Uh Puerto Rico...Woh!! Obama 'erupts' the colony

On Tuesday, the island had a visitor from the continent, and it ain't Frankie Cutlass.

Like the Puerto Rican dancers on America's Best Dance Crew, the islands erupted on the American mainstage once again with an official presidential visit from Barack Obama. In past articles, I've talked about the curious cultural position inhabited by members of U.S. island colonies: the Filipino/Puerto Rican brutha Bruno Mars, Puerto Ricans in Florida, Pacquiao vs. Cotto, Puerto Rican and Filipino representation on America's Best Dance Crew (here and here), and the newly confirmed Justice Sonia Sotomayor.

Still, questions remain about how Puerto Rico continues to configure in the national imagination of the U.S. Instead of dancing, singing, or boxing, the President's visit makes the island visible for a "mainstream" audience through political pomp and election skrilla snatching (he raised $1 million at a fundraiser).

Mr. Obama's home state of Hawai'i stands as an example of another island colony, which is at once "different" because of its exotic appeal yet "domestic" because it's the 50th state (hey a nice round number means national completeness, right?). Hence the twisted irony of Obama's visit: he used to rep a Pacific island colony (turned state) and now reps hard for the "mainland" on a visit to the Caribbean island colony.

The 50 state nation is purportedly "complete" in God's eyes, at least according to the kind folks at American Family Association who are sponsoring a "prayer event" in August with Republican presidential hopeful Rick Perry. According to rhetoric of this group, the shape of the nation is set by God.

But what exactly is the shape of the nation? And how do we determine its borders? The U.S.-dominated islands (the Philippines, Guam, Puerto Rico, Hawai'i, and others) prove the complexity of these questions. The islands trouble the nations legal, geographic, and cultural contiguity.

Enter Obama on a visit to the literal margins of America. How can the emergence of Puerto Rico in the U.S. imagination bring to light the sin of U.S. imperialism? Where does Puerto Rico, as a non-voting colony of the U.S., configure within the "ideal" of Americana?

As a territory under federal authority (especially military) but limited "voice" in federal governance, Puerto Rico's incongruity to an American ideal is a problem. And the people of Puerto Rico have much to be concerned about. Like the Philippines, Puerto Rico is experiencing a "brain drain" of skilled Puerto Ricans migrating to the continent. The island has more boricuas living on the continent (who interestingly can vote for president) than on the island itself. Much like the rest of the nation (only magnified), the island has been experiencing unprecedented unemployment and poverty. And like the rest of the nation, higher education is one of the first priorities on the fiscal chopping block, resulting in an uprising by students who are subsequently denied "voice". Freedom of speech in some instances has been banned in Puerto Rico, where student protesters who are increasingly unable to attend school because of rising fees are punished for exercising a fundamental American right. Liberty and justice...for some?

From the New York Times. Student protests meet roadblocks in Puerto Rican universities.

During his visit to the island, President Obama declared his support for the decision the colony makes regarding statehood (51st?) or independence: “When the people of Puerto Rico make a clear decision, my administration will stand by you…. We want Puerto Rico to have a shot at the dream that we all have.”

As an afterthought to the "main" U.S. agenda, Puerto Rico's future is becoming increasingly dismal. As members of a supposed critical "Hispanic" (continental) voting bloc, the President finds Puerto Ricans a valuable demographic. But how valuable is the President to Puerto Ricans?

As the author of the article "Obama's Puerto Rico Pit Stop" in The Nation writes, "The perception is that Puerto Rico is not a part of the 'national conversation,' but rather a colonial outpost in which identity politics, language and nationalism have residents mired in a perennial identity crisis."

Puerto Rico plays an important role in bringing knowledge to American imperial history (and future?). Where Obama's Hawai'i became "domesticated" and the Philippines became "independent", Puerto Rico--home to 4 million American subjects and whose migrated people constitute a coveted voting bloc on the continent--remains a major player in the quest for U.S. border-defining. Can residents of the "colonial outpost" challenge the notion of American imperial innocence? Or will America's island subjects remain the way they always have been? That is, invisible.

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Colonial Funk! Bruno Mars in this universe!

Bruno Mars as La Bomba 2.0 at MTV's Video Music Awards last week

B.o.B. cuts it up with Mars on "Nothing on You" video

The islands are erupting on the American continent again! And Bruno Mars is surfing forward on a wave of magma. This Pinoy/Puerto Rican brutha from Hawai'i is dominating the airwaves, his hooks on B.o.B.'s "Nothing on You", Travie McCoy's "Billionaire"(two songs that were BOMBING the airwaves in Manila over the summer), and his own hit "Just the Way You Are" are infecting the world's eardrums (two at a time...mostly).

As you know, here at Hip Hop Lives we are preoccupied with Puerto Rico (see here: perreo, cuchifritos, lumidee, freestyle, wild style). And, Bruno embodies all the trappings of an island peripheral subject who is taking center stage. As a Puerto Rican/Filipino who grew up in Hawai'i, his mestizaje symbolicalizes the "inside yet outside" positionality of the United States' colonies/island states (the "American Tropics" as Allan Isaac would have it).

And when those peripheries somehow become mainstream (as in the Justice Sotomayor debates or in Obama's Hawai'i birthplace controversies), the obscured history of American imperialism winks into the consciousness of popular discourse (if ever so gently). But the "forgetting" of American island-trysting wasn't always the case in U.S. history. During the early 20th century, the U.S. congress debated on making the Philippines a state, and of course, the debate on Puerto Rican statehood persists. We know Hawai'i succeeded in becoming the 50th state in 1959. The Insular Cases in the early 20th century, in which the U.S. Supreme Court tried to rationalize the legal status of its island colonial subjects, gesture to the difficulty in making sense of people who occupy an "inside yet outside" status (or, to put in the jargon of the court justices: "foreign in a domestic sense").

Now if Bruno Mars plays basketball, that would be some crazy shit, given the Filipinos' ravenous appetite for b-ball and 2004 Puerto Rican Olympic team's slaying of the "giant in the north." (wuddup Hawai'i! got game?)

Mars, aka Peter Hernandez, has really white teeth. I think I'mma catch a case of insular!

In addition to Bruno's symbolic indexing of U.S. island colonialism (to note: I wonder if his family is affiliated with the U.S. military?), his musical success as a mestizo comments on Asian American illegibility in U.S. popular music. Basically, it doesn't hurt to kind of look like Ritchie Valens and Lou Diamond Phillips in the industry game. And in a double-whammy, if a Filipino looks more East Asian, they must perform (however reluctantly or eagerly) as a Chinese or Japanese character (who are more identifiable).

Is the Filipino mestizo the gateway for Filipino legibility into mainstream popular cultural recognition? It's worked for Brooke Burke, Nicole Scherzinger, Lou Diamond Phillips, and Apl.de.ap, who each represent their Filipinoness in their own way. Once we get over this mestizo requirement then maybe someone can finally get the homegirl Happy Slip on SNL so the world can love her...just the way she are.


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Filipinos and Puerto Ricans in the South

Did you know that that Filipinos and Puerto Ricans make up the largest non-black ethnic minority group in the city of Jacksonville, Florida (according to the 2000 Census)?

This is interesting for at least three reasons:

1) Filipinos make up an overwhelming majority of the Asian demographic, where Chinese are usually the dominant group (real or imagined) in major cities. Filipinos are 7 times the population of Chinese in J-Ville.

2) Puerto Ricans outnumber Cubans by almost 4 fold. Cubans (not Mexicans as in the California) are seen as the dominant "Hispanic" demographic in Florida. Here, Puerto Ricans make Jacksonville the destination of choice.

3) Even with their immersion and contribution in hip hop culture, Filipino Americans and Puerto Ricans rarely occupy the same geographic space: Fil Ams are more West Coast, Puerto Ricans are East Coast. In Jacksonville, these disparate groups come together: a true aberration. Chicago is probably another city where they live in the same city in (somewhat) high concentrations. What would happen if more Filipino Americans and Puerto Ricans lived together in the same space? What kind of Rock Steady Crew would that look like (Fil Ams have a notable presence in RSC in the West, and for sure, Puerto Ricans have dominated RSC in the East)?

Perhaps the Navy is the largest indicator of Filipino and Puerto Rican dominance in this city in the South. And yes, Filipinos and Puerto Ricans were/are pretty involved in hip hop in Jacksonville (probably Fil Ams more than PRs). And there are numerous incidences of Filipino and Puerto Rican romantic unions... I've had many friends who are biracial.

For some reason, this topic seems bigger than Dayanara Torres or Gary Valenciano...

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Austin, Texas, you funky?

I'm presenting this at a conference in Austin, Texas on Thursday. CJ of Deep Foundation, Hopie Spitshard, Joell Ortiz, and Crazy Legs bless us with the slide #1. Hee haw!

Colonial Funk! Pacquiao vs. Cotto: violent island intimacies

Pacquiao and Cotto painting on a jeepney, for HBO 24 7 show

"On the tube, I'm just watching Pacquiao box it up. How would I know HBO would get a shot of us? Sittin so close that we almost got snot on us."
-Jay Z, "Thank You"

"You know I get em with the rap's Manny Pac hooks!"
-Son of Ran, "For the Wax"

"My people pump your fists like you're Manny Pacquiao. Man-child with the wild-style, right to be hostile."
-Blue Scholars, "Solstice: Reintroduction"



The colonies is hostile this Saturday! Manny Pacquiao (representing the Philippines) and Miguel Cotto (Puerto Rico) will bout it out for WBO Welterweight supremacy. Moving up from 140 to 147 pounds, Pacquiao will once again be tested as he gains bulk, which is always a liability in terms of speed and power.

This blog has dedicated a lot of material to posing questions about Filipinos' relationships to other people of color. So, it is not surprising that the Pacquiao-Cotto fight is overheating the Hip Hop Lives thinking-engine.

As former/current colonies of Spain and the United States acquired by Western powers at the same time, the Philippines and Puerto Rico occupy historical discourses in almost identical colonial, cultural, and military relevance.

It's important to note that both colonies have a strong love affair with boxing. And--as hip hop heads know--Filipinos and Puerto Ricans in the U.S. have had a strong love affair with hip hop culture (Pinoys on the West Coast, PRs on the East). Finally, as demonstrated by Cotto's father's 25 years in the U.S. Army and by Filipinos' migration through military service, both colonies have for over a century been firm ground for military boots.

But of course a few things disrupt the otherwise seemingly perfect accord:

-The Philippines is in the Pacific, and Puerto Rico is in the Caribbean, bringing in some geographical dissonance.

-Although both are mixed racially, the Philippines has a large "Asian" population especially pronounced with a noticeable Chinese middle class, and Puerto Rico is home to a dominant African diaspora. After all, Afrika Bambaataa considers Puerto Ricans as "black."

-Puerto Ricans speak a Spanish vernacular and were not forced American English by the U.S. colonial administration. Whereas Filipinos were not taught Spanish because of Spanish prejudice against indio inferiority, but were/are instructed and speak a variety of American English. However, in the HBO 24 7 episodes, both Pacquiao and Cotto speak American English (but Pac-Man gets the subtitles! Doh!)

Political cartoon from the early 1900s. Uncle Sam disciplining the bad Filipino, Hawaiian, Puerto Rican, and Cuban children

A few questions can be asked about the upcoming fight:

1. What does it mean to gaze upon two Filipino and Puerto Rican bodies in violent confrontation--especially with millions of dollars at stake?

2. How will the audience categorize Pacquiao and Cotto? Will Pacquiao be "Asian"? Will Cotto be "Hispanic"? Black? And what does that mean for Filipino and Puerto Rican audience members (actually, all audience members) as they assess the other's body type?

3. In the HBO 24 7 biographical specials, the music and scenery (complete with food!) give vivid depictions of where these men are from. What kind of narratives can be written about the islands Pacquiao and Cotto represent? Will the shared histories of Spanish and U.S. colonization of both colonies be articulated, or are both effectively painted as completely incongruent? (I mean, check "The Battle of East and West" narrative written on the Pacquiao-Hatton fight. I'm wondering the marketing strategy debates occurring with this current one. Rice and fish vs. rice and beans?)

4. What does it mean to have non-Americans, especially Pacquiao, figuring as a boxing icon for the U.S. boxing imagination? Will the Floyd Mayweather, who is from Michigan, rescue the all-American boxing iconography? (Remember, Oscar De La Hoya, from East LA, is called "Golden Boy" for a reason)

Like hip hop, this boxing thang unearths some interesting queries about ourselves as Filipinos and people of color! So before yall crack open the San Miguel and let loose, some crazy juice for your thinking-engine as we prepare for the big fight on Saturday!


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YOU CAPTION! Pacquiao at Wild Card

The Pacquiao-Cotto fight is on Saturday, November 14 at 9:00pm on HBO PPV. Have you been watching the HBO 24/7 episodes detailing the training and drama between the two fighters? Always good stuff. But why does Pacquiao have subtitles, and Cotto doesn't? Both speak English.

You know I'mma be all up ons the Philippine-Puerto Rico colonial funk happening here.

For fun, here's a snapshot of Pacquiao training at the Wild Card Gym in Hollywood. Yet another round of YOU CAPTION!

_______________?_________________

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America's Best "Periphery": Island dance crews redefine America

The banner has fallen for the Massive Monkees in the 4th season of America's Best Dance Crew. The crew has once again inspired a whole demographic of young Filipino Americans and b-boy/girls. Furthermore, they help gave Seattle a bigger, bolder, well-deserved rep in the hip hop game.

With an obvious domination of Fil Am champions on the show, every season so far has captured the imagination of Filipinos and definitely impacted their respective dance choreography. This year will be the only year to not feature a Filipino in the last round; Afroborike and We Are Heroes will battle it out in the finale.

We can't say there is a definite Filipino, Asian, or b-boy fatigue on ABDC because each crew definitely put in work to prove themselves, but we'll miss the MM's and want to congratulate them and their tremendous success on the show.

Critical questions:

Who would have thought fans of U.S. popular culture would usher in a group of mostly Puerto Rican dancers (one is Cuban) as perhaps America's best?

Who would have thought that four Filipino guys, a Cambodian fella, and a Black dude would represent the desire of a whole generation of young people in the U.S.?

This show is interesting in that it gives a visual representation of the varying meanings of "America's best..." I've written about it before, but the Puerto Rican and Filipino fetish this show has raises stimulating questions about the U.S.'s island colonies and their role in U.S. mainstream culture. The colonized strut, flip, and strike poses on stage, constantly challenging the "center" of America as they invigorate the imagination of a new, young MTV generation.

The islands are erupting on the American continent.

This MTV generation might find the Latin-flavor of Afroborike worthy of ABDC champ-status, but We Are Heroes will take it this season. If they don't, it's good to see some ladies (from either crew) finally crowned.

Season 5, Pinoys and Pinays get ready! We hope to see you on stage once more! (East Coast, Midwest, South stand up!!)

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Amber rocks the island beat

Amber, "Taas Noo"


Fil Am artist in the Philippines, Amber Davis, has a new single out called "Taas Noo," and the bruthas at SoulSonic have posted up about it in celebration of Philippine Independence Day (June 12). The song is about being proud and keeping your head high even though the homeland is "ghetto" and not under the most privileged circumstances. The song is pretty raw and is packed with positive, proud lyrics. And Amber not only sings (with a hint of auto-tune stylization!) but spits a hard rap-like chorus. Filipino emcee Gloc-9 laces the track with some fast, mind-dizzying Tagalog lyricism.

Like SoulSonic says, you can DL "Taas Noo" from Amber's website, but only for a limited time. (Hopefully we can still play it on embedded blogs? Prolly not.) You can also listen to samples of her other songs. Dang, who makes the beats? What! AND, she can sing way better than lotta folks on U.S. radio today. (And no, her other songs don't use auto-tune). Lovin the Pinoy talent comin out...Rewritin history without a pen...let the story begin.

It's really neat finding out more and more about "urban" music in the Philippines. Tagalog rap is just the tip of iceberg. We can't forget how R&B and club knocks always parallel hip hop's movement. I guess we've come a long way since "Bebot"!

"Taas Noo" is a banger. Interestingly, it uses the very popular, hand-clapping, crowd pleasing Caribbean beat from "Never Leave You" by Nuyorican singer Lumidee. (Is there a freestyle music connection somewhere here?)

The ever-present Filipino-Puerto Rican colonial funk conexion has struck again! Please read Pro Brown's enlightening write up about Philippine Independence Day here. Aye!

Lumidee: "Take me to the Philippines, where platanos are wrapped and deep friend".

U.S. Supreme Colonial Justice: "Island Ironies" or "Reggaeton (un)Ruliness"

Dear Mr. Obama,

I swear I saw you dancing perreo to "Gasolina" during your inauguration ball, despite Daddy Yankee supporting McCain for president. Does that mean you support energy independence through off-shore drilling?

On another note, thank you for nominating Judge Sonia Sotomayor as the next U.S. Supreme Court Justice. We all hope she gets confirmed by the Senate, even while we all know Republicans will try to do everything to block her confirmation--from criticizing her judicial opinions regarding the sanctity of life to scrutinizing her American citizenship.

Wait, what is that? Judge Sotomayor is of Puerto Rican descent? Does that mean she is assumed U.S. citizenship, even though she is subsumed under the homogeneous legion of Latin hoards crossing the boarders to invade America?

Nice one, B-HO, a Brown woman who is quintessentially Americana. What is that? Critics are still going to scrutinize her because she is Latina, and not "one of us"? But hasn't Puerto Rico (along with the Philippines) been a part of the United States longer than Hawai'i, your own home state, and Alaska, the home state of America's beauty queen Sarah Palin? So what is it! Is Judge Sotomayor going to be accepted as a loyal American, or not?! Is she "Sonia from the block" or "Sonia extranjera"?

The Hispanic causing panic is a default U.S. citizen due to Puerto Rico's status as a U.S. colony. This can't get any more interesting. Cruz Bustamante must be squirming with angst and Lou Dobbs must be scratching his nasty little head.

You must have been spending your free time watching re-runs of America's Best Dance Crew, especially watching these guys:


I know the G.O.P. moniker makes you flinch, but these San Juan, Puerto Rico bad boys really made an impression for ABDC fans, especially since they battled foos from Alabama, Brooklyn, and other unmistakably "American" locales. When you finished watching this episode, did you immediately whisper, "Sotomayor..." and the rest is Supreme Court history? Will the public vote her as America's Best Justice?

Your nomination reminds me of a book I am reading called Reggaeton. El hip hop has made a lasting impression globally, as you know, and this book gives a glimpse into its form, pleasures, racial/gender politics, and multiple/contested origins. Hate it or love it, reggaeton, I am reading, is going global and experiencing the same backlash as hip hop because of racial, sexual, and class issues. But one thing is distinct with reggaeton: it uses Spanish.

Now we haven't heard Judge Sotomayor bust out in Boricua vernacular, but I know que l@s herman@s de la isla are just waiting for her to curse uno gringo out in Spanish. Are you waiting for that too, B-HO?

So maybe we are getting closer not to the reality of "energy independence," but independence from a hegemonic, homogenizing discourse that constantly defines who is "American" (read: White) and the language an American speaks (read: English-only). Puerto Rican people are usually quite Brown and often Black, and, like Reggaeton, usually signify in Spanish. Your Sotomayor nomination (along with Ricky Martin...SIKE!) could be part of a series of changes to the U.S. public imaginary on debates surrounding citizenship and membership. Maybe the U.S. can one day be a nation that recognizes its coerced colonial acquisitions, whether from the Caribbean, Pacific, or continent?

Or maybe not. And isn't that the Great American Irony?


Love,

Brown, Colonized, and Signifying

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Update:

"Sotomayor: Champion of the Oppressed, Outcasts, and Nerds" from Huffingtonpost.com

"...The observations were not strictly autobiographical and they sometimes reflect her worldview. In a 2002 speech titled "A Latina Judge's Voice," she argued that "America has a deeply confused image of itself that is in perpetual tension."

"We are a nation that takes pride in our ethnic diversity," she said, "recognizing its importance in shaping our society and in adding richness to its existence. Yet, we simultaneously insist that we can and must function and live in a race and color-blind way that ignore these very differences that in other contexts we laud..."" CONTINUE READING

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Even more interesting:

"National Review perplexingly depicts Sotomayor as Asian"

(blend the foreign threat narratives!)

Colonial Funk: America's Best Dance Crew Season 3

For ABDC Season 3, Team Millenia means business

References:
BakitWhy.com Exclusive: America's Best Dance Crew Season 3 Los Angeles Auditions
Step Up! A Night of Pin@y Dancers in Hollywood
Fil Am Famous: Is dance how we'll "get noticed"?
Guest Article: "Filipino America's Best Dance Crew"

America's Best Dance Crew Season 3 looks as crazy as ever. From cloggers from Alabama to circus-style dancers from Brooklyn, this season is probably the wildest yet. Like everyone's been talking about since Season 1, this show is a popular space with which to showcase Filipino talent (is it the "biggest" venue we've had?). Although Filipinos aren't as dominant in representation as in the two other seasons (Fil Am quota?), there still is a noticeable presence. After getting booted in the first episode last season, Team Millenia, which is mostly Fil Am and comes out of the Fil Am college "modern" dance crews, is giving it a second shot. Let's wish them luck so we can get another largely Fil Am team in the ranks of ABDC victories, and hopefully get some sistas as winners for this show since only dudes have won so far.

Now what is interesting about this first episode is the representation from Puerto Rico. Our "colonial cousins" in the PR did really good I think, but unfortunately they were the first to be cut. Who is this team? They are "G.O.P. Dance," a name for a crew that I find tragically hilarious. Are they colonized Republicans with soul?

Anyways, in all seriousness, it is worth highlighting the fact that Puerto Rico, which isn't a "formal" U.S. state, is included in America's Best Dance Crew. The Philippines and PR became colonies of the U.S. after the Spanish-American War (and the subsequent U.S. violence on these island nations), and thus have almost identical Spanish and U.S. colonial patterns. As a colony of the U.S., Puerto Rico has a non-voting delegate in the U.S. Congress, while simultaneously subjected to U.S. militarism and corporatism (peep the pharmaceutical industry's hold on the colony). As "nationals" of the U.S. (Filipinos used to be "nationals" before given independence after WWII), Puerto Ricans can travel freely throughout the U.S. But again, they have no representation in governance. This is why I find that the adoption of the name "G.O.P." to be tragically hilarious.

Before their set, the host Mario Lopez asks the audience, "Will these boys from Puerto Rico become the main attraction of the mainland?" Good question Mr. Lopez. Since they were booted in the first episode, I guess they aren't. The irony here is bountiful. But the fact that PR is represented as constitutive of the U.S. nation-state is profound, especially since U.S. colonies are "invisible" in the public imagination. The U.S. is supposed to be liberal and "exceptional" and without colonizing tendencies like old world Europe. I wonder how the public will react to gazing upon these Puerto Rican brothas as representing one of "America's Best Dance Crew," albeit they got rejected. Not "American" enough? Yes, as abjected bodies, these colonial subjects can never be subsumed within the "pure" body politic of the (white) U.S. nation-state. (Dude, what if the Philippines was able to compete in this shit? Then Guam and Northern Mariana Islands...?)

Another interesting part of the episode was when G.O.P. stripped their Catholic monk vestiges. Is this a gesture of stripping their Spanish colonial heritage in exchange for a U.S. neocolonial affiliation in the form of hip hop dance? I'd like to know the intentions of that moment because shit is rife with all kinds of interpretations. What are the advantages of identifying with the U.S. nation-state? How does an act of "de-Hispanicizing" their group affiliation impact their ascriptions as Spanish-speaking Puerto Ricans? I think these questions could come right out of Raquel Rivera's New York Ricans from the Hip Hop Zone. A very good read.

Finally, big ups to Kid Rainen for holdin down the judging job of much-beloved J.C. Chasez. (Did anyone catch his "Big Booty Hoes" reference after Fly Khicks went on? Sneaky foolishness) Why can't they just hire Rainen to permanently hold that spot? Organic intellectual please! I really appreciated Rainen's recognition of the influence of salsa on b-boy dancing. He gave respect to G.O.P. for giving that salsa flavor and commented on how salsa influenced rockin which influenced b-boying. J.C. can't educate the public like that! Let's advocate for the change yall.

Pinoys and Puerto Ricans...keep up the colonial funk.

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On another note, if you're ever in Queens, NY, you should stop by one of my favorite restaurants, Philippu Lounge and Restaurante. Why is it called Philippu? Cuz its Philippine and Puerto Rican-owned, cuz. They used to sell both Filipino and Puerto Rican food, but now it's only Filipino Food (both cuisines are similar anyway). Whether you're just grabbing lunch, going on a date, or watching a Pacquiao fight with the manongs, this is a nice spot to support Filipino (and PR) business.