The early/initial visible roots of hip hop in Cuba are believed to have emerged through break dance competitions or battles that were seen on the streets of Cuba. The continuous repetition of break dance battles [1] were one of the strong channels or pioneers of the hip hop culture in Cuba. Some sources [2] state that hip hop in Cuba strongly emerged in the early nineties as a way out due to the termination of the numerous subsidies that were received by the country through the Soviet. All the above-mentioned pertaining to Cuban hip hop is vital - however, none of it would have been successful without the presence of one of the two Cuban Institutions, namely Asociacion Hermanos Saiz and Agencia Cubana de Rap (Cuban Rap Agency). Asociacion Hermanos Saiz and the latter are the two initial Institutions that were funded by the Cuban Government with the major motive of promoting Rap/hip hop in Cuba more.
Latin hip hop is hip hop music that is recorded by artists in the United States of Hispanic and Latino descent, along with Spanish-speaking countries in the Caribbean, North America, Central America, South America, and Spain.
Japanese hip hop is hip hop music from Japan. It is said to have begun when Hiroshi Fujiwara returned to Japan and started playing hip hop records in the early 1980s. Japanese hip hop tends to be most directly influenced by old school hip hop, taking from the era's catchy beats, dance culture and overall fun and carefree nature and incorporating it into their music. As a result, hip hop stands as one of the most commercially viable mainstream music genres in Japan and the line between it and pop music is frequently blurred.
Australian hip hop traces its origins to the early 1980s and is largely inspired by hip hop and other urban musical genres from the United States. As the form matured, Australian hip hop has become a commercially viable style of music which is no longer restricted to the creative underground, with artists such as The Kid LAROI, Manu Crooks, ONEFOUR, Iggy Azalea, Hilltop Hoods, Bliss n Eso and Youngn Lipz, having achieved notable fame. Australian hip hop is still primarily released through independent record labels, which are often owned and operated by the artists themselves. Despite its genesis as an offshoot of American hip hop, Australian hip hop has developed a distinct personality that reflects its evolution as an Australian musical style.
Hip hop music arrived in Cuba via radio and TV broadcasts from Miami. During the 1980s hip hop culture in Cuba was mainly centered on breakdancing. But by the 1990s, with the collapse of the Soviet Union and the onset of the Special Period, young raperos, exposed to foreign tourists whose wealth highlighted their struggle, turned to rapping to affirm their cubanidad and advocate for further revolutionary reforms.
Afro-Cubans or Black Cubans are Cubans of sub-Saharan African ancestry. The term Afro-Cuban can also refer to historical or cultural elements in Cuba thought to emanate from this community and the combining of native African and other cultural elements found in Cuban society such as race, religion, music, language, the arts and class culture.
New Zealand hip hop derives from the wider hip hop cultural movement originating amongst African Americans in the United States. Like the parent movement, New Zealand hip hop consists of four parts: rapping, DJing, graffiti art and breakdancing. The first element of hip hop to reach New Zealand was breakdancing, which gained notoriety after the release of the 1979 movie The Warriors. The first hip hop hit single, "Rapper's Delight" by the Sugarhill Gang, became a hit in New Zealand when it was released there in 1980, a year after it was released in the United States. By the middle of the 1980s, breakdancing and graffiti art were established in urban areas like Wellington and Christchurch. By the early 1990s hip hop became a part of mainstream New Zealand culture.
The Canadian hip hop scene was established in the 1980s. Through a variety of factors, it developed much slower than Canada's popular rock music scene, and apart from a short-lived burst of mainstream popularity from 1989 to 1991, it remained largely an underground phenomenon until the early 2000s.
Russian hip hop refers to hip hop music recorded in Russia or in the Russian language in former Soviet states like Ukraine, Belarus, and Kazakhstan. Hits by Russian rappers are included in the soundtracks of some PC-games and have formed part of several popular internet memes.
The Special Period, officially the Special Period in the Time of Peace, was an extended period of economic crisis in Cuba that began in 1991 primarily due to the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the Comecon. The economic depression of the Special Period was at its most severe in the early to mid-1990s Things improved towards the end of the decade once Hugo Chávez's Venezuela emerged as Cuba's primary trading partner and diplomatic ally, and especially after the year 2000 once Cuba–Russia relations improved under the presidency of Vladimir Putin.
Hip hop or hip-hop is a culture and art movement that was created by African Americans, Latino Americans and Caribbean Americans in the Bronx, New York City. Hip hop culture is characterized by four key elements: rapping, DJing and turntablism, breakdancing, and graffiti. Other elements include historical knowledge of the movement, beatboxing, street entrepreneurship, hip hop language, and hip hop fashion. Some of these are argued to be the “fifth element”.
Scottish hip hop is the regional manifestation of the British hip hop culture in Scotland, comprising the five elements of MCing, DJing, beatboxing, graffiti and b-boying.
Censorship in Cuba is the topic of accusations put forward by several foreign groups-organizations and political leaders. The accusations led the European Union to impose sanctions from 2003 to 2008 as well as statements of protest from groups, governments, and noted individuals.
Cubanito, also known by the former name Cubanito 20.02, is a Cuban reggaeton/cubaton band. The band is credited, along with the band Máxima Alerta, with popularizing cubaton, though Cubanito is influenced more by Jamaican music, whereas Máxima Alerta is influenced more by traditional Cuban music.
The Cuban Rap Agency is an industry subsidized by the Cuban government aimed at aiding Cuban hip hop artists in attaining radio exposure and recording contracts. Founded in 2002, the Cuban Rap Agency seeks out talented Cuban hip hop artists in order to promote hip-hop in Cuba.
Grupo Uno was a group of organizers from an East Havana district cultural center. They brainstormed the radical idea of a Cuban rap festival in 1995. One of the principal organizers, Rodolfo Rensoli, contributed largely to the event by anticipating the need for social and governmental support. Rensoli said that "There are a lot of people who don't understand people like me" as a reason for starting the festival in Cuba. While Grupo Uno gained official support, they had few resources at their disposal. Despite this setback, they were able to spread the word of the festival through the already existent Cuban rap scene. For the first time in Cuban history, moneros were able to express themselves publicly, mentioning many diverse cultural aspects such as race, baseball and the significance of their performance that day, all of which were in their native tongue, Spanish. The event took place in an open-air venue in Alamar, and would continue to occur there annually.
Hip hop music or hip-hop music, also known as rap music and formerly known as disco rap, is a genre of popular music that originated in New York City in the 1970s. It consists of stylized rhythmic music that commonly accompanies rapping, a rhythmic and rhyming speech that is chanted. It developed as part of hip hop culture, a subculture defined by four key stylistic elements: MCing/rapping, DJing/scratching with turntables, break dancing, and graffiti writing. Other elements include sampling beats or bass lines from records, and rhythmic beatboxing. While often used to refer solely to rapping, "hip hop" more properly denotes the practice of the entire subculture. The term hip hop music is sometimes used synonymously with the term rap music, though rapping is not a required component of hip hop music; the genre may also incorporate other elements of hip hop culture, including DJing, turntablism, scratching, beatboxing, and instrumental tracks.
Following an historical process of appropriation of American popular music by Senegal, hip hop emerged in the Senegalese capital city in the early mid- 1980s. Although hip hop galsen is now famous for its diverse musical productions, the movement there spread out from its dancing appeal rather than from its musical one. Indeed, Senegalese hip hop artists initially participated in this movement as smurfer, breakdancer, B-boy in general performing during organised podiums. Schools, nightclubs and other temporary public stages thus played an essential role in amplifying this movement in Dakar. Besides, and in contrast to American hip hop, which grew from the youth in the inner city ghettos, hip hop in Dakar began among a somehow middle-class youth who was able to access and/or introduce in their home place new ideas and new cultural expressions coming from abroad. Indeed, hip hop became popular in the capital city through the intensive through informal circulation of VH7 cassettes and recorded videos, which were imported from USA or France by diaspora people.
Alex Sandunga is a rapper, actor and producer, who is known for his eclectic musical career which is always in experimentation and movement. He is currently living in Helsinki, Finland. In 1997 he founded Alto Voltage NAE, an electric and alive rap group that was known by its strong opinions. He became a member of the Asociación Hermanos Saíz, which supports young artists, i.e. musicians and songwriters. In the association, he became an activist of a hip hop movement and used rather daring lyrics while describing issues such as oppression, racism issues and agony of the people of Cuba.
Hip hop feminism is a sub-set of black feminism that centers on intersectional subject positions involving race and gender in a way that acknowledges the contradictions in being a black feminist, such as black women's enjoyment in hip hop music and culture, rather than simply focusing on the victimization of black women in hip hop culture due to interlocking systems of oppressions involving race, class, and gender.
Wilma Alba Cal is a Cuban composer of contemporary classical music. Her work has been recognized in several competitions in Cuba organized by National Union of Writers and Artists of Cuba (UNEAC), Instituto Superior de Arte, Asociación Hermanos Saíz and Instituto Cubano de la Música. Her catalog includes chamber, choir, electroacoustic and orchestral music, in addition to soundtracks for theatre and audiovisual works.