BETHLEHEM, Pa. — From its modest roots in the South Bronx in the 1970s, hip-hop culture has become an international, multibillion-dollar phenomenon. Originally a tool for social expression, rap music opened a window onto inner- city ethnicity, fashion and politics. Long before commercialism poisoned its lyrics with violence, drugs and misogyny, hip-hop had a social consciousness.
By the 1990s, that consciousness started incubating in an unlikely place: Cuba. During the island’s economic downturn, many social restrictions were relaxed, including prohibitions on makeshift TV and radio antennas on the roofs of buildings. Especially in Havana, Cuba’s youth began hearing signals from New York via Miami. Even if they didn’t understand all the lyrics, they instantly identified with old- school videos like the Sugarhill Gang’s “Rapper’s Delight.”
“Cuba is a revolutionary country, and its youth have been taught to be socially critical,” says Tanya Saunders, a pre-doctoral fellow in Africana Studies at Lehigh University. “They wanted to know what this music was, and where it came from. They started learning its history, its ties to disenfranchised and marginalized blacks and Latinos in New York.”
Saunders has put together a two-day conference at Lehigh that will unite the Cuban underground hip-hop movement with global hip-hop. “El Proyecto,” or “The Project,” will explore the social and political impact of Cuban underground hip-hop and feature shows by international artists.
“I specifically say it’s an underground hip-hop movement to distinguish it from the commercialized hip-hop that, at least in Spanish-speaking countries, is manifested in a style of music called reggae- ton,” Saunders says. Derived from Caribbean beats and rhythm, Reggaeton is bass- dominated house music, often with sexually explicit lyrics.
“Cuban underground hip- hop looks more towards the early New York style of socially critical music,” Saunders says.
The Afro-centric element of Cuban hip-hop is key. “Particularly since 1995, there was a re-emergence of black identity in Cuba. Cubans wanted to explore their own relationship with African heritage,” says Saunders. “They started discovering this lost history and realized how much internalized racism they had.”
Cuban hip-hop has had an enormous impact on the global rap scene, especially regarding the participation of women. “A lot of people look to Cuba as the rebirth of the hip-hop movement,” says Sujatha Fernandes, assistant professor of sociology at Queens College, City University of New York. “Women had been more involved in hip-hop in the early days.”
Fernandes says that in 2001 there were more than 13 all- women hip-hop groups in Cuba, an impressive number considering the country’s population. “But now the majority of Cuban hip-hop is being done by people who have migrated to Europe and the United States,” she says.
Ironically, although Cuba has given two controversial groups permission to come to the United States, an amendment to the Homeland Security Act that identifies Cuba as a terrorist state will keep them out.
