Latinos and Blacks in Hip-Hop: An Unnecessary Beef

ARTICLE Tamal of Carrying The Culture

A unique (and sometimes problematic) aspect of hip-hop culture is that it is not well-documented. Early pioneers weren't exactly keeping a log of everything that was happening. Hell, the culture didn't even have a name until the late 70's. Nobody said “let's go outside and do hip-hop” because the founding fathers just simply lived it. They had no inkling that they were creating a worldwide movement that would change the world and was worthy of being documented. The problem with this is that it leads to ambiguity, disagreement, and confusion when the history is being discussed. Many hip-hop “historians” will debate particular points without having any real proof aside from “he-said/she said” conversations.

One topic not up for debate (until recently) is the role of Latinos in hip-hop. It is widely accepted that Latinos played a major role in shaping early hip-hop culture. Pioneers like Charlie Chase, Prince Whipper Whip, Disco Wiz, have all been routinely acknowledged as significant early hip-hop contributors. Puerto Rican B-Boys like Spy elevated the dance to new heights in the mid 70's. Legendary Latinograffiti writers like Tracy168 and LEE have all made early contributions to the culture and the list goes on. This used to be common knowledge.

Unfortunately, in recent years, the narrative has shifted with people like Tariq Nasheed of Foundational Black Americans and Lord Jamar of Brand Nubian outspokenly arguing that hip-hop is ENTIRELY Black culture, any participant of another race is a guest, and that everything in hip-hop is solely the invention of Black Americans. This idea is not only messy, but it's completely inaccurate based on what we factually know. If these narratives are easily refutable, why are they being promoted?

Let's settle the point of contention that is actually being discussed. Nasheed and others' main point is that Blacks created EVERYTHING in hip-hop. First of all, graffiti predates hip-hop and still has its own independent subculture apart from hip-hop so it's not possible that it was ever only a “Black thing”. Some of the best writers of all time come from a Latino background. Breaking as we know it today was a mixed race dance but was later carried by Puerto Ricans and other Latinos. On the DJ front, Disco Wiz is widely credited with creating hip-hop's first mixed dub recording back in 1977. These are simply the facts—not opinion.

It seems like this push to rewrite history is part of a bigger agenda. For far too long, Black American contributions to society have been minimized, distorted and outright stolen. Elvis Presley is called the “king of rock and roll”, but it's well known that he got his sound from the Black pioneers before him. Other examples of this widely abound. So it makes complete sense that people would try to ensure that proper credit is given to the pioneers of the culture. But giving proper credit and readjusting history are two different things entirely. Black nationalism isn't a problem in and of itself, but it feels like hip-hop is being exploited and used to push its agenda and that is a problem in my eyes.

The problem is that in trying to do this, hip-hop history is being changed and ultimately, so is the culture. Ridiculous claims are being made that breaking started in Africa with the support being a video of traditional African tribal dance. Egyptian hieroglyphs are being comically labeled as “early graffiti”. These claims are complete nonsense, and there is zero evidence to support them. These fables have only become popular recently. We've seen this happen with other major movements in history over the years and the spread of misinformation and confusion and that is the end result.

Next, it seems like anyone pushing the Tariq Nasheed agenda is literally arguing with themselves. Again, it almost feels that the whole idea is being fabricated to promote an ulterior motive, as this was never a topic of debate in hip-hop culture until very recently. Over the past couple of years that this “movement” has gained traction, I've NEVER seen any Latino group promote that they started hip-hop or that it comes entirely from latin culture. I've only heard them say “we were around in the early days too so please don't erase us”. Who can blame them for that? In the end, it's not about who invented a particular move or technique as that will be debatable in a lot of cases. Even the hip-hop inception year of 1973 is not universally agreed on so nitpicking over a year or so difference in timing is a complete waste to me when much of our history has been documented so poorly. What carries more weight are the values and principles that the pioneers created from the culture.

This all leads to probably the biggest issue of all–divisiveness and infighting among Blacks and Latinos. While this divide has always been present on the West Coast, for the most part in the tri-state New York City area, the relationship has always been solid. This relationship is now becoming more weak and fragile by the day. Where there was once unity and solidarity, there is now conflict and beef. The tension has even turned into animosity among artists who were once friends. And as angry social media wars absorb the spotlight, narratives change and our culture slowly erodes away. There has always been a genuine kinship that exists between East Coast Black and Latinos due to the common ground created by sharing similar experiences in the same neighborhoods. That kinship is now being threatened due to the spread of misinformation and has led to major conflict where previously there was none.

My understanding is that hip-hop culture was created by disenfranchised Black and Latino youths in the Bronx. Based on my research, Latinos were pretty much there from the start give or take a year or so. Is fighting over who was first to do something a year before someone else (when that's never been an issue) really the road we want to travel? Is driving a wedge between 2 communities that are more similar than different the way we really want to go? The narrative being pushed that hip-hop culture was entirely created by one race is not only false. It's reckless, irresponsible, and destructive. Irrefutable evidence proves that both groups were present in the early days and for me, that's good enough. I will always be on the side of truth, no matter what it is and I refuse to participate in a conflict or support a narrative that drives an unnecessary splinter into the culture I love so dearly. My experience in hip-hop has been rich and rewarding because of all of the cultures that have played a part in making it what it is today.