Cuban Hip Hop - Recent Events

Recent Events

In 2002 the government formed the Agencia Cubana de Rap (Cuban Rap Agency) with its own record label and hip hop magazine to help promote the art form on the island. Weekly radio and TV shows were launched. With the creation of the Cuban Rap Agency by the Cuban government, this group encouraged and endorsed various rappers and created their albums. However, there was a down-side to this agency that affected the popularity of the CRA. Getting artists and bands radio time and fame, came at a slight price; there were limits as to how artists could express themselves. Thus, the CRA would only endorse groups that were willing to change their lyrics and music styles to those that were accepted by the government and community. As a result, not many groups or artists were willing to give into the CRA expectations. In a way, the CRA interfered with the originality and creativity of the artist. The CRA, seen as a threat to the hip-hop community, silenced voices and the true messages of lyrics, inventive thoughts, and new ideals were never actually heard.

With official sanction and resources the Alamar Rap festival was transformed into an annual International Hip Hop festival held in August. The event has attracted many international artists including from the US amongst others, Mos Def, Talib Kweli, The Roots, Common and Dead Prez. Workshops, film screenings and talks are held in conjunction debating culture and lyrical content.

It is estimated that there are some 500 hip hop groups in Cuba. However, whilst there has been much academic and media interest in Cuban hip hop, few Cuban groups have managed to be heard outside of the island.

The first group to achieve international success were Los Orishas, who are now based in France.

In 2002 the album Cuban Hip Hop Allstars, produced by Pablo Herrera, was released in the US featuring some of the best groups at that time.

Another group to be released internationally via Italy is Clan 537 who found fame with "Quien Tiro La Tiza" (Who Threw the Chalk).

In 2003 Europe based female Cuban singer Addys D'Mercedes released her innovative album "Nomad" mixing her Cuban roots with elements of hip hop, house and R&B.

Many other groups resort to free Internet MP3 providers to get their music heard.

Most recently, the term "underground" has become appropriate for rap.The most popular urban music in the country is now reggaeton. Recently, there has been an explosion in popularity of reggaeton, particularly among Cuba’s 5 million people under the age of thirty. Reggaeton –whose lyrics emphasize Sensuality, Individualism and sex, in graphic and sexually explicit terms– stands in sharp contrast to the tradition of Cuban underground rap, the content of which is more often characterized by social commentary on inequality and injustice. Reggaeton versus Cuban rap has become a contentious debate in Cuba. It's driven many within the socially - conscious rap scene to paint reggaeton as the "enemy" due to its focus on mindless dancing rather than community reflection. Furthermore, critics of reggaeton condemn the genre as lyrically and musically deficient ( It is ironic however, that Engineering a Cuban Reggaeton song is drastically more complex in contrast to Cuban Hip Hop) and morally questionable as well as too commercially oriented. Nehanda Abiodun, an American living in Cuba to avoid charges of racketeering, who has advocated strongly for Cuban hip-hop and rap, said of the move towards reggaeton “There is an element of commercialism that’s creeping in…You cannot blame these young people for wanting to see the fruits of their labor, but will they be able to maintain that responsible, intellectual rap and still get paid?"

Women’s role in hip-hop and regeton in Cuba is constantly growing. However, women in hip-hop in Cuba face a difficult dichotomoy of both acting as the powerful female or as the sexy perreo dancer. For example, Las Kudras who describe themselves as feminists and do not participate in the Nationalized Cuban Hip-Hop scene are comfortable questioning “hegemonic notions of femininity and Black female sexuality”. Yet, female rap groups such as Animo Consejo who have an interest in broader, national appeal have a more difficult time managing between their role as a sexy performer who will be judged by their onstage look and as rappers who are interested in changing the racialized role of women in Cuba. Magia serves as one of the most popular female Cuban rappers who has been able to mediate this dichotomy into some success in the country.

Pacini-Hernandez, Deborah and Reebee Garofalo. "The emergence of rap Cubano: An historical perspective." In Music, Space, and Place, ed. Whitely, Bennett, and Hawkins, 91-93. Burlington, VT: Ashgate, 2004.

Contest, co-sponsored by Wal-Mart and Sheets Energy Strips, began on June 18 and runs until July 15. It promised the most-liked store would receive a visit and concert by Cuban rapper "Pit Bull", prompting an online campaign to send him to remote Kodiak, Alaska.