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 Epilogue and Reference List

Promotional Information

Raquel Rivera's articles have appeared in "Mambo Montage: The Latinization of New York", a book of essays published by Columbia University Press.

About the Author

RAQUEL RIVERA is a freelance journalist and has a Ph.D. in Sociology from CUNY. Her articles have appeared in a number of diverse publications both regionally and nationally, from Mambo Montage: The Latinization of New York, a book of essays published by Columbia University Press, to newspapers like El Diario/La Prensa and Hoy in New York; El Nuevo Día, The San Juan Star and Claridad in Puerto Rico, and in magazines like Critícas, New York Latino, In the House and Stress.

Reviews

'...painstaking research and original reporting.' - Publishers Weekly 'Rivera's style, craft, and depth make this pioneering yet thoroughly accessible work a commendable addition...' - Bill Pierarski, Library Journal 'Author Raquel Rivera explains the significance of Nuyorican and Latin influences throughout the history of hip-hop music and culture.' - The Source '...explains and delineates the cross-fertilization of one of America's most controversial and dynamic music forms...' - Norman Kelley, New York Press '...Rivera shines a light on the lesser-known but just as vital hip hop artists...New York Ricans.' - Teresa Talerico, Tinta Latina '...explores the identity dynamics of New York's Puerto Ricans, struggling to find their rightful place...' - Dinorah Nieves, Urban Latino '...makes a noteworthy statement in the chapters of the Nuyorican Diaspora.' - Aurora Flores, VIVA Magazine / New York Daily News

'...painstaking research and original reporting.' - Publishers Weekly

'Rivera's style, craft, and depth make this pioneering yet thoroughly accessible work a commendable addition...' - Bill Pierarski, Library Journal

'Author Raquel Rivera explains the significance of Nuyorican and Latin influences throughout the history of hip-hop music and culture.' - The Source

'...explains and delineates the cross-fertilization of one of America's most controversial and dynamic music forms...' - Norman Kelley, New York Press

'...Rivera shines a light on the lesser-known but just as vital hip hop artists...New York Ricans.' - Teresa Talerico, Tinta Latina

'...explores the identity dynamics of New York's Puerto Ricans, struggling to find their rightful place...' - Dinorah Nieves, Urban Latino

'...makes a noteworthy statement in the chapters of the Nuyorican Diaspora.' - Aurora Flores, VIVA Magazine / New York Daily News

In this brief, scholarly book, freelance journalist Rivera acknowledges Puerto Ricans for their contributions to hip-hop music over the past 30 years. It's debatable just how much credit is deserved, considering Rivera comes up with only a handful of recognizable players who predate the culture-wide "Latino boom" of the past few years-Fat Joe, Angie Martinez and the late Big Punisher, the biggest-selling Latino rapper of all time. But she still crafts a persuasive revisionist history through painstaking research and original reporting. She points out that while Puerto Ricans and African-Americans collaborated to create hip-hop in the early 1970s South Bronx and shared a ghetto-based entitlement, Puerto Ricans had to "step lightly through the identity minefield." For much of the 1980s and '90s, Puerto Ricans' "participation and entitlement" were questioned as hip-hop became more exclusively African American. Many Puerto Rican performers further alienated themselves from the hip-hop center by embracing Latino culture and rapping in Spanish, while others identified more strongly with African Americans and downplayed their Caribbean roots. Since the mid-'90s, of course, hip-hop has begun to embrace Latino culture (such as J. Lo) for better or worse; Rivera is troubled by rap's Latino stereotypes of sexy "Butta Pecan Ricans" and "tough-guy papi chulos." The only serious difficulty with this useful book is in navigating Rivera's oft-impenetrable academese ("Behind inclusion lies the specter of subsumption and dismissal"). Then again, Rivera, who has a doctorate in sociology, may have intended this work for a liberal arts classroom: it's clearly not for the b-boys and b-girls. (Mar.) Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.