"Latinos" in Hip-Hop
This is a piece I contributed to DJ Disco Wiz's Hip-Hop Game.com journal. For the full article which features contributions by some very prominent Hip-Hop philosophers visit http://myspace.com/djdiscowiz or http://hiphomegame.com
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B.Boy Omega speaks on "Latinos" in Hip-Hop
Hip-Hop does not mean any one thing to me. It was a uniquely Bronx, positive, creative alternative that offered a way out of the ghetto. As the culture grew to a viable economic option, it eventually eclipsed the drug dealing aspirations that I had as a 10 year-old in the Soundview section of the South-East Bronx.
Hip-Hop was also my generations' contribution to the world. It is a post-modern international culture that super ceded any nationalist boundaries like it did for the gang movements of the 1970s.
"Latino" and the Latino movement.
I don't really like to use the term "Latino" to describe who I am. Latin was the language of the Roman Empire and was the language of the Roman Catholic Church, the force behind the colonialism of nations of color all over the world. I am not Roman, Catholic or a descendant of conquistadors. When we use terms like Puerto Rican, Colombian, Dominican, we legitimatize colonialism and link ourselves to those individuals who murdered and enslaved our ancestors. When we embrace the Castilian language (incorrectly called Spanish) as our language, it shows that we are still mentally slaves.
Latino is a linguistic identity. If we are to use the term "Latino" in any capacity, then we have to use it properly. Latino is not a synonym for Hispanic, because a few languages come from Latin: Portuguese, French, Castilian (Spanish), Catalan, Italian and Romanian. All these people are Latinos, if we are going to use the term as a way to identify people. Right now it is being used to create this group that competes for corporate advertising dollars and to create a political voting block to challenge Black-Americans in particular. I'm not down with any movement that looks to displace "another" disenfranchised group, especially when many "Latinos" are black.
Until Cape Verdeans, Haitians, Brazilians, Filipinos and Senegalese are brought to the forefront as Latinos, this Latino movement is just bullshit. It is a push for White Hispanics to create a power base based on the Castilian language. At the end of the day it will still be children of Conquistadors running shit, they just speak in Spanish and have Spanish names. Just look at Telemundo and Univision, they are worse than any American stations when it comes to representation.
Latinos getting their Hip-Hop props
When it comes to Hip-Hop, we have gotten our props many times over. But Hip-Hop is not about ethnicity. It's about Hip-Hop. Taki 183 was Greek, Tracy 168 was Irish. Kool Herc and Coke La Rock were Jamaican. Grandmaster Flash was born in Barbados. There are plenty of Filipino DJ's that are part of the movement. Eminem has much respect and he is white. There have been plenty of DJ's/MC's that were Boriqua and Cubano straight up. Wiz, Whip, Ruby, Chase, Tito, Prince Markie Dee, Super Lover Cee, Wise from Stet, B-Real, Sen Dog. Hen Gee and Evil E (Ice T DJ's) were Honduran. Kid Frost was Mexican. All these dudes were out before Fat Joe and Pun. Just because they don't wave a flag doesn't make them any less "Hispanic".
When we expand the Latino definition beyond the limited and ignorant USA definition and use what the rest of earth uses to describe a "Latino" then we have even more people that have been involved over the years. Kangol Kid from UTFO was Haitian, so was Hurby Luv Bug. So is Wyclef. Breez Evah Flowin, and Flashback from the Future Sound are Brazilian. There are Cape Verdean MC's out there rocking in New England. There are plenty of Italian dudes doing it right now all over; and they are the original and the only legit Latinos. We have to stop this bullshit of trying to promote this Spanish slave language, we are not from Spain.
Final thoughts
I think that a lot of "Latinos" who weren't a part of the rap movement and were listening to freestyle are trying to front like they have always been down. The truth is however that many people abandoned Hip-Hop for Freestyle in the '80's and they missed Biz Markie, BDP, Kane, Stesasonic and I can go on and on. Later on they tried to jump on but they had missed the train, so they are WAY behind the times. That's why people aren't feeling a lot of "Latino" MC's, they were freestyle heads that are trying to rap now and they are wack. That was a choice that people made and they have to pay the price for listening to wack music all the years they could have been a part of Hip-Hop.
B.Boy Omega: DJ/ eMCee
see the full article at http://myspace.com/djdiscowiz or http://hiphopgame.com