Quotes Part 1

Cross, B. (1993). It's Not About a Salary... Rap, Race and Resistance in Los Angeles: Rap, Race, and Resistance in Los Angeles (Haymarket Series). London: Verso Books.

"BC: But it seems to me that the songs with the closest details of your surroundings seem to be the ones that piss most people off, which I think is kinda interesting. Michelle Wallace, she is an African-American writer from New York, says the reason that rap doesn't have what would be called love songs, is that the relationship between the sexes in black American has reached a sort of all-time low. What do you think?
Ice Cube: Well you know that's true, but anyway we got enough R&B motherfuckers, we got enough of that, that's all they singin about. Could a rapper do a love song better than Luther? But why even step to that, we beyond that, we thinkin' about different things. Why isn't the bond strong in the black community? There is a strain, a frustration that the black man has, that he can't get a job, the system won't hire him but they will hire his woman. That's hard on any man, black or white. She's bringin' home the bacon and how can you show that you're a man? This breaks down every piece of manhood that you ever established, so it breaks down that the only way that you can show you're a man is through your penis. So you dukin every girl you see and you get in trouble with your woman and shit get heated, babies comin' and you can't hand it and you're out... We want to talk about why is it like that. Not about love songs, because frankly how many babies can you attribute to Luther Vandross's singin'? You know?" (205-206)

"Cypress Hill (Sen Dogg): A lot of the groups out here are like pro one culture and shit, like Kid Frost - he caters just to the Latin, 'cause that's his thing. If you ask me - I'll tell you that [Frost] is a sucka and he can't represent my thing, that's where we step in. We feel you can all be down with your own, but not when it comes to the music; you all got to be together (238)."

Quick thoughts on "Hip Hop y Mas"

Time to get back on the research wheel; my practical master's program is on summer vacation so I've lost my excuse for having a lazy mind.

I moved to Santa Barbara and am struggling to enjoy listening to the hip hop stations. They're exceptionally inferior to Los Angeles stations. My only guess is that they don't care about what hip hop songs are currently popular or are afraid to introduce too much new music.

Ventura County's 103.3 The Vibe has a really interesting motto. I think they've recently changed it to "103.3 The Vibe: The Beat of the Central Coast." It used to be "103.3 The Vibe: Hip Hop y Mas," though. It struck me the first time I saw a "103.3 Hip Hop y Mas" on the back of an old Toyota truck that the station (either intentionally or unintentionally) limited its audience by advertising in Spanish. Their target audience is communicated by their motto, and I think that by advertising in Spanish they alienate the English-only speakers.

I also think it's really ironic that the station (at least now) primarily plays music by African Americans although their motto is in Spanish. I checked their playlist; Pitbull & Paula Deanda are the only Hispanic artists out of a list of 25. I've always loved how Hip Hop crosses the ethnic boundry between African Americans and Hispanic Americans, but I think the radio's motto detracts from the power of the music to build bridges.

An article I'd like to find...

A companion to Latina/o studies / edited by Juan Flores and Renato Rosaldo.
Malden, MA ; Oxford : Blackwell Pub., 2007.

Ginetta E.B. Candelario -- Between blackness and latinidad in the hip hop zone