“Más Peruano Que El Macchu Picchu” Creating Afro-Peruvian Rap

“MÁS PERUANO QUE EL MACCHU PICCHU” CREATING AFRO-PERUVIAN RAP Eshe Lewis University of Florida Aside from the screening of a single video by an artist on MTV in 2007, Afro-Peruvian rap music is virtually un-documented in mainstream media and literature. Yet it remains very much alive within circles of urban youth in Peru, and continues to be a medium through which young AfroPeruvians can negotiate their identity as citizens of an Andean nation, but also of a part of the African Diaspora of the Americas and the world. Why have these youth appropriated this particular North American art form? Why have they done so at this moment in time? How are they employing rap to describe their reality? In attempts to answer these questions, this essay first explores the context in which rap music was created, and what it meant to those who pioneered it in the United States of America. With this basis, the trans-national potential of rap music is addressed, so as to offer some insight into why it has been adopted by youth throughout the world, specifically in the Americas, as a means of self-expression. Finally, the political and social context of the birth of an Afro-Peruvian identity, and specific contemporary issues that pertain directly to the Afro-Peruvian community will be explored in order to consider possible reasons for the appropriation of rap, before examining some of ways in which AfroPeruvian youth make this form their own. Rap Takes Root: The American Musical and Political Context In her book, Black Noise, Tricia Rose defines rap music in its most basic terms as: “a black cultural expression that prioritizes black voices from the margins of urban America. Rap music is a form of rhymed storytelling accompanied by highly rhythmic, electronically based music” (1994: 2). In order to fully appreciate this genre, it is important to understand the musical elements that most influenced its creators, and the technology that facilitated it, as well as the political climate in America at the time, and the ways in which it impacted the founders. Rap began in the mid-1970s and was heavily influenced by AfroAmerican artists, such as James Brown, Marvin Gaye, and other musicians whose music reflected the sentiments of the civil rights and black power movements of the late 1960s and early 70s (Neal 2004). This black popular music was filled with commentary about political tensions, police brutality , the Vietnam war, the general state of confusion in the world, and most importantly for the future pioneers of rap, the disenfranchisement C  2012 Southeastern Council on Latin American Studies and Wiley Periodicals, Inc. 85 The Latin Americanist, March 2012 of blacks (Neal 2004: 308). Genres like funk and soul would also influence future rap artists, not only because of the musical creativity and complexity that they allowed, but because of artists’ ability to experiment with words in new and innovative ways. As part of the African Diaspora, ancient African oral traditions have been noted as antecedents to a variety of contemporary Afro-American cultural practices through out the Diaspora (Dyson 2004). Singers like James Brown have used words and vocal sound in ways that indicate a continuation of these oral traditions. In his analysis of James Brown’s recording of the song “Superbad,” David Brackett shows how Brown’s music clearly indicated the difference in musical esthetics between Afro-American and (Euro-American) Western music styles with specific reference to words (1999). Brackett discusses how Brown incorporated what he calls “Black English,” the nuances of the English spoken by Afro-Americans, into his songs (1999: 123). He states that “Black English” differs from “White English” in that the former favors the sound of words over their meaning, and speech as a performance or a game as opposed to a means for providing information. The young rap pioneers would also be impacted by Diasporic black music styles that would complement Afro-American lyrical techniques. Brennan explains that particular traits of rap such as boasting and lyrical verbosity that can be traced back to other forms of social commentary through music and satire, such as Trinidadian Calypso (2008: 118). All of these aspects of...