why do people hate castro? i thought bush's comment about him today was really rude.

they made a documentary about, hip hop music, in cuba. i'm dropping facts and its documented. i don't know where you guys think that all these poor cubans are listening to whitesnake or judas priest.

maybe it was a fake documentary and all these kids in cuba were waiting for lynard skynard.

i also enjoy the fact that i'm superior in my knowledge to have actually watched this fine documentary. you guys see the word "HIP HOP" and drop the hate.

Thank god for Tupac.

 

Cuban hip hop
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


Hip hop music arrived in Cuba via radio and TV broadcasts from Miami. During the 1980s hip hop culture in Cuba was mainly centred around breakdancing. But by the 1990s, with the collapse of the Soviet Union and the onset of the Special Period, young raperos were seeking ways to express their frustrations.
Contents

Initially hip hop was viewed with suspicion, not just by the government, but by many in the community as well. With raperos emulating US rappers' aggressive posturing and lyrical content, hip hop was seen as just another cultural invasion from the US, bringing with it the violence and problems of the ghettos.

Gradually this began to change as raperos began to express their own reality and make use of traditional Cuban culture.

[edit] Birth of a Cuban scene

The change in both attitude towards hip hop and the move towards home grown expression was in part facilitated by the involvement of Nehanda Abiodun, a U.S. Black Liberation Army activist in political exile in Cuba.

Upset with what she saw as blind imitation of commercial US rap culture with its depiction of thug life, violence, and misogyny, Abiodun began working with the Malcom X Grassroots Movement in the US to bring progressive US hip hop artists to Cuba. This led to the Black August benefit concerts held in New York and Havana.

Another contributor to hip hop's recognition as authentic Cuban culture was Grupo Uno, a collective from an East Havana cultural center, and rock promoter Rodolfo Renzoli. In 1995, with the help of the Asociación Hermanos Saíz (AHS), an offshoot of the Communist Youth Organization that promotes young artists, they began an annual hip hop festival in the Havana district of Alamar, seen by many as the birthplace of Cuban hip hop. Ariel Fernández of AHS compares Cuban hip hop with the Nueva Trova of the 1960s - a revolution within the revolution. In his words, "The social role it is playing is very important, Cuban rap is criticizing the deficiencies that exist in society, but in a constructive way, educating youth and opening spaces to create a better society."

Cuban hip hop takes place within the context of Fidel Castro's maxim "within the revolution everything" which allows for critical debate as long as it isn't seen to be counter-revolutionary. Inevitably, as an art form based on individuals' expressions of everyday life, Cuban hip hop often finds itself at the cutting edge of this boundary.

As such raperos often find themselves harassed by the Cuban police, whose job includes guarding against counter-revolutionary acts. However the perception of what is and what is not counter-revolutionary is a debate unto itself.

To illustrate the dynamics of the situation, during one instance of police trying to shut a hip hop event down for being subversive, the minister of culture arrived to insist that what was taking place was vital to the revolution and must go ahead.

Harry Belafonte is credited with explaining hip hop culture to Fidel Castro at a luncheon. Fidel was so impressed that he called hip hop "the vanguard of the revolution" and was even seen rapping alongside the group Doble Filo at the opening of a baseball game.

[edit] Recent events

In 2002 the government formed the Agencia Cubana de Rap (The Cuban Rap Agency) with its own record label and hip hop magazine to help promote the art form on the island. Weekly radio and TV shows were launched.

With official sanction and resources the Alamar Rap festival was transformed into an annual International Hip Hop festival held in August. The event has attracted many international artists including from the US amongst others, Mos Def, Talib Kweli, The Roots, Common and Dead Prez. Workshops, film screenings and talks are held in conjunction debating culture and lyrical content.

It is estimated that there are some 500 hip hop groups in Cuba. However, whilst there has been much academic and media interest in Cuban hip hop, few Cuban groups have managed to be heard outside of the island.

The first group to achieve international success were Los Orishas, who are now based in France.

In 2002 the album Cuban Hip Hop Allstars, produced by Pablo Herrera, was released in the US featuring some of the best groups at that time.

Another group to be released internationally via Italy is Clan 537 who found fame with "Quien Tiro La Tiza" (Who Threw the Chalk).

In 2003 Europe based female Cuban singer Addys D'Mercedes released her innovative album "Nomad" mixing her Cuban roots with elements of hip hop, house and R&B.

Many other groups resort to free Internet MP3 providers to get their music heard.

In 2006, in Poland was released Compilation - Cuba Libre in PROSTO label.

[edit] Films

* 2003 - Inventos: Hip Hop Cubano. Directed by Eli Jacobs-Fantauzzi.

* 2006- "East of Havana". Directed by Jauretsi Saizarbitoria and Emilia Menocal.

* 2007 - "Guerrilla Radio: The Hip-Hop Struggle Under Castro". Directed by Thomas Nybo, Produced by Simon Umlauf


Hey why isn't MEGADETH going to Cuba and helping these kids out? I'm dropping knowledge and facts, I don't see anywhere that these kids are singing SWEET HOME ALABAMA to release their fustrations and express their views, these kids don't care about SAMMY HAGGAR or DAVID LEE ROTH. They care about TUPAC

 

I'm white, not angry, and certainly not rich. I have to think that Tommy Lee isn't exactly the poster boy for Rock...maybe for Hepatitis or for hair bands, but not for rock. What about Bob Dylan? John Lennon? I think they speak more for the poor than Notorious BIG ever did flashing cash and guns and nice cars.

 

Leroy420, I bow in your general direction. I agree wholeheartedly.

 

I'll put it all in caps for you guys.
IN CUBA

 

I agree with Leroy420 also, except he wasn't talking about
C
U
B
A

 

sorry, gotta disagree. more often than not, hip hop is made by the poor. see the difference? the guns, money, b****es and bling are knee-jerk, overcompensatory icons, emblamatic of a failed community, one that is hurting and is crying out for help. rocket river may come in and disagree, but to me, the failure of the family unit and it's subsequent emphasis on me, me, me, is america's failure, writ large and exaggerated in the african-american community. JMHO.

 

Gee guys, thanks for derailing what could have been an interesting discussion of US-Cuba relations with r****ded discussions of "Hip-Hop <><><><><> Rock". Vince young would be proud.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuban_rock

In 2004, Castro made a speech honouring the birthday of John Lennon(whose music, both with The Beatles and as a solo artist had been banned in Cuba). A bronze statue of John Lennon has been put in one of the parks in Havana. This statue was notorious in Havana for being under constant vandalism by citizens who would rob John Lennon's bronze glasses. Rick Wakeman amd Audioslave played in Havana.[2] In the 80's a heavy metal band from municipio playa were formed named themselves VENUS with Roberto Armada as a founder;Dionisio as a singer.Got a lot of success betwueen the Cuban headbangers of the 80s

A rock scene in Cuba is usually seen as small and underground due to official disapproval. However since the late 1990s, groups such as Moneda Dura and Los Kent have performed rock music on Cuban TV, and the profile of rock music has risen, with concerts and festivals.

 

i didn't derail it pal.
i mentioned that Castro wouldn't even let his people have HIP HOP.
and mentioned a great documentary about it.

then some wayne's world rejects go off on HIP HOP.

 

Exactly.

They won't let the kids have HIP HOP. Thanks for helping my argument on Castro's supression of his people.

As such raperos often find themselves harassed by the Cuban police, whose job includes guarding against counter-revolutionary acts. However the perception of what is and what is not counter-revolutionary is a debate unto itself.

 

sounds like a fair contribution to this thread.

 

ALERT!!
DERAILMENT OF THREAD

 

hahahahahaha







from the first to the last reply... thanks for the laughs.

 

That's the whole point, really

 

Conservative Americans hate Castro because he has imposed a socialist dictatorship upon the Cuban people with ironfisted, Stalinist terror tacticts; controlling the media, violently supressing dissent, limiting the economic means for people to better themselves and any chance for the people to speak through the electorial process.

On the positive side, he did replace a repressive corrupt military dictatorship with a repressive socialist dictatorship ( a positive is you have socialist leanings) He has sucessfully expanded health care in Cuba and even exports health care services.

In the late 50's the idealistic leaders of the CIA who had helped to fight and win WW2 , thought that they had the right and responsibility to expand democracy through any means (remember the world had just come out of an all out war that killed 60 million people world wide, where firebombing civilian populations was considered a rational strategy), especially in the western Hemishpere as had been firmly established many decades earlier by the Monroe Doctrine. These guys aided and abbetted an attempted overthrow of Castro's regime. He responded with closer ties to the then mortal enemy, Soviet Union, as a client state, economic dependent and prospecitve host for nuclear missles to threaten Washington and New York.

So there was a mutual escalation of vilification. But if freedom is your defining quality, then Castro is not your ideal.

 

why would Cuba's finest baseball players leave their loved country and dictator, i mean president? what a great life right?

http://www.mlb.com/team/player_career.jsp?player_id=133340
Orlando P. "El Duque" Hernandez defected from Cuba with seven others on Dec. 2,1997, and was picked up by the Bahamian Coast Guard three days after landing on the Caribbean Island of Anguilla Cay...Rather than accept a visa to enter the United States, he established residence in Costa Rica and was granted free agency in mid-January...He was the star pitcher of Cuba's national team, going 129-47 before being banned from the sport in October 1996 for allegedly planning to defect...He is the son of the original "El Duque," Arnaldo, a legendary baseball figure before the revolution...Orlando is the older half-brother of Arizona Diamondbacks' pitcher Livan Hernandez, who defected from Cuba while on a team trip to Mexico and later signed with Florida..."The Duke of Havana: Baseball, Cuba and the Search for the American Dream," an autobiography of Orlando Hernandez was published in 2001.

i think the avg Cuban player makes $2400/year
so he defected, check out his salary:

1998 New York Yankees $750,000
1999 New York Yankees $1,850,000
2000 New York Yankees $1,950,000
2001 New York Yankees $2,050,000
2002 New York Yankees $3,200,000
2003 Montreal Expos $4,100,000
2004 New York Yankees $500,000
2005 Chicago White Sox $3,500,000
2006 Arizona Diamondbacks $4,625,000
Career (may be incomplete) $22,525,000

 

The US didn't actively counter Castro after a certain point because he claimed to be a democrat (as in for democracy). It wasn't until he actually took over that he declared to the world that he was going to implement his Marxist vision, so there was some deception on his part. Castro really has done two good things, health care and literacy IIRC. OTOH he has violently repressed his own people and actively sent troops to other parts of the world to implement similar failed regimes/revolutions.

It should also be noted that talking about a US installed 'puppet' or sponsored government needs to be put in context. It was the SPANISH government that ruled Cuba before US intervention, not a self governing Cuba of any kind.

 

In chasing away anyone who knew anything about how to make a decent cigar, Castro destroyed one of Cuba's major industries
That the myth of the great Cuban cigar has survived for 50 years is testimony to the quality of product they were producing in pre-Castro Cuba.
Yes, I know the Cuban old brands are still being made, but they are mass produced with little difference between brands, they are shipped green, usually needing a minimum of 1 year to cure before ya can even justify the opening the box and, for an even bigger problem, they are prone to outbreaks of tobacco beetles, which can destroy a tobacconists inventory very quickly
The Cuban cigar industry deteriorated to the point that even Fidel was smoking Dominican, until he quit smoking altogether