Friday, January 21, 2011

What Latinidad looked like musically in the DMV during the 90s.. a playlist

I'm not saying this was the DEFINITIVE playlist for Latinos in the DC area, but it represents what I was listening to (for better or worse). This was back in the day when our area was completely lacking in representation (not that it is any better). We were not confined to essentialist subcultures such as Chicanismo or overrepresented by a dominant ethnic group as you find in the Northeast, Southeast or the West. We had the pick of our choosing. Of course you had Latinos who weren't into Spanish Reggae, rather listen to Rock en EspaƱol or some Carlos Vives. And, this was back in the day when Rap music came across quite aggressive and not acceptable in all people's ears. You can see the pastiche of adding a breakbeat here and there, or using 70s Latino samples for nostalgia, pasted on top of new rhythms and styles. Our clothes were like that too, wearing West Coast cholo styles, Cross Colors, or grunge plaid. It wasn't until I went to La Mega Fest in the early 2000s where I saw young Latino youth from all over the DMV flexing out with more streamlined Latino style, a more cohesive representation, dancing their asses off to Reggaeton. Enjoy

















1 comment:

Maegan la Mala said...

Love this! Thank you for taking me down memory lane. I would just add some Lisa M , personally speaking