Peace fam...whats poppin? This topic came about, because I was amazed at the mass appeal of the global hip hop influence. Below I have attatched a video by Tego Calderon & Don Omar "Bandoleros"...this track falls in my top 20 cuts ever..and the funny thing is I have no idea what the fuck the song is about. Which brings this question..in other countries where english is not spoken (no..english isnt primary everywhere) all they see is the swagger, and hear the music...like I did with this video, and its viral..they catch the hip hop bug (per sa). So I ask can a region adapt a culture, it did not originate? Hip Hop clearly started in the U.S (N.Y. to be exact) but has spread globally..and fast. But can regions that don't know what they say..imitate (for lack of better words...or is that a nice description?)what they see, put a twist on it and call it theirs..i.e rapping in spanish, and calling it reggaeton (shout out to mellow man ace)?
J.RollemSwol
www.rollemswol.com
Tego Calderon & Don Omar-Bandoleros
Mellow Man Ace- Mentirosa
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Hi,good post!I am from a small country called dominican republic,which is a next door neighbor to puerto rico,home of reggaeton.this sub-genre was first bombarded and tested here in 1994-1998,and it quickly reached popular success,due to the then popular dj playero mixtapes,which basically consisted of jamaican dancehall riddims,and american hip-hop classic beats,mixed and rapped over by puerto rican mc's,which alternately spoke about thigh life and "yales"(a spanish deforming of "gals"as in girls).Now,Hip-hop as it's known in the states had existed for a while here in DR,and we had tried to keep it pure,meaning lyrics,graff,b-boying,and keeping up with the NY musical scene,which in turn resulted from indifference from the local crowds who were'nt into hip-hop.Hip-hop had its impact here nonwithstanding the language barrier,because the second largest dominican city is none other than NYC,which hosts more than 2 million dominicans either natives,or of dominican descent.In fact,I learned english because of Hip-Hop,and grammar and spelling mostly from reading the source,and other american mags of different things I pursued,like rolling stone,GQ,BMX action,freestylin',etc...Reaggeton created a rejection impulse from us dominican hip-hoppers from the get go,as they violated one of the principal commandments in hip-hop,BITING,indeed,they ransacked both hip-hop and dancehall for all they were worth,the tricky part being that they denied it when confronted by us,since they took everything from the gravediggaz' lyrics in 'diary of a madman'(check mexicano 777's"se testigo"or "bear witness"which is a direct translation of shabbazz the disciple's verse.there are countless examples,and the prepotent attitude of the "singers"as they call themselves only made it worse.I deem it as a hip-hop culture from the Bizarro world,where the dj's only mission is to trigger a loop button,the b-boys are none other than booty shaking girls,and the mc's average skill level is on par with mc brainz.
ReplyDeletecheck this out for real spanish hip-hop:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yBF0EY9RZ1o
spain's violadores del verso(rhyme raiders or something akin to that),Ive met these guys and they are the real deal,they did this as a tribute to de la soul's me.myself and I,and are one of spain's main acts.here's another vid:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y7rCIn1IDF4
this one is called "8 bars"or 8 lineas.
this is dominican real hip-hop,Alianza meka,"vivir",watch and enjoy.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eslvKJYzXcA
oops,I meant thug life,not thig life,lol,still,check out the different types of spanish hip-hop and make your own assumptions,I only gave a historical backdrop since I know most of those facts are unwritten lore.peace.In puerto rice there is good hip-hop,a brother called sietenueve or 79,luis diaz,tek one(ill freestyler,of red bull batalla de gallos fame(a panamerican spanish language freestyle battle,worldwide),and an ill ass producer called Yallzee,who it seems has discoverd what makes primo tick,lol,dig for all thse artists,you'd be surprised...
ReplyDeleteabout the two videos posted,don omar and tego,two reggaeton pop artists,here display their hip-hop side,which was well put,the thing is I believe hip-hop is not a suit one takes off or on,don't know If I'm wrong,but that's just me.Tego is the boricuan biggie smalls,his flow and voice create that effect,and everyone loves him,they also have bigtime salsa influence,of the old salseros like ismael rivera,which had a real street appeal in the 70's.omar is famous for his choruses,and he pulls it off again here,these are 2nd gen reggatoneros,and are much more talented than the first batch(see daddy yankee,baby rasta).Mellow man ace is the pioneer in spanglish hip-hop,spawning influences on merengue-hip-hop,and other subgenres,he was very skilled,much more than his bro sen dog of cypress hill.
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