[Marxism] Cuban hip-hop artists moving forward, left behind

["Walter Lippmann" <walterlx@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

(Surprisingly positive article on Cuban hip-hop
from the MIAMI HERALD. These Cubans who don't
seem to have any desire to stay here, see and
say what they see in a simple, eloquent manner.)
==================================================

MIAMI HERALD
Posted on Thu, May. 12, 2005    

DOCUMENTARIES
Cuban hip-hop artists moving forward, left behind

By BRETT O'BOURKE
bobourke@xxxxxxxxxx

Cuban documentaries typically cover one of only two topics: the way things
were, or how things got to be the way they are. The triumph of La Fabri_K,
Lisandro Pérez-Rey's Cuban hip-hop documentary, is that it dares to look
ahead.

La Fabri_K is the story of hip-hop groups Doble Filo and Obsesión, which
join forces to record an album and travel to the United States for
performances in Miami and at New York's Apollo Theater.

The hip-hoppers come from the coastal town of Alamar, where -- thanks to
radio waves picked up easily from Key West -- hip-hop has been embraced by a
small group of young people.

Alamar is dirt poor. For a small group of socially conscience rappers, young
Cubans with a stake in their country's future, activism is slinging street
poetry about the realities of life.

Their music can't be the bling-bling fantasy of mainstream American rap.
It's the old-school, bootstrap, class-conscious rhyming from which hip-hop
was born.

''We know that we have the power through our words to change the lives of
others,'' says Magia Rodriguez, who along with her husband Alexey make up
Obsesión.

Yrak Saenz and Edgar Gonzalez round out the cast as Doble Filo, and Saenz
serves as the emotional linchpin for the film. After the groups record their
album and stage a successful concert at the Grand Theater of Havana,
disaster hits: Saenz is is denied a travel visa. The film uses Saenz as its
connective tissue, the strand that pulls the story back to Cuba when the
rest are on tour. The phone calls from his friends in the States are
heartbreaking. Rey, who wrote, directed, produced, shot and edited La
Fabri_K, is a deft filmmaker, presenting the story in simple,
straightforward style. His best moments come when he just lets the rappers
talk, reflecting on their American experience.

On outside influence in Cuba: ''We have many unresolved issues here,'' says
Alexey. ``But we are more than capable of resolving these issues ourselves.
We don't need anyone from outside telling us how to solve our own problems
here in Cuba.''

On Miami: ''I dunno, I guess I just imagined that Little Havana would look
more like Havana,'' says Edgar.

On capitalism: ''There are signs everywhere for stuff,'' says Edgar.
``Everything seems so polished, yet there are homeless in the street.''

On censorship: ''Naturally censorship exists on the radio and on television
and quite possibly managers of venues may censor artists by choosing not to
book rap groups.'' says Magia.

On American rappers: ''They should sell some of their gold chains and help
out those they left behind in the ghettos . . . give it back to the people.
Otherwise what's the point of it all?'' says Alexey.

Sporting baggies and sideways ball caps and railing against the evils of the
record companies, the Cuban rappers look like characters out of a P. Diddy
video. But there is nothing ghetto fabulous about the ghettos of La Fabri_K.
The members return to Cuba, to the dust and hunger of their daily lives, and
to their continued fight for a better future, whatever that may be.




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