Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Popular Music and Culture in Puerto Rico

Jamaican and Rap Music as Cross-Cultural Symbols

  • Chapter
Musical Migrations

Abstract

There is no doubt that Puerto Rican music and musicians have had a definitive worldwide impact in recent years. The global presence of many artists says much about how the music industry works, yet little about other musical developments taking place at the national level in Puerto Rico. Local reggae groups, rap music, and Latin rock are some of the “new” musics within contemporary Puerto Rican society and its national media and entertainment industry. New identities and a whole spectrum of lifestyles related to the development of these musical genres have emerged, especially among Puerto Rican youth. This chapter discusses the impact of Jamaican music (reggae and dancehall)1 and rap music in Puerto Rico, and the development of two distinct, yet sometimes interconnected, identities and lifestyles that are related to these musical influences.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
eBook
USD 16.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 16.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Works Cited

  • Benjamin, Walter. 1995. The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction. In Illuminations, by Walter Benjamin, 219–53. New York: Harcourt, Brace and World.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bilby, Kenneth. 1985. The Caribbean as a Musical Region. In Caribbean Contours, ed. Sidney W. Mintz and Sally Price, 181–218. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • —, Jamaica. 1995. In Caribbean Currents: Caribbean Music from Rumba to Reggae, by Peter Manuel, with Kenneth Bilby and Michael Largey, 143–82. Philadelphia: Temple University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • —. 1999. “Roots Explosion”: Indigenization and Cosmopolitanism in Contemporary Surinamese Popular Music. Ethnomusicology 43, 2 (Spring/Summer): 256–96.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bowen, Calvin. 1997. Silencing the Sound-Systems. The Gleaner (29 January), p. A4.

    Google Scholar 

  • Burton, Richard D. E. 1997. Afro-Creole: Power, Opposition and Play in the Caribbean. Ithaca, New York: Cornell University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chambers, Iain. 1986. Popular Culture: The Metropolitan Experience. London: Methuen.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cooper, Carolyn. 1993. Noises in the Blood: Orality, Gender and the “Vulgar” Body in Jamaican Popular Culture. London: Macmillan.

    Google Scholar 

  • De la Rosa, Lissy. 1999. “Millo Torres y el Tercer Planeta …” Teve Guia (29 August to 4 September), p. 88.

    Google Scholar 

  • Duany, Jorge. 1984. Popular Music in Puerto Rico: Toward an Anthropology of Salsa. Latin American Music Review 5, 2 (Fall–Winter): 186–216.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Entrialgo, Karen. 1995. Underground. Poder Estudiantil (February): 11.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fernández Díaz, Ariel. 1999. Rap cubano: Anatomía de un movimiento urbano. El Caimán Barbudo 31, 288: 31.

    Google Scholar 

  • Finke, Nikki. 1987. Bibles, Blond Locks: The New Rastafarians. Los Angeles Times (15 March), sec. 6, p. 9.

    Google Scholar 

  • Flores, Juan. 1995. De la bomba al hip-hop: Una tertulia en el Centro. Diálogo (February): 52.

    Google Scholar 

  • —. 1991. Interview: Latin Empire: Puerto Rap. Centro de Estudios Puertorriqueños Bulletin 3, 2 (Spring): 77–75.

    Google Scholar 

  • García Arroyo, Lilliana. 1995. “Rap underground”: ¿Nueva alternativa o pornografía? Claridad (24–30 March): 36.

    Google Scholar 

  • García Canclini, Néstor. 1990. Culturas híbridas: Estrategias para entrar y salir de la modernidad. Mexico City: Grijalbo.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gilroy Paul. 1994. “After the Love Have Gone”: Bio-politics and Etho-poetics in the Black Public Sphere. Third-Text: Third World Perspectives on Contemporary Art and Culture. 28–29 (Autumn/Winter): 25–45.

    Google Scholar 

  • Giovannetti, Jorge L. 1995. Rasta y reggae: Del campo de batalla al salón de baile. Revista Universidad de América 7, 1 (May): 26–33.

    Google Scholar 

  • —. 2001. Sonidos de condena: Sociabilidad, historia, y politica en la música reggae de Jamaica. Mexico City: Siglo XXI Editores.

    Google Scholar 

  • Guilbault, Jocelyn. 1990. On Interpreting Popular Music: Zouk in the West Indies. In Caribbean Popular Culture. Ed. John A. Lent, 79–97. Bowling Green, Ohio: Bowling Green State University Popular Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hall, Stuart. 1995. Negotiating Caribbean Identities. New Left Review 209 (January–February): 3–14.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lippman, David. 1996. White Kids on Rap. Provided by Kenneth Bilby.

    Google Scholar 

  • Manuel, Peter. 1995. Music as Symbol, Music as Simulacrum: Postmodern, Pre-Modern, and Modern Aesthetics in Subcultural Popular Musics. Popular Music 14, 2 (May): 227–39.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Molina, Yolanda. 1995. “Un llamado contra el rap.” Diálogo (March): 2.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nettleford, Rex. 1993. Inward Stretch, Outward Reach: A Voice from the Caribbean. London: Macmillan.

    Google Scholar 

  • Oquendo, Carmen Luisa, and Lilliana Ramos. 1995. Censura docta, censura pastoral. Diálogo (April): 18.

    Google Scholar 

  • Oquendo, Carmen Luisa, and Raquel Z. Rivera. 1995. ¿Rap, censura o represión? Diálogo (February): 14.

    Google Scholar 

  • Osorio, Idem. 1993. Vico C—Una Xplosión de crítica social. Diálogo (November).

    Google Scholar 

  • Payne, Anthony J. 1994. Politics in Jamaica. Rev. ed. Kingston, Jamaica: Ian Randle Publishers.

    Google Scholar 

  • Richardson, Bonham C. 1989. Caribbean Migration, 1838–1985. In The Modern Caribbean. Ed. Franklin W. Knight and Colin A. Palmer, 203–28. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rivera, Raquel Z. 1995. Del underground a la superficie. Claridad (February 10–16): 29.

    Google Scholar 

  • —. 1997. Rapping Two Versions of the Same Requiem. In Puerto Rican Jam: Rethinking Colonialism and Nationalism. Ed. Frances Negrón-Muntaner and Ramón Grosfoguel, 243–56. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ro, Ronin. 1996. Gangsta: Merchandising the Rhymes of Violence. New York: St. Martin’s Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Roche, Mario. 1996. Las Noticias Xtra. Interviews, Channel 11, San Juan, Puerto Rico (16 August).

    Google Scholar 

  • Román, Elizabeth. 1997. Las caras del rap: Entrevista exclusiva. Muévete 1, 6 (August): 17–19.

    Google Scholar 

  • Román Samot, Wilkins. 1996. Rap underground: Un fruto de la “mano dura” Diálogo (January): 6–7.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ruiz Marrero, Carmelo. 1999. Megatiendas destruyen economía y ecología. Claridad (8–14 October), p. 6.

    Google Scholar 

  • Safa, Helen I. 1987. Popular Culture, National Identity and Race in the Caribbean. New West Indian Guide 61, 3–4:115–25.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Santiago, Carlos E. and Francisco Rivera-Batiz. 1996. La migración de los puertorriqueños durante la década de 1980. Revista de Ciencias Sociales/Nueva Epoca 1 (June): 178–206.

    Google Scholar 

  • Smith, M. G., Roy Augier, and Rex Nettleford. 1960. The Rastafari Movement in Kingston, Jamaica. Kingston: Institute of Social and Economic Research.

    Google Scholar 

  • Vazquez Calzada, José L. 1979. Demographic Aspects of Migration. In Labor Migration under Capitalism: The Puerto Rican Experience. Ed. History Task Force, Centro de Estudios Puertorriqueños, 223–36. New York: Monthly Review Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Williams, Raymond. 1980. Problems in Materialism and Culture. London: Verso.

    Google Scholar 

Discography

  • Cultura Profética. 1998. Canción de alerta. CDT Records.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dream Team. 1999. La unión de los mejores. A. J. Records.

    Google Scholar 

  • Harry Entertainment. 1999. Tha Production. BMG U.S. Latin.

    Google Scholar 

  • Millo Torres y el Tercer Planeta. 1999. Caminando. Millo Torres/WEA Latina.

    Google Scholar 

  • —. 2001. Mundo de locura. Millo Torres/WEA Latina.

    Google Scholar 

  • —. 1997. Soñando realidad. Millo Torres/Trival Vibes Music.

    Google Scholar 

  • Obedience. 1999. My Generation. Jorge L. Baez/D’Gospel.

    Google Scholar 

  • Various Artists. 1999. Vibraciones Positivas: Antología de Reggae. A.J. Records.

    Google Scholar 

  • Vico C. 1994. Greatest Hits. Prime Entertainment.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Authors
  1. Jorge L. Giovannetti
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Editor information

Frances R. Aparicio Cándida F. Jáquez

Copyright information

© 2003 Frances Aparicio, Cándida Jáquez

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Giovannetti, J.L. (2003). Popular Music and Culture in Puerto Rico. In: Aparicio, F.R., Jáquez, C.F. (eds) Musical Migrations. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230107441_6

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation