Raquel Cepeda

Last updated
Raquel Cepeda
Born (1973-06-09) June 9, 1973 (age 51)
Harlem, New York, United States
OccupationAuthor, Journalist, Filmmaker
GenreHip-Hop, World Music, Social Justice, Popular Culture, Race and Identity
SpouseSacha Jenkins
ChildrenDjali and Marceau
Website
djalirancher.com

Raquel Cepeda (born June 9, 1973) is an American journalist, critic, film-maker, and autobiographer of Dominican descent. The editor of Russell Simmons' OneWorld magazine between 2001 and 2004, Cepeda was also the editor of the award-winning anthology "And It Don't Stop: The Best American Hip-Hop Journalism of the Last 25 Years", [1] the co-producer, writer, and director of the documentary film Bling: A Planet Rock, [2] and the author of "Bird of Paradise: How I Became Latina." [3]

Contents

Early life and education

Cepeda describes her early life in detail in "Bird of Paradise: How I Became Latina." She was born in Harlem to Dominican immigrants on June 9, 1973. As a young child, Cepeda herself lived in the Dominican Republic before returning to New York in 1981. There, in the Inwood/Washington Heights section of Upper Manhattan, she resided with her father, who was abusive, and her Scandinavian stepmother. Cepeda's relationship with her mother was essentially nonexistent after 1981.

As a student, Cepeda frequently found herself at odds with the authority figures at the schools she attended. This contentiousness stemmed from Cepeda's belief that the system mis-educated students about American history and their own respective ethnic histories as well. Like many other young and disenfranchised people, Cepeda found community in 1980s hip-hop culture. It was hip-hop, she says, that fueled her passion for exploring the issues of race, identity, and social justice through journalism, writing, and filmmaking.

Career

During the past 20 years, Cepeda has written about music, culture, fitness, politics, race and identity for such publications as People , [4] Time Out New York , [5] The Village Voice , [6] CNN.com, [7] The New York Times , [8] and many other outlets.

In 2001, Cepeda was named editor-in-chief of Russell Simmons' OneWorld magazine. She was then 28 years old. The San Francisco Chronicle praised Cepeda's stewardship as follows: "Finally, there's another option for the intelligent urban mind, and much like the woman at its helm, OneWorld magazine is bold and refreshing." [9]

Cepeda left OneWorld in 2004, a few months before the publication of "And It Don't Stop: The Best American Hip-Hop Journalism." In a review for Salon.com, Peter L'Official wrote, "At its best, 'And It Don't Stop' is a collection of hip-hop's most vital moments — a historical documentation of the music's evolution and the journalism that evolved along with that music." [10] The anthology went on to win a PEN/Open Book Award [11] and a Latino Book Award. [12]

In 2007, Cepeda co-produced, wrote and directed the feature documentary Bling: A Planet Rock. Featuring the American rappers Raekwon and Paul Wall and the Puerto Rican rapper and reggaeton star Tego Calderon, the film was described by Catherine Clyne in Satya magazine as "a unique documentary that draws together American hip-hop, its trappings of glittery bling-worship and the recent civil war in Sierra Leone, which was fueled by diamonds mined under brutal conditions." [13] A shorter version of the film, edited for content and time, aired on VH1 in February 2007 under the title Bling'd: Blood, Diamonds and Hip-Hop.

Cepeda's autobiography, "Bird of Paradise: How I Became Latina," was published by Atria Books in March 2013. In a review for NBC Latino, Claudio Remeseira suggested that readers should see the book as "the non-fiction, female-gender companion to Junot Díaz's 'The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao'. Both are tales of self-discovery through the many racial, ethnic, and linguistic conflicting forces that lie at the heart of U.S. Latino identity, as well as the story of a personal struggle against a supposed fukú or ancestral curse that has haunted the author's families for generations." [14] The Huffington Post's Dr. David J. Leonard wrote that "'Bird of Paradise' is a book where hip-hop meets the human genome project." [15]

Since March 2015 Cepeda has been the co-host of a podcast called "Our National Conversation About Conversations About Race." Known more briefly as "About Race," the show has been described as "a lively multiracial, interracial conversation about the ways we can't talk, don't talk, would rather not talk, but intermittently, fitfully, embarrassingly do talk about culture, identity, politics, power, and privilege in our pre-post-yet-still-very-racial America." [16] Co-founded by Cepeda with authors Baratunde Thurston and Tanner Colby, "About Race" was produced by Panoply Media, a part of Slate's podcast network.

Personal life

Raquel Cepeda is married to Sacha Jenkins, an American television producer, writer, musician and curator. They live in New York City with Cepeda's daughter, Djali, and their son, Marceau.

Related Research Articles

Richard Colón, better known by his stage name Crazy Legs, is an American b-boy who was featured in the earliest stories on hip hop dancing to appear in mainstream press, and as president of the Rock Steady Crew brought the form to London and Paris in 1983. Today he is also involved in community outreach, dance instruction, and dance theater productions. He has appearanced in fiction films and documentaries. Crazy Legs is current president of the Rock Steady Crew.

Neon Blonde was a supergroup consisting of Johnny Whitney and Mark Gajadhar from The Blood Brothers. They were based in Kirkland, Washington, a suburb of Seattle. The two expanded beyond The Blood Brothers' sound by utilizing a more electronic-based sound, which included electroclash and dance-punk. Neon Blonde's music drew from many genres including post-hardcore, and experimental rock, who have also teamed up with Blood Brothers members to create Head Wound City), and a more electroclash sound. Their music also featured rapping, and rapped vocals in an alternative hip hop style.

<i>Paradisiaque</i> 1997 studio album by MC Solaar

Paradisiaque is the third album by the French musician MC Solaar, released in 1997.

Robert Berkeley Payne is an ornithologist, professor and curator at the Museum of Zoology and Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Michigan.

Mobile telephony (cellular) has become a commonplace aspect of modern life. Mobile computing is less well established than mobile telephony, partly because of the lack of a common standard infrastructure for secure seamless mobile computing for the Internet. With the increasing number of mobile workers, a secure mobile architecture specification is needed to allow businesses and individuals to maintain secure connections when moving or mobile.

Al Koran (1914–1972), real name Edward Doe, was a British mentalist, author and inventor. He invented the Ring Flite and popularised a version of the Bagshawe deck which became known as the Koran deck.

Myles W. Jackson is currently the inaugural Albers-Schönberg Professor in the History of Science at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey, and lecturer with the rank of professor of history at Princeton University. He was the inaugural Albert Gallatin Research Excellence Professor of the History of Science at New York University-Gallatin, professor of history of the faculty of arts and science of New York University, professor of the division of medical bioethics of NYU-Langone School of Medicine, faculty affiliate of the Engelberg Center on Innovation Law and Policy, NYU School of Law, and director of science and society of the college of arts and science at NYU. He was also the inaugural Dibner Family Professor of the History and Philosophy of Science and Technology at Polytechnic Institute of New York University from 2007 to 2012. The chair is named after Bern Dibner (1897–1988), an electrical engineer, industrialist, historian of science and technology and alumnus of Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bob Smiley</span> American screenwriter

Bob Smiley is an American TV/film writer-producer and partner in the Humble Picture Company. He is a Writers Guild of America-award winner for his work in kids' TV and the author of two books, the 2008 memoir Follow the Roar and the 2012 novel Don't Mess with Travis. He has also been a contributing writer to espn.com.

Linda West Eckhardt is an American culinary writer, author of 18 books, including The Only Texas Cookbook (1981), American Gumbo (1983), Bread In Half The Time, and Entertaining 101. Her books have won James Beard and Julia Child awards. She was the first food editor of Texas Monthly (1973–). Founder and Editor/Publisher of Everybody Eats News, The Online Newspaper that monitors the sustainable food movement http://www.everybodyeatsnews.com. (2011-), and a contributor to today.com http://www.today.com.

Joseph L. Williams was a film critic for the daily St. Louis Post-Dispatch and the Web site STLtoday.com in St. Louis, Missouri. He was also the author of the books Entertainment on the Net, Hollywood Myths and The Grassy Knoll Report. Williams had been a staff writer for the newspaper since 1996. From 2003 to 2006, he was the on-camera movie reviewer for St. Louis TV station KMOV. He was a frequent guest on radio and television broadcasts in the region.

<i>I Never Knew You</i> 2009 EP by Cage

I Never Knew You is the second extended play by American rapper Cage. Released by Adult Swim and Definitive Jux, the EP was released to promote Cage's album Depart from Me and the first music video from that album, "I Never Knew You", and contained four exclusive tracks. The title track, "I Never Knew You", appeared on the album Depart from Me.

<i>Summer in Kingston</i> 2011 studio album by Shaggy

Summer in Kingston is the tenth studio album released by Jamaican dancehall artist Shaggy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Courtney C. Radsch</span> American journalist (born 1979)

Courtney C. Radsch is an American journalist, author and advocate for freedom of expression. She is the author of Cyberactivism and Citizen Journalism in Egypt: Digital Dissidence and Political Change and worked as the advocacy director for the Committee to Protect Journalists until 2021. She has written and been interviewed extensively about digital activism and social media in the Middle East since 2006.

<i>Timewave Zero</i> (album) 2012 studio album by Grendel

Timewave Zero is the fourth album release by Dutch Aggrotech band, Grendel. It was released in Europe on 20 April 2012 through Infacted Recordings and in the United States through Metropolis Records. It features a re-recorded version of their 2009 track "Chemicals + Circuitry". The track 'Deep Waters' features Dutch singer Lis van den Akker from Dutch act Misery. A music video was released for Timewave Zero on YouTube.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Trae tha Truth discography</span>

This is the discography of American rapper Trae tha Truth from Houston, Texas.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Danyel Smith</span> American journalist (born 1965)

Danyel SmithWilson is an American magazine editor, journalist, and novelist. Smith is the former and first African-American editor of Billboard and Vibe magazine, respectively. She is author of two novels and a history of African-American women in pop music.

Joseph Wesley "Wes" Burgess is an American psychiatrist, neuroscientist, and author who has written books on animal behavior (ethology), nonverbal communication, and human consciousness. His main contribution has been to the understanding of the mind and social relationships.

Sacha Jenkins is an American television producer, filmmaker, writer, musician, artist, curator, and chronicler of hip-hop, graffiti, punk, and metal cultures. While still in his teens, Jenkins published Graphic Scenes & X-Plicit Language, one of the earliest 'zines solely dedicated to "graffiti" art. In 1994, Jenkins co-founded Ego Trip magazine. In 2007, he created the competition reality program ego trip's The (White) Rapper Show, which was carried by VH1. Currently, Jenkins is the creative director of Mass Appeal magazine.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Charles Aaron</span> American music journalist and editor

Charles Aaron is an American music journalist and editor, formerly for Spin magazine, where he worked for 23 years.

<i>The Games: A Private Novel</i> 2016 novel by James Patterson and Mark Sullivan

The Games: A Private Novel is the twelfth novel in the Private series.

References

  1. "And it Don't Stop: The Best American Hip-Hop Journalism of the Last 25 Years," as depicted and described on amazon.com, https://www.amazon.com/Dont-Stop-American-Hip-Hop-Journalism/dp/0571211593/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1388266571&sr=1-1&keywords=and+it+don%27t+stop
  2. Cepeda, Raquel, Bling: A Planet Rock (Documentary), Article 19 Films, Djali Rancher Productions, retrieved 2023-01-31
  3. "Bird of Paradise: How I Became Latina," as depicted and described on amazon.com, https://www.amazon.com/Bird-Paradise-How-Became-Latina/dp/1451635869/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1388266679&sr=1-1&keywords=bird+of+paradise+how+i+became+latina
  4. "The Next Great Wonder?" People, July 25, 2005, http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20143911,00.html
  5. "HILL FIRE: After killing everyone softly with her song, the Fugees' Lauryn Hill goes solo," Time Out New York, June 4–11, 1998
  6. "The N-Word is Flourishing Among Generation Hip-Hop Latinos," Village Voice, Oct. 22, 2008, http://www.villagevoice.com/2008-10-22/music/the-n-word-is-flourishing-among-generation-hip-hop-latinos/
  7. "Commentary: 'But what's a Latino?' - CNN.com". www.cnn.com. Retrieved 2023-01-31.
  8. McFadden, Bernice L.; Cepeda, Raquel; Danticat, Edwidge; Channer, Colin; Nunez, Elizabeth (2013-11-07). "My Caribbean: 5 Vignettes". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved 2024-07-05.
  9. Sanders, Joshunda, "Raquel Cepeda, Editor and Activist…explores the maturing hip-hop nation," San Francisco Chronicle, July 21, 2002, http://www.sfgate.com/living/article/PROFILE-Raquel-Cepeda-Editor-and-Activist-2793527.php
  10. L'Official, Peter (2004-10-14). ""And It Don't Stop" edited by Raquel Cepeda". Salon. Retrieved 2024-07-05.
  11. PEN/Open Book
  12. "Live from the Pratt - Enoch Pratt Free Library".
  13. "Satya June/July 07: Interview with Raquel Cepeda". www.satyamag.com. Retrieved 2024-07-05.
  14. Remeseira, Claudio I., "Latinas and the African presence in the Caribbean – 3 fascinating reads," nbclatino.com, August 5, 2013, http://nbclatino.com/2013/08/05/latinas-and-the-african-presence-in-the-caribbean-3-fascinating-reads/
  15. "Remixing Science: Raquel Cepeda's Bird of Paradise". HuffPost. 2013-03-05. Retrieved 2024-07-05.
  16. "Home". showaboutrace.com.