguró a la prensa- lo teníamos previsto con Unicef para ese día desde mucho tiempo atrás”. Luego, la “maquinaria mediático-cibernética” que acosa a la isla pretendió robarle el show a X Alfonso y anunció en la red de redes que apoyaría la mascarada de fuegos artificiales, combinando acciones desde la blogósfera mercenaria y sus espacios en Twitter, Facebook o similares."

Beyond bling-bling: rap in Cuba  12/1/2011 Red Pepper: by Sujatha Fernandez - "Cuban artists had perfected techniques of metaphor, allusion and ambiguity. Just as filmmakers such as the legendary Tomas Gutiérrez Alea or the black director Sergio Giral defended the racial politics of some of their films by saying that they took place in the era of slavery, so too the rapper Magia of Obsesión defended her song about prostitution by saying that it was about capitalist countries. But Magia had never seen a capitalist country, nor even left Cuba, when she wrote the song. The result is a textured and evocative account of the poor women who work the streets in barrios such as Central Havana, but with no details to identify them as such. The song takes on a universal appeal because of the necessity of the artist to dissemble."

El rap y el “afrocubano pensamiento”. Entrevistando a Obsesión  11/15/2011 Uni Rioja: por Sandra Álvarez Ramírez

Hip-Hop N' Politics: The Anniversary Of Black Panther Assata Shakur Escaping Prison And Fleeing To Cuba - Video & Text  11/2/2011 Hip Hop Wired

El doble álbum Tribu Mokoya ya está en La Habana  10/17/2011 Observatorio Crítico Cubano: "Recién llegado desde México, llega a La Habana el último homenaje erigido al hip hop: el doble álbum Tribu Mokoya."

Straight Outta Havana  8/6/2011 NYT: by Sujatha Fernandez - "This is Cuban rap, where the streets meet highbrow art. It is an American-derived subculture that has flourished on the island despite — and in some ways, because of — the United States’ half-century-long embargo against Cuba."

Straight Outta Havana  8/6/2011 NYT: "Cuban rap is also special for the caliber of its lyrics. Thanks to the country’s excellent and free schools, rappers — although predominantly black and from poorer neighborhoods — received a high degree of education. Cuba’s most prolific rap producer, Pablo Herrera, was a professor of English at the University of Havana. Rap lyrics mine Cuba’s literature and history in their portrayals of the tribulations of street life."

Destacan artistas en La Habana política incluyente del proceso cubano con afrodescendientes  6/15/2011 Radio Havana: "La directora de la Agencia de Rap de Cuba, Magia López, resaltó que el proceso revolucionario ofrece oportunidades a los afrodescendientes para su desarrollo obstaculizado por el bloqueo económico, comercial y financiero impuesto por Estados Unidos al país desde hace casi medio siglo."

MOVIMIENTO SE MUEVE: A PROPÓSITO DEL TEMA RACIAL  6/12/2011 UNEAC: "Movimiento, no. 9, retoma ciertos aspectos del debate que, en el seno de la sociedad cubana, se tiene acerca del tema racial, a partir del discurso que ha promovido el hip hop cubano sobre dicha temática. Históricamente los exponentes del género en la isla, en especial el rap y el spoken word, han abordado distintos aspectos de la problemática racial: la identidad, la afroreligiosidad, la negritud, el racismo y la discriminación, entre otros."

Disco de rap cubano proyecta el tema del racismo  5/27/2011 Negra cubana tenia que ser: "El Disco Negro de Obsesión, la más reciente producción del grupo de rap liderado por Magia López y Alexei Rodríguez, ..el tipo este.., continúa en su escalada de reconocimientos y divulgación de la problemática racial en Cuba."

Common gets a bad rap on Assata Shakur  5/14/2011 Guardian: "So, cue conservative outrage over Michelle Obama's inviting rapper Common to a White House poetry reading, because Common wrote an adulatory song about Black Panther Assata Shakur. The New Jersey state police protested. Is it possible that the vile New Jersey police – just this week it was announced that Newark's police department is being investigated by the justice department for multiple civil rights violations – and their rightwing puppetmasters do not know about COINTELPRO? That while Soviet tanks crushed Prague's spring, in America, police assassins, provocateurs and slanderers felled our saints as they slept?"

Mujeres negras: imponerse como raperas  4/27/2011 IPS: "Aunque pocas voces femeninas integran el coro de personas dedicadas al rap en Cuba, mujeres como Magia López, Yamay Mejías y Yadira Pintado reafirman su espacio dentro de este género musical, marginado y estigmatizado durante años en la isla caribeña y que mantiene en la actualidad su carácter contestatario y crítico."

Caminos de Palabras: nuevo proyecto urbano en el barrio de Cayo Hueso  3/18/2011 Desliz: "El Trabajo conjunto de creadores y promotores que suman en su primer momento a artistas de la talla de Luis Eligio, David OMNI, Amílcar, Luis Dener,Anónimo Consejo, Elier Álvarez (El Brujo), Yudicet Menéndez Orosco, Luz de Cuba (Lucy) El Yompi, Karel (El Indomable), Amhel Incera, El Fígaro y Rogers en homenaje a Eladio Reyes por el aniversario 59 de su nacimiento, en el espacio de la Casa del Arte de Los Cuatro Sentidos cito en Espada # 411. Entre San Miguel y San Rafael. En el barrio de Cayo Hueso, del Municipio de Centro Habana; para echar andar el proyecto Caminos de Palabras."

To Express My Ideas and Have Them Heard (Part II)  1/18/2011 Havana Times: "The following is the continuation of Part One of an interview with Cuban hip-hop artist Raudel Collazo Pedroso, the sole member of Escuadron Patriota."

To Express My Ideas and Have Them Heard (Part I)  1/15/2011 Havana Times: "In those conversations I found out that Raudel is a 34-year-old psychology graduate who’s now working on his master’s; he also practices the Rastafarian philosophy. Finally, I made a long trip to his hometown of Guines, where I interviewed him for more than an hour and a half. From that I can assure that the months of waiting and the trip’s inconveniences were well worth it."

"Los pelos" - OBSESION ( TIPO ESTE Ft. MAGIA MC) / HIP HOP LATINOAMERICANO  12/7/2010 YouTube

Descarga final del concierto. Sekou de Anónimo Consejo  9/30/2010 Estado de Sats

The Sound of Change: Hip Hop in Cuba  9/28/2010 Radio Project: "On this edition, we hear about hip-hop and change in Cuban society, and what people on the ground are saying about new phases in the Cuban revolution. Thanks to Sujata Dey for producing this radio documentary. Featuring: Alexey Rodriguez, hip-hop artist, co-founder of Obsesion; Magia Lopez, hip-hop artist, co-founder Obsesion; Roberto Ruiz Rebo, filmmaker and journalist for Cuban television; Roberto Zurbano, editor of Movimiento, and worker at the Casa de la Cultura Latinoamericana in Havana."

The Sound of Change: Hip Hop in Cuba  9/28/2010 National Radio Project: "Featuring: Alexey Rodriguez, hip-hop artist, co-founder of Obsesion; Magia Lopez, hip-hop artist, co-founder Obsesion; Roberto Ruiz Rebo, filmmaker and journalist for Cuban television; Roberto Zurbano, editor of Movimiento, and worker at the Casa de la Cultura Latinoamericana in Havana."

Obsesion Cuba hip hop - Se busca  9/23/2010 YouTube: "se Busca una mujer que le entre a esto...Hip Hop Cubano"

Not Fidel's Cuba Anymore When Los Aldeanos Perform in Miami  9/1/2010 Huff Post

Asociación Hermanos Saíz celebrará el próximo 7 de agosto los 100 años de Esther Montes de Oca  7/27/2010 Cubarte: Hermanos Saíz runs a rap festival in Havana, among many other cultural events.

Nehanda Abiodun: Rap on the Run, A Political and Cultural Biography  2/26/2010 Pan African News Wire: ""The Cuban hip-hop community had earned my respect. To put on the festival like that, they had worked miracles with the very few material resources available. So I said I would make a commitment to the young people; that it would be nice if those of us in touch with hip-hop communities in the US would give material support to the Cuban rappers. Young people from the Havana hip-hop community started coming to me and asking about Malcolm X and various issues regarding progressive struggles in the US and other parts of the world. So we just talk all the time. It is very rewarding to me."

Entrevista con Raudel Escuadrón Patriota.  1/26/2010 Zoe Valdes: "Me pregunto, y también ustedes se lo preguntará, ¿por qué el productor/esbirro Hugo Cancio no produce los discos de Raudel Escuadrón Patriota, ¿por qué no lo invita a Miami? ¿Por qué Silvio Rodríguez no le presta el estudio de grabación Abdala, en el que tantos artistas extranjeros han grabado junto a los cubanos? La respuesta ya la conocemos, ¿verdad?"

CUBA: Black Women Rap Against Discrimination  8/13/2009 IPS: "They are few in number, but women’s loud chants of resistance against sexism, racism and discrimination against sexual minorities have left an indelible mark on the hip hop movement in Cuba, a little more than a decade old."

Rapera Lumidee graba clip en Cuba (+ Video)  8/4/2009 CubaDebate: "Más conocida por su éxito de hace seis años, “Never Leave You” (Nunca te dejaré), la rapera y cantante de 24 años vino a Cuba para aportar solos de rap en un video de la melodía “Kandi”, de Arash Labaf, un cantante nacido en Irán."

Poesía-Rap  8/1/2009 Cuba Encuentro: Textos de Soandry del Río (Hermanos de Causa) «Tengo», «Lágrimas Negras», «Negro Cubano»

HIP HOP: Alicia pateando el espejo: mujeres en la cultura hip hop  7/21/2009 Negra Cubana: "Para quien intente el trazado exacto y objetivo de un mapa que facilite el entendimiento de ese universo cultural y rico en matices, contradicciones y búsquedas que es el hip-hop."

GRACIAS HIPHOP - Soandry de Hermanos de Causa  5/13/2009 YouTube

Orishas cancel Sunday set at Jazz Fest  4/25/2009 Times Picayune, Louisiana: "Cuban hip-hop group Orishas will not perform as scheduled at Jazz Fest's Congo Square stage on Sunday, April 26. A Jazz Fest spokesperson said the group's members, who live in Europe, were not able to enter the country."

CUBA: Black Women Rap Against Discrimination  4/5/2009 IPS: published 8/07 by Dalia Acosta

Orishas deslumbra al público chileno  1/28/2009 Boletin Cubarte: "El trío cubano Orishas, formado por Yotuel, Roldán y Ruzzo, deslumbró al público chileno con su nuevo disco Cosita buena, transportándolo a la Cuba del hip hop, la salsa y los ritmos callejeros al más puro estilo latino. Orishas, que no visitaba Chile hacía dos años, fue el plato fuerte de la sexta edición del "Power Music", que reunió 12.000 personas en el Estadio Arena de Santiago, que escucharon y bailaron con diversos grupos. Acompañados por un DJ (disjokey), un percusionista y un trompetista, los cubanos entonaron temas nuevos como Bruja o Mírame, junto a los más conocidos y esperados Qué pasa, o una particular versión del son del cubano Compay Segundo, Chan Chan."

Me afro-conozco  5/17/2008 La Jiribilla: "Si ves que a mil va mi sex-appeal verbal es porque ya me afro-conozco "

Saunders sheds light on Cuban underground culture  3/31/2008 Lehigh University: "Tanya Saunders spends many a day tucked into her office in Price Hall from morning until night, plugging away at her dissertation and preparing a book manuscript. But in recent months, her writing has been interrupted by the chime of her e-mail, which she quickly attends to. She permits the distraction because many such e-mails bring good news from Cuban musicians and artists who have sorted out schedules, documentation and paperwork in anticipation of joining her for an upcoming conference here at Lehigh. Saunders, a doctoral candidate at the University of Michigan, has been planning a first-of-its kind event called “El Proyecto,” which will bring her dissertation and years of research on Cuban culture to life. “El Proyecto seeks to play a key role in the global hip-hop movement and in Cuba’s underground hip-hop movement,” according to Saunders. “It’s the first international platform to reunite Cuban underground hip-hop artists and the global hip-hop movement in performance, art and discourse.” "

Hermanos de Causa/ Comision Depuradora  1/16/2008 YouTube: "This is from the concert of Comision Depuradora in Madriguera."

LOS RAPEROS: RAP, RACE, AND SOCIAL TRANSFORMATION IN CONTEMPORARY CUBA  10/5/2007 University of Texas: published in 2004 - "This dissertation explores the emergent movimiento de hip hop cubano (the Cuban hip hop movement) as a critical site to examine the interplay of race and social transformation in contemporary Cuba. Following Cuba’s post-1990 economic crisis know as the “special period,” the ethnographic investigation centers on the ways young Afro-Cubans are utilizing the expressive cultural space of rap music and broader hip hop “culture” to performatively fashion new kinds of transnationally engaged black identity and related race-based social critique. The author suggest that through such transnationally informed identity processes a new generation of Afro-Cuban youth are positioning themselves in strategic response to the shifting dynamics of race and class in a socialist Cuba increasingly shaped by the interpenetration of global capital and related free-market transformations. In a post-“utopian” Cuba characterized by economic dollarization, expanding tourism, rising social stratification, and – significantly – resurgent levels of racial inequality, the author’s analysis seeks to understand how these emergent subjectivities and the social critiques they invoke pose challenges to, as well as contribute to a current reconfiguring of nationally-bounded constructions of race and corresponding ideologies of national non-racialism. He additionally draws attention to the evolving negotiated relationship between Cuban hip hop as a new, potentially oppositional identity-based social phenomenon, and the Cuban state as it attempts to institutionalize hip hop within a prescriptive, socially homogenizing frame of revolutionary national culture. In turn, Cuban rap has come to occupy a unique site of racially-positioned critique within revolutionary Cuba, serving as a key actor in an evolving black public sphere predicated on the assertion of black political difference within a previously configured non-racial Cuban national imaginary. The author proposes that Cuban hip hop in this capacity represents a critical manifestation of, as well as an active social agent within the shifting transnational complexities of national racial formation in Cuba today."

Cuba: Gender, Sexuality, and Women Rappers  9/4/2007 Upside Down World: Excerpted from the new book Cuba Represent!: Cuban Arts, State Power, and the Making of New Revolutionary Cultures, by Sujatha Fernandes - "When I first visited Cuba in 1998, women's presence in hip-hop was still negligible. At concerts I would come across male rappers with their gold medallions, Fubu gear, and mindless lyrics about women, cars, and guns, the latter two hardly a reality for most young Cuban men. Over the years, there have been important changes in gender politics within Cuba, particularly in rap music, and women within the genre feel empowered to speak of issues such as sexuality, feminism, as well as gender roles and stereotyping."

Rap Calls for ‘Revolution Within the Revolution’  8/14/2007 IPS: "The aggressive gestures and lyrics of hip hop are one reason why this music style has been criticised in Cuba. "If (rappers) are aggressive on stage, it’s because they’ve been downtrodden for 500 years, and because they live on a small plot, in a house that’s falling down, and have no chance of recording a disc," said Carmen González, a poet and independent researcher. According to González, the racial equality that was decreed after the 1959 triumph of the Cuban Revolution has not been effective because of the "five centuries of social disadvantage" suffered by black people, who comprise the majority of hip hop movement artists."

MUSIC-CUBA: Rap Calls for ‘Revolution Within the Revolution’  8/14/2007 IPS: "“I think Cuban record companies are only looking for music that markets itself on its own, like salsa, reggaeton – dance music,” said Afro Velásquez, a member of the group Hermanazos, which with Obsesión makes up the independent recording project La Fabri_k, a response to the indifference of national recording studios to including rap in their catalogues."

Black Women Rap Against Discrimination  8/13/2007 IPS: "Women’s first challenge within hip hop was to confront a ‘machista’ patriarchal society, which gave them a role even within their marginalisation," poet and freelance researcher Carmen González, who is writing a book about what women rappers are saying on this Caribbean island, told IPS. "Not every woman dares to get up on a stage and rap, because the social perception of hip hop is that it is a violent, male thing," said the expert. However, some have defied prejudice and have earned recognition within the movement."

Magia López Directora de la Agencia Cubana de Rap.  6/25/2007 INÉS MARÍA MARTIATU - LITERATURA AFROCUBANA: "La integrante junto a Alexei Rodríguez del dúo Obsesión, acaba de asumir la Dirección de la Agencia Cubana de Rap. Obsesión con Hermanazos constituyen el proyecto La Fabrik .La prestigiosa revista Billboard seleccionó su disco La Fabrik como una de las seis mejores producciones entre un conglomerado de 1500 álbumes independientes. Esta dinámica mujer es cantante y compositora de temas de la significación de “La llaman puta” y es una de las figuras más sobresalientes dentro del movimiento hiphopero de nuestro país con hondas raíces en la comunidad y que ya se hace sentir nacional e internacionalmente. Felicidades y éxitos. Esperemos que cumpla una positiva labor en la promoción del movimiento Hip Hop cubano, que al decir del crítico y ensayista Roberto Zurbano constituye una alternativa a “las expresiones neoracistas que han venido emergiendo en la vida cotidiana cubana del siglo XXI”."

Three US rap stars denounce the September 11th lie  1/31/2007 Voltaire Net

Cuban Rappers Want Their Own Revolution  12/20/2006 Hispanic Business: "Only nine groups are part of Cuba's rap agency. Of the remaining 500 or more across the island, some push the envelope, voicing discontent with Cuban society in language that is as blunt as the accompanying beat is loud."

Exploring Cuban hip-hop.  10/9/2006 Seattle Weekly: "The rise of hip-hop in the country over the past decade reflects this. Herrera estimates that there are currently around 800 rap groups in Cuba, and the hip-hop festisval has been held every August for nine consecutive yearsfirst solely amongst Alamar's seaside grid of dilapidated high-rise apartment buildings, then spreading to venues in other parts of Havana. These days, the festival gets a boost from a sponsor, the infant Cuban Rap Agency, an unprecedented government bureau formed less than a year ago, marking hip-hop's acceptance as a part of Cuban national culture."

Play it tough  8/24/2006 Guardian: "Now she has turned to documentary, producing East of Havana (directed by Jauretsi Saizabitoria and Emilia Menocal), which last week saw its British premiere at the Edinburgh international film festival. Charting the experiences of talented young hip-hop artists Soandry, Mikki Flow and Magyori, it is part document of a musical movement, and part meditation on loss and exile, with some of its most affecting material relating to Soandry's elder brother, Vladimir, who escaped Cuba a decade ago for the US."

Fiesta del Rap en Baracoa  8/18/2006 Cubarte: " El Festival de Rap RAPSODIA, se desarrollará del 24 al 26 de agosto en este municipio de la provincia de Guantánamo y se realiza de manera anual. Está patrocinado por la Dirección Municipal de Cultura, Poder Popular Municipal, la UJC, AHS y el Museo Matachín. El Festival de Rap RAPSODIA surge en el municipio en el año 2003, por una idea nacida en el seno de la Asociación "Hermanos Saíz" del municipio, específicamente en el Movimiento de Raperos que la misma agrupa, por la importancia que va cobrando en la actualidad la inserción de este género en nuestra cultura, la mezcla del mismo con nuestras tradiciones e idiosincrasia, así como el trabajo de prevención social que lleva intrínsecamente, aspectos los cuales han sido constatados por el reconocimiento social de este evento."

East of Havana (2006): The story of Cuba’s underground hip hop scene told thru the lives of 3 young rappers.  6/1/2006 Vimeo: "East of Havana is a blunt, unflinching close-up on the lives of three young rappers compelled to address their generation's future from the confines of a Cuban ghetto. Soandry, Magyori, and Mikki are the defacto leaders of Cuba's rebellious underground hip hop movement of the mid 1990s thru early 2000s. Possessing the undeniable talent and charisma of pop icons, these fearless performers push self-expression to its sharpest, riskiest, and most triumphant point."

Rapping Rebellion: Hip Hop as a New Social Movement in Cuba  5/2/2006 University of Texas: "Tengo (Track 5) by Hermanos de Causa is a particularly comparative Cuban hip-hop piece. Its accompanying instrumental beat is very clear, but rather syncopated and composed of many layered percussive sounds. The lyrics are very precise and clearly heard. Like the tribute to Eleguá, Tengo uses a call and response technique, rhyme, and a repetitive “catchy” refrain."

Gender, Identity, Sexuality, and Social Communication in Hip-Hop  11/1/2005 Movimiento: "When we make reference to our subjectivities and emotions we must work on our own racism, our own homophobias and even our own classism, because if we continue breeding privileges in our interpersonal relations, few of the changes we are demanding will ever be made."

From afar, Orishas carry Cuba's new vibe  10/28/2005 Miami Herald: "Europe-based but not exiles, Cuban hip hoppers Orishas, insist you don't have to live in the island to rap about Cuba. Not your father's Buena Vista geezers, Orishas, Cuba's star hip-hoppers, will perform their own concert in Miami on Sunday (they were scheduled to play the Soulfrito Festival, now moved to Nov. 20)."

Músico cubano X Alfonso en Feria Discográfica berlinesa  9/18/2005 Jiribilla

Assata - Rap Icons Godmother Still Gaining Support  8/25/2005 Thug Life Army: "Dear Mayor Palmer: Let me introduce myself by saying that ASSATA SHAKUR is my sister, friend, and comrade in the struggle for human rights of all oppressed people. When three “Freedom Fighters” boldly took action in 1979 and entered the Clinton Correctional Facility and liberated Sister ASSATA from the chains and shackles of her jailers, I rejoiced. I was proud to be apart of a generation of young African Americans that were courageous and committed enough to go up against America and didn’t give a damn about odds."

Rap Icons Godmother Target of Amendment  6/18/2005 Thug Life Army: "Many prominent and influential politicians, hip-hop and rap artists and community groups have stepped forward to show support for Assata and her struggle. There is an attempt to further the kidnapping of Tupac’s godmother and political activist Assata Shakur. We received the following from a member of the Congressional Black Caucus today."

Hip-Hop Artist Get Involved For Assata  5/24/2005 Thug Life Army: "On Wednesday, May 25th at 1:30PM, Brooklyn City Councilmember Charles Barron, prominent hip-hop artists and community groups will hold a press conference on the steps of City Hall condemning a one-million-dollar bounty offered May 2nd for the capture of exiled Black Liberation fighter Assata Shakur; the godmother of the late rap icon Tupac Shakur. “I’m infuriated that a bounty has been put on her, placing her in danger,” said Councilmember Barron – who called for Wednesday’s press conference – “She is a shero to our community, its long overdue for her to receive clemency and come home.” "

Castro Speaks on Rap Icon's Godmother  5/11/2005 AP: "On Tuesday, he referred to Bush as "the little Hitler" and suggested he wanted to dominate the world. Castro dedicated more than an hour to reading for Cubans a New York Times story about the Posada case and again listed numerous terrorist actions that that Cuban officials attribute to Posada or his associates. He even suggested that Posada and his friend Orlando Bosch might have ties to the 1963 assassination of former U.S. President John F. Kennedy. "There are strange things, very strange, mixed up here," Castro said."

New Campaign For Rap Icon's Godmother  5/6/2005 Thug Life Army: "The following information is provided by The Talking Drum Collective of Stone Mountain, Ga. The Hands Off Assata Campaign is a coming together of organizations and individuals who are outraged by the heightened attempts by the federal government, congress of the united states and the State of New Jersey to illegally force thru kidnapping a return of Assata Shakur from Cuba to the plantation United States…"

Arranca el festival de rap  11/7/2004 AP: "Después de casi tres meses de postergaciones, se inauguró esta semana aquí el décimo festival anual del controvertido rap cubano, en que participan una treintena de grupos locales y dos extranjeros. Casi sin promoción en la prensa nacional, el concierto inaugural del jueves se realizó en un escenario sin decorado, con escasas luces y variados problemas de sonido que motivaron protestas de los jóvenes asistentes al teatro Alamar."

Mujeres de Hip-Hop Cubana  11/5/2004 Nubian Sisters: nice photo gallery

Cuban Hip-Hop Reaches Crossroads  10/5/2004 AP

Una mirada sociopsicológica al rap en Cuba  8/7/2004 Jiribilla

Hip-hop: de estilo a género  8/7/2004 Jiribilla: "El hip hop tiene valores para establecerse como una nueva expresión del nuevo milenio de la música popular cubana. Se dice que ningún género tiene una permanencia mayor a los cuarenta años, pero considero que este, que lleva ya diez, va por un buen camino. Siempre habrá hojarasca que se pierda y valores que permanecerán; estos, al final, definirán el género."

For American author, music tells tale  7/19/2004 Miami Herald: "But for those who are unfamiliar with Cuba's daily grind, the book will deliver lyrical insight into the potential for music, especially hip-hop, to confront the inequalities and discrimination on the island. Robinson based his book on just nine short visits to the island. He was simultaneously on assignment for The Washington Post, originally covering a story on the post-Buena Vista Social Club brouhaha…"

Hip-hop not getting bad rap in Cuba - Some surprised by government's support of counterculture artists  7/10/2004 Dallas Morning News: "Take the case of Rodolfo Rensoli, 38, organizer of the first Cuban rap festival in 1995. His festival became an annual event. He continued promoting it until 2000, thinking the music could help change Cuban society. But the following year, he said, he was forced out by inept people who had more conservative views. "There are a lot of people who don't understand people like me," said Mr. Rensoli, founding member of a popular rap group, Grupo Uno."

Two Cuban Rap Groups Present Video against Drugs  4/2/2004 Cubarte Newsletter: "Cuban Rap has been one of the most spectacular phenomena in Ibero-American music, since with little less than 10 years in the scene, Cuban hip-hoppers earned a Grammy Award (Orishas, for the album Emigrante), and nomination Equis Alfonso for Equis-Moré."

Rap’s Diasporic Dialogues: Cuba’s Redefinition of Blackness  3/17/2004 Academia: "What is most significant though is that African-Cuban raperos are seriously questioning the mulataje-mestizo hypothesis as an organizing metaphor of Cuban culture and society. While certainly Guille´n never saw the mulataje hypothesis as a mere whitening process, the way Guillen has been put forth as a Cuban icon, poet, and racial thinker indicates that hislegacy has often been used as a cultural smokescreen to deny or avoid discussing the undeniable racial disparities on the island. Cuban raperos,in signifying on Guillen and other cultural sources, have "historicized,contextualized and pluralized afrocubania (West, 1993: 3) and, in doing so, are showing how blackness in Cuba changes and acquires new political and cultural dimensions. It also engages white Cubans to see whiteness asa form of forgetting (and oppression) and, by stimulating a buried historical memory, implores and demands that the island see itself as a nationwith a ‘‘Cuban color’’ and an African heart."

All Female Hip-Hop Concert To Rock Cuba  12/15/2003 CubaNet: "Cuba will play host to the first all women's hip-hop concert this month, the first such event to take place on the island. The concert, titled "Proven Presence" will feature Cuban rappers Esencia, Oye Habana, Maryoris, Las positivas and Las crudas. The event, which kicks off at 5:00 pm on December 17, will take place at Covarrubias Hall of the National Theater."

Hip-Hop Fridays: Hip Hop A Lo Cubano  10/31/2003 Black Electorate: "Havana's Club Atelier is usually a reggae and salsa spot, but this August night is different. It's 11 p.m. the air conditioner is broken, and at least 150 young Cubans are packed into the smoky, windowless basement. It's hot in here, but there's no Nelly in earshot. Politically charged Brooklynites Dead Prez weave hypnotically out of ragged speakers, and the crowd—decked out in FUBU, Ecko-, and Kangol—drinks Cristal. Not the champagne favored by blinged-bghout rappers—the national beer, which resembles watered-down Heineken. Living on $15 a month and maybe hustling for supplementary cash, you drink what you can afford. Papo Record, a rapper-producer highly regarded in the Cuban underground, is in the club tonight, scouting talent, while a group of raperos lingers near the John Lennon statue outside, relaxing with a pre-show blunt. The night's first group, Sindikto, bursts onto the stage, lead rapper Nativo's youthful rhymes cutting playfully through Papa Flow's low growl; the whole room stands up, fists in the air, with such emotion and vigor that Fidel himself might as well be spitting rhymes (He rapped onstage with premier Cuban group Doble Filo at the 1999 national baseball championship). By the time third Sindikto member Maligno takes the stage, the group is barely visible over the bouncing, fist-pumping mob. Welcome to hip-hop a lo cubano."

Hip-Hop Fridays: Hip Hop A Lo Cubano by Katie Millbauer  10/31/2003 Black Electorate

Hip Hop in Havana  9/9/2003 Radio Progresso: "In spite of the August heat in the Cuban capital, rap fans were all over the 9th annual Havana 2003 Hip Hop Festival. The event was held in several of the city’s theaters with the participation of 60 groups – 40 locals and 20 from abroad. The Unites States, Colombia, Canada, Mexico, Italy, United Kingdom and Switzerland were the invited countries. Speaking of local groups, there are so many that some critics claim that there are 400 of them, and others say that Cuban hip hop groups number more than 1,000. Some are known internationally, like Orishas, and others are very popular locally, like Free Holes Negros, Eddy K – who is well known for his theme song written for a popular weekly TV program, “The Other Geography”. There are newer groups that are gaining followers such as Primera Base, Alto Voltaje, and Obsesión, who recently toured the U.S. The Ministry of Culture has created an organization to promote the rappers, the Cuban Rap Agency, that even has its own recording label, Asere Productions. The new hip hop magazine, Movimiento, was launched during the festival. Also presented during the event were DJ demonstrations by representatives from the U.S. and Great Britain, debates on graffiti, fanzines and films, among them 8 Miles, about American rapper Eminem."

Amulatao, aplatanao, cubaneao  8/19/2003 Jiribilla: "A no dudarlo, dentro y fuera de la Isla, el rap se ha convertido en una expresión musical autónoma, con personalidad propia, aunque en algunas de sus principales vertientes se convierta en tributaria del complejo rítmico caribeño. El octavo Festival así lo ha corroborado."

Havana's International Rap Festival Opens  8/12/2003 Radio Havana

The Roots, Common,Kanye Unite With Cuban Rap  5/30/2003 All Hip Hop: "The Roots, Common, Tony Touch, Soul Live, J-Live, Kanye West and others plan to convene with several Cuban hip-hop artists in an effort to push cultural exchange at Harlem’s Apollo Theater. On June 9, the American artists will meld talents with Cuba’s finest like Doble Filo and Obsesion "

Thursday concerts to resume at NJPAC  5/30/2003 Star Ledger, NJ: "July 10, 4:30 p.m. -- Raices Habaneras, Afro-Cuban rumba; Somi, soul; Iqua Colson, jazz; DJ Hard Hittin' Harry, hip-hop."

The rap on Cuba coming to town to play Hip Hop Exchange/Miami  5/18/2003 Miami Herald

Rap Under Attack  2/28/2003 Black World Today]: "The attack on rap, which many of those at the press conference view as an attempt to minimize their opportunities, is nothing new in the industry, according to Harry Allen, whose nom de guerre is the "media assassin." "Attack is now standard procedure," he began. "You get used to it; it's like background noise. The attack is multi-pronged and in many ways is an extension of the general attack on Black males." Popular DJ Ed Lover amplified Allen's remarks, adding that the independent record producers, some rap artists, and a few members of the alternative media are united in their stand against the attack, particularly the mainstream media and the ravings of Bill O'Reilly of the Fox Channel. "We know what you're doing," he blasted, referring to the mainstream media, "and you're not going to get away with it. We got each other's backs and we are determined to control our own destiny." When asked about the police surveillance that is detailed in an article in the latest The Source magazine, Mays said that they were doing further research and that they hoped to elaborate on what had been disclosed about a unit within the NYPD set up to watch hip hop culture." COINTELPRO.

Lucas premia. Otro año para Orishas  12/25/2002 Cultura: "Cuando usted vea en la pequeña pantalla los resultados de Lucas, el foro del video clip cubano por la TV, debe saber que el Mejor Video del Año fue a parar a manos de ¿Qué pasa?, del Grupo Orishas, realizado por Eduard Salier. Es una manera de hacer el hip hop a lo cubano, que se ha legitimado internacionalmente. El de Orishas también se alzó con los premios en las categorías de Agrupación, Efectos Visuales y Rap."

Censorship against young poets and rap artists  12/13/2002 Cubanet: "Following the Hip Hop Festival held in Havana in August, the Casa de Cultura in Alamar received an order from the Ministry of Culture to review the lyrics of rap songs before the start of any concert. "This is a preventative measure to avoid any act of disobedience not in accord with our revolutionary process," the director of the center said to justify the measure. According to the comments of a city cultural official, the finale of the Hip Hop Festival was planned for La Piragua, an open-air, central location in Vedado, but due to the coverage by the foreign press and their reaction in the face of certain openly critical texts, it was cancelled and moved at the last minute to the amphitheater in Alamar… Poets, painters, musicians, performers, troubadors, the majority under 35 years of age, have converted an area far from the cultural circuit and center of Havana--and where daily life is pure tedium in one of the worst architectural contexts in Havana--into a center boiling with creativity. Nevertheless, the artists are starting to be concerned. In the opinion of many of them, a new policy of censorship and exclusion is being conducted by the municipal Casa de la Cultura, the provincial board of community culture and the Ministry of Culture." Cubanet is a Miami Mafia site, and the government response it portrays would be a knee jerk reaction to the articles in Washington Times, Miami Herald and others about Rap in Cuba being a dissident activity. Note also, in true right wing Cuban fashion, the complete lack of context expressed in this article, not even the word black or afrocuban is used.

Cuban hip-hop: The rebellion within the revolution  11/25/2002 CNN: "A rebellion has taken root in Cuba, nourished by a stifling trade embargo, the collapse of the Soviet Union, and racial inequality. But these rebels use lyrics, not guns, and they dance instead of march. Hip-hop is the rebellion within the revolution. Its soldiers are Cuban rappers, (raperos). Their missions are poverty and racism."

Cuba's rap revolution: Tough times inspire musical commentary  11/4/2002 Seattle Times: "With the average Cuban peso salary about $15 U.S. a month, it's tempting for those without dollar-paying jobs to spend their time hustling for handouts instead. And those jobs — in hotels, state-run taxis or as licensed operators of restaurants and guesthouses — have proved elusive for Afro-Cubans."

Cuba: el rap llegó para quedarse  8/19/2002 BBC: "El VIII Festival de Rap, "Habana Hip-Hop 2002", llegó a su fin después de una semana en la que compartieron los escenarios grupos de Cuba, Estados Unidos, México, Venezuela, Canadá y Noruega. El público acudió de forma masiva, demostrando que el rap llegó a Cuba para quedarse porque representa el sentir de una gran masa de jóvenes de los barrios más humildes de la isla que, musicalmente hablando, estaban sin voz."

Cuban rappers show rare outspokenness about the nation  8/18/2002 Miami Herald: ''Police, police you are not my friend,'' 18-year-old Humberto Cabrera, a soloist known as Papa Humbertico, sang as the eighth annual rap festival got under way last week. ``For Cuban youth, you are the worst nightmare . . . you are the criminal . . . I detest you.''

Cuba Hosts First Rap Festival  8/16/2002 AP: actually, it is the 8th or the 9th…

EIGHTH CUBAN RAP FESTIVAL HEATS UP IN HAVANA  8/15/2002 Radio Havana: "The 8th Cuban Rap Festival got off to a roaring musical start here in Havana last night as thousands of spectators excitedly welcomed the hosts of the first rap concert - the Cuban husband and wife group Obsesión. Obsesión brought on a slew of other Cuban and foreign musicians in a medley that was fast and furious mix of rap, rumba and many other rhythms. Hip Hop fans filled the Teatro America in downtown Havana for what organizers say is the only Rap Festival in the world that is officially sponsored by their government. More than 60 Cuban and foreign groups will be performing through Sunday in theatres in the city as well as in the suburb of Alamar, which is the place where Cuban rap was born, many of last night's audience coming from there. Groups include Mexico's "Boco Floja" which translates as "Loose Mouth", the famous US group "Mos Def", and Cuban favorites "Anónimo Consejo" or "Anonymous Advice" and "Obsesión". The festival has also included colloquiums on the history and direction of the hip hop movement in Cuba. It will end with a final Sunday evening concert along the famous seafront Malecón in Havana."

Debaten acerca de la realidad cubana actual en evento de rap  8/14/2002 AIN: "Abel Prieto, ministro de cultura, señaló hoy que muchos de los programas actuales de la Revolución tienen entre sus objetivos erradicar los vestigios de segregación racial que algunos individuos insisten en perpetuar en nuestra sociedad. La intervención del dirigente tuvo lugar durante la jornada de clausura del coloquio previo al VIII Festival Nacional de Rap Habana Hip Hop 2002, encuentro organizado por la Asociación Hermanos Saíz (AHS) y que desde el pasado lunes sesionó en el Museo de la Música… Finalizando la cita teórica, Abel Prieto anunció que el día 31 de este mes se inaugurará la Agencia de Rap, institución que difundirá esta manifestación artística en el ámbito nacional y extranjero, y que contará además con su propio sello discográfico."

The Roots, ganador de un Grammy a festivald de Rap en Cuba  8/7/2002 Prensa Latina: "The Roots, grupo de Hip-Hop estadounidense ganador de una Grammy, actuará en el Festival Nacional de Rap que se celebrará en Cuba del 12 y hasta el 18 de agosto, con la asistencia de 72 bandas de cinco países."

Rap cubano: Con la manga hasta el codo  8/1/2002 Jiribilla: "—¿Cuáles son las razones que han motivado la gran cobertura que ha tenido el recién finalizado Habana Hip Hop en medios de prensa internacionales? —El rap en el mundo entero, y sobre todo en Estados Unidos, es una cultura de resistencia. Es un género que aborda candentes temas sociales. En el caso específico de nuestro festival, está claro que algunos periodistas asistieron a él en busca de los puntos oscuros. Se le ha dado cobertura para satisfacer ese tipo de expectativa tendenciosa que suelen usar algunos periódicos extranjeros cuando se refieren a la realidad cubana."

HORA DE ABRIR LOS OJOS... ¡EL RAP CUBANO EXISTE!  8/1/2002 Jiribilla

Rap en Cuba: ALTAS EXPECTATIVAS  8/1/2002 Jiribilla: "El rap contiene una lírica potente que habla de las cosas de la calle. Es una estética callejera que se acerca a la poesía de manera diversa", opina Rodolfo Rensoli, uno de los principales promotores y teóricos del rap en Cuba."

EL TRATAMIENTO DEL TEMA NEGRO EN EL RAP  8/1/2002 Jiribilla: por Tomás Fernández Robaina

RAP CUBANO  8/1/2002 Jiribilla: "Mis observaciones se basan en las investigaciones que he realizado desde 1999 dentro de las comunidades de rap de La Habana y Santiago de Cuba como parte de mi tesis de doctorado en antropología de la Universidad de Texas en Austin."

Cuban Hip-Hoppers' International Vibes  7/14/2002 Newsday: "When the Cuban rappers known as Orishas released their first album, "A lo Cubano," in 2000, it broke new ground in the loosely defined category of Latin hip-hop. By insisting on incorporating basic Afro-Cuban elements such as cha cha, bolero, son and guaguancó, Orishas was redefining hip-hop from a Latin music perspective. As Roldán, who sings in the traditional Cuban style for Orishas, said during the group's first U.S. tour, it was time to dispense with slavish imitation of North American hip-hop. It was time for rap a lo cubano, Cuban-style."

Choream y los tiempos danzarios del hip hop  6/6/2002 Granma: Havana: "Entre los creadores a la vanguardia del movimiento hip-hop internacional no puede faltar el nombre de Choream, compañía francesa de danza contemporánea que se presentará en función única el sábado 8 (8:30 p.m.) en el Teatro Mella."

Hip-hop in Cuba: creating a revolution  4/1/2002 Cuba Absolutely: "Pablo Herrera, the producer who can make them—who already made Orishas, the first popular Cuban rap group—is in the DJ's room looking down. "What you're seeing is Cuba's underground. I'm talking the empowerment of youth as a battle spear for a more conscious society," he says in English so flawless that he's sure he lived another life in Brooklyn. And he looks it—from the braids in his hair down to the New York attitude."

Asian Dub in Havana  3/8/2002 BBC: "The UK's Asian Dub Foundation will perform in Havana, Cuba, on Saturday at the invitation of the Cuban culture ministry and The British Council. The bands have made a speciality of fusing rock and rap with Indian music and overt political statements. Born in the UK, but of Indian and Bangladeshi descent, the members of the group began performing in 1993. The band will appear in Havana alongside Cuban groups Sintesis and Equis Alfonso."

Young Cubans turn to hip-hop  2/16/2002 Washington Times: from the Reverend Sun Yung Moon's conservative paper in DC, with a predictable spin.

Meet the new pioneers of hip-hop music  12/16/2001 Sun Sentinel, Fort Lauderdale: "The rappers say they have the freedom to criticize their island's ills but they do it constructively. At concerts, some rap about the crowded buses, racial discrimination and the growing disparity due to a dual economy. However, access to government-controlled radio and television stations is still touch and go… "A few years ago it was unimaginable to think we were going to insert ourselves in shows with all other kinds of music, that the minister of culture would listen to us, that we would be in a millennium festival called by Fidel," he said. "The thing is not to say there are problems, but to say there are problems and this is how we can fix them. It's about having the courage to say, `open your eyes, there are things that are bad.' That's being a true revolutionary." "

RAP CUBANO  8/1/2001 La Jiribilla, Cuba: photo gallery

Links/Enlaces

WHAT IS CUBAN HIP HOP?
www.beautifulmes.com/hip_hop.html

afrorazones.com

Agencia Cubana de Rap

Festival Nacional de Rap Cubano 2001

Festival Nacional de Rap Cubano ~ 1999: 5th edition "Swing"

Black August 2000

directoriodeafrocubanas.com/2016/01/18/cinco-videos-de-raperas-cubanas/

www.ahs.cu/tag/hip-hop-cubano

NED listings:

Cuban Soul Foundation, Democratic Ideas and Values, $65,000 in 2013."Independent Cuban Artist’s Freedom of Expression. To empower independent artists to produce and perform their work in uncensored community venues and events. Cuban Soul Foundation (CSF) will support independent artistic groups in their efforts to establish community arts centers and studios. CSF will also help coordinate a series of events to showcase the work of artists participating in this program." Dedicated to hip hop. Their web site is cubansoulfoundation.org, now in poor shape, They also have www.facebook.com/cubansoulfoundation/

Authors

Sujatha Fernandes

Sujatha Fernandes, "Fear of a Black Nation: Local Rappers, Transnational Crossings and State Power in Contemporary Cuba." Anthropological Quarterly, Volume 76, Number 4, Fall 2003, pp 575 - 608. PDF

Sujatha Fernandes, "Transnationalism and Feminist Activism in Cuba: The Case of Magín." Politics & Gender, Volume 1, Number 3, September 2005, pp 431- 452. PDF

Sujatha Fernandes and Jason Stanyek, "Hip Hop and Black Public Spheres in Venezuela, Cuba and Brazil." Beyond Slavery: The Multi-Layered Legacy of Africans in Latin America, edited by Darien Davis, Boulder and New York : Rowman and Littlefield Publishers, 2007, pp 199 - 222. PDF

Sujatha Fernandes, "Island Paradise, Revolutionary Utopia or Hustler's Haven? Consumerism and Socialism in Contemporary Cuban Rap." Journal of Latin American Cultural Studies, Volume 12, Number 3, Fall 2003, pp 359 - 375. PDF

Pablo Herrera: hip-hop & rap producer/DJ/keyboardist/poet

Mark Perry

Negro Soy Yo: Hip Hop and Raced Citizenship in Neoliberal Cuba (Refiguring American Music), 2016, Duke University Press, Downloadable PDF ebook, no charge
www.oapen.org/download?type=document&docid=604610

Tomas Robaina

EL TRATAMIENTO DEL TEMA NEGRO EN EL RAP 8/1/2002 Jiribilla: por Tomás Fernández Robaina

Tanya Saunders

Alejandro Zamora: Rapear una Cuba utópica: Testimonios del movimiento hiphopero, 2017