The most striking and most interesting thing about the local scene is that it's a package deal. By that I mean that other elements of the culture, DJs, graffiti, and breakdance, are an integral part of any event that advertises itself as a hip hop event. In the states, breakdance feels dated and is generally left to professional dancers and graffiti seems to have evolved into its own community of taggers and doesn't necessarily identify itself specifically with hip hop culture anymore. Or maybe I just have a skewed view of things. Here, however, many MCs themselves break and encourage listeners to support street art. It seems so old school! It hasn’t been corrupted by the 'bling era' of hip hop we are currently living in up north. Why is that?
One important point to note is that, quite simply, South America does not have the wealth that North America does, and it has ten times the poverty (probably underestimating). The people who rap here are don't have aspirations of making it big and buying a Benz and sippin on Cristal at Diddy's white party (we can probably thank the language barrier for that). That shit just doesn't happen here. Based on what I've seen so far, many MCs are from less privileged barrios and rap about oppression and other socio-political issues (thank you, Che?).
More specifically, according to my research, hip hop started to catch on in South America in the 80s when Michael Jackson and his crazy moves became an international pop sensation, and dance movies like Flashdance started gaining popularity. Luckily for sudamericanos (and me) hip hop came in to South America during its Golden Age, a time that many current alternative artists try to hark back to. (Many performers at Rock the Bells are guilty of going on long rants about hip hop history and the importance of returning hip hop to its roots) Basically, the hip hop scene here is about twenty years behind that of the US, and I love it. It still feels new and slightly underground--not mainstream and completely devoid of substance.
This influence is very, very potent.
At a popular hip hop night I recently attended, the dj, DJ Stuart (INCREDIBLE), spun classic artists like A Tribe Called Quest, Cypress Hill, and MOP and some older top 40 faves (So hot in herre!) while everyone crowded around a circle of break dancers battling (this later turned into a bit of a show put on by a local dance crew). Sunday night at the First Argentine hip hop festival, there were two canvases of graffiti art placed next to the stage, but, unlike many shows at home, the house played... Sublime? Not complaining, but, I mean, really? As for the show itself, I got there a bit late, just as this dance crew was coming on and people seemed pretty into it. Break isn't really my thing, but when one of them put a box covered in aluminum foil over their head and jumped on top of their human pyramid to become a giant robot when Intergalactic came on, I had a good laugh.
Then local artist and success story Mustafa Yoda came on. From what I understood, he spat some killer metaphors (one of my favorites being bebes nacen borrachos) and did a pretty damn good job of getting the crowd into it.
But THEN, this chick came on, and the place went NUTS. The girl killed it. Her name is Alika, and she is beautiful, intelligent, and pretty much everything I want to be.
So, there you have it. I'm really looking forward to finding more things to enjoy in the city, as it's still a kind of up and down experience for me. Forthcoming: recap of trips to Uruguay and Iguazu Falls (this weekend!), volunteer experience with street kids, and... other stuff!
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