Christopher Dennis - Afro-Colombian Hip-Hop: Globalization, Transcultural Music, and Ethnic Identities

Afro-Colombian Hip-Hop

Afro-Colombian Hip-Hop

Globalization, Transcultural Music, and Ethnic Identities

Christopher Dennis

LEXINGTON BOOKS

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Published by Lexington Books

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Copyright 2012 by Lexington Books

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote passages in a review.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Information Available

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Dennis, Christopher, 1974

Afro-Colombian hip-hop : globalization, transcultural music, and ethnic identities / Christopher Dennis.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 978-0-7391-5056-6 (cloth : alk. paper) ISBN 978-0-7391-5058-0 (ebook)

1. Rap (Music)Social aspectsColombia. 2. Rap (Music)ColombiaHistory and criticism. 3. BlacksColombiaMusicHistory and criticism. 4. BlacksColombiaSocial conditions. 5. Hip-hopColombia. 6. Music and globalizationColombia. I. Title.

ML3917.C65D46 2012

782.42164909861dc23

2011037372

The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information Sciences Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992.

Printed in the United States of America

Contents

Acknowledgments

Afro-Colombian Historical Context

Demographics and Socio-Economic Indicators

Globalization and Neoliberal Reform

Why Afro-Colombian Hip-Hop and Rap?

Notes

Afro-Colombian Hip-Hop Groups

Production and Distribution

Notes

Hip-Hop Real

The Armed Conflict

The Illicit Drug Trade

Displacement

The Urban Experience

Violence

Conclusions: The Periphery of the Periphery

Notes

Mass-Mediated Transnational Cultural Contact

Racial Discrimination

Afro-Colombian Solidarity Movements and Cultural Organizations

Africa and the Diaspora

Conclusions: Pasado, Presente, Futuro

Notes

Afro-Colombian Hip-Hop: From Adoption to Adaptation

Hip-Hop Real and Ethnic-Racial Tension

Mainstream Audiences and Growing Commercial Success

Conclusions: An Afro-Colombian Reading

Notes

Mestizaje and Music Nationalism

Multiculturalism and Music Diversification

Ethnic Pride as an Expression of Colombian Nationhood

Conclusions: Colombias Hip-Hop Nation

Notes

The Next Chapter

Notes

Selected Discography

Bibliography

Index

Acknowledgments

This book is the result of years of research and writing carried out between 2002 and 2011 in both the United States and Colombia. My time spent abroad would not have been possible without the financial assistance provided by various institutions. I am very grateful to The Ohio State University where, as a graduate student, I received travel grants from the Office of International Affairs and the Center for Latin American Studies. I am also greatly indebted to the Fulbright Program, whose grant afforded me the opportunity to conduct extensive fieldwork and on-site research. Lastly, I would like to express my deepest appreciation to the University of North CarolinaWilmington for additional funding used to support travel, research, and scholarly presentations relevant to the books subject material.

This project was also made possible thanks to the cooperation and assistance from many individuals belonging to Colombias hip-hop and music communities. I want to extend a very special thank you to Yahany Tostao Valencia, Gloria Goyo Martnez, and Miguel Slow Martnez of Choc Quib Town, who graciously shared their homes and lives with me. Our countless discussions on music and racial relations in Colombia were vital to my work. Other performers and hip-hop participants who deserve special recognition for their collaboration and support include Flaco Flow & Melanina; Jhon J, Rico, and Shaoln of Zona Marginal; Almirante, Liri Gun, and Koala of Ghettos Clan; Smoka, Dr. Ganja, and the members of Asilo 38; Walter Indigo Hernndez of Systema Solar; Nene U of Ashanty; Proscopio Popn Rios of La Familia Ayara; Alexis Play; Midras Queen; Ras Binghi Nyah and Voodoo SouJahs; and last but not least, Diana Tobar Lozano.

I also want to express my appreciation to various acquaintances who were very supportive during my time conducting research in Colombia: professors Jaime Arocha, Francisco Ortega, and Mara Viveros, faculty members from the Centro de Estudios Sociales (CES) at the Universidad Nacional in Bogota; Juan de Dios Mosquera, director of Cimarrn; Fernando Urrea, professor of sociology at the Universidad del Valle in Cali; Alberto Angulo, author of Moros en la costa (1999); Giovonni Crdoba, one-time editor of the magazine Afro ; and the late Manuel Zapata Olivella, who twice took the time to discuss Colombian racial matters with me when I was a rather inexperienced but yet hungry graduate student.

For reading and commenting on my manuscript, I am extremely thankful to Jim Peltz and especially Michael Birenbaum, professor of music at Bowdoin College, who provided many thoughtful insights and suggestions. I owe many thanks to Dorothy E. Mosby, professor of Spanish at Mount Holyoke College, who introduced me to Afro-Hispanic studies and inspired me to pursue my scholarly interests in Afro-Colombian cultures. Also, I would like to offer my sincere gratitude to my former advisor, Abril Trigo, distinguished professor of Latin American cultures at The Ohio State University, who guided and assisted me from the initial stages of my research to the completion of my dissertation. As friends and colleagues, both Dorothy and Abril have encouraged me to see this book project through to the end.

I also wish to extend my appreciation to Lenore Lautigar, associate editor at Lexington Books, for supporting my efforts to convert my manuscript into book form.

Finally, to my friends, colleagues, and family, whose love, patience, and encouragement carried me through this long process, I am profoundly grateful.

Chapter One

Introduction

When I began my research in the summer of 2002, I was exploring Afro-Colombian literature and hoping to find an up-and-coming generation of fiction writers addressing present-day issues relevant to the countrys black communities. Unfortunately, within a landscape of growing poverty, violence, civil war, and political struggle, there is often little time or space for culture. Many, if not most, Afro-Colombians are consumed by their daily struggles for survival. Nonetheless, my research took a somewhat unexpected turn one morning in Bogota while sitting in Cimarrn (an Afro-Colombian social and political organization) prior to a meeting with cofounder Juan de Dios Mosquera. The office is always adorned with an array of afro-centric decorations, iconography, and art, but what caught my attention that particular morning was a poster of several young Afro-Colombian rappers from a group called Ghettos Clan. As someone who grew up in the 1980s during hip-hops explosion into mainstream U.S. culture, I was immediately intrigued. I set out to learn more about the Colombian hip-hop scene, and I eventually met rapper Yahany Tostao Valencia, at that time part of the duo Mensajeros and now a member of one of Colombias most renowned hip-hop groups, Choc Quib Town (sometimes spelled ChocQuibTown). Just a few minutes into our conversation and I could see that Tostao was an intelligent and charismatic young man. We spent the greater part of the day talking about music, the national hip-hop scene, and racial relations in Colombia. He sold me several CDs of local hip-hop artists, and from that day on, I was hooked.