by Raquel Z. Rivera

ISBN: 1403960437
Format: Hardcover, 296pp
Pub. Date: November 2003
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan

Book Description

New York Puerto Ricans have been an integral part of hip hop culture since the very beginning: from 1970s pioneers like Rock Steady Crew's Jo-Jo, to recent rap mega-stars Big Punisher and Angie Martinez. Yet, Puerto Rican participation and contributions to hip hop is frequently downplayed, if not completely ignored. When their presence has been acknowledged, it is usually misinterpreted as a defection from Puerto Rican culture and identity into the African American camp. But, Rivera argues, nothing could be further from the truth. Through hip hop, Puerto Ricans have simply stretched the boundaries of Puerto Ricanness and latinidad.


Table of Contents

Introduction • Enter the New York Ricans • Part I: A Historical Narrative • 1970s and Early 1980s: “It’s Just Begun” • The Late 1980s and Early 1990s: Whose Hip Hop? • The Mid to Late 1990s: Ghettocentricity, Blackness and Pan Latinidad • Part II: Topics at the Turn of the Century • Latin@s Get Hot and Ghetto-Tropical • Butta Pecan Mamis • Navigating Blackness and Latinidad Through Language • Remembering Big Pun • Between Blackness and Latinidad: A Historical Overview


Author Biography

Raquel Z. Rivera is a freelance journalist whose articles have appeared in El Diario/La Prensaand Hoyin New York, El Nuevo Díaand The San Juan Starin Puerto Rico, and in magazines like Critícas, New York Latino, In the House and Stress. A member of the Puerto Rican music group, "Yerba Buena," Rivera lives in El Barrio, New York City.