THE SHOWDOWN! Rita Indiana v. Maluca and the battle for Latin-Caribbean Futurism

Santo Domingo v New York City

DR v PR/USA
Androgyny v Uber-Fem hetero
Homegrown riddim v Diplo's/devil ) exploitative produced neon
Grainy Old School v Hipsters disguised as Latinos
(dichotomy added for effect LOL)

I told you about Rita back in April, and now there is a full length in the works, I'm looking forward to seeing what she and the Misteros are about to do on Latinidad and music. And in light of this GREAT video below by Rita and my recent sights on Diplo, I figure its quite appropriate to put these two side by side and ask a couple of questions...

As of late Ive been tossing about ideas in my head about the role of identity and race in the midst of the Postmodernism/hipster/post-race/race 2.0 constructs. As my cultural consciousness was born out of the 90's Hip Hop/Grunge Gen X era, but now trekking onto the new ground of the postmodernist/Hipster 80s throwback world... I notice the disdain between the two camps. I would agree that I may have taken myself too seriously in the 90's (thats 1 pt for the Hipsters), but I also believe that issues of race and identity, and in particular racism, are alive and well amongst the Postmodern colonizers and cultural exploiters (1 pt for the Modernists) who are putting out more and more 'ethnic' music.

So here we have a very interesting set up.. two Caribbean women who the press feel will do big things, but represent a new dilemma in race and identity. Maluca is another in Diplo's Mad Decent stable of 'ethnic' artists doing 2.0 ethnic dance music. Then we have Rita, who comes from the island, was informed by other voices, but incorporated it into her music and presented it to the world on her own. Both tracks are the future, but one wiffs of repackaging from colonization techniques, and the other seems to be the classic exotic going 'global'...

Being an interloper between these worlds, I do think there is enough room for everyone here. Many of my comrades would think it weak of me to allow myself to shake my ass to exploited sounds and mashups by Diplo and his crew... but we have to be honest that we have been dancing to exploited music for hundreds of years already. Plus we don't give enough weight to the great strides made by music now where I can find some Kuduro, Baile Funk, Dancehall, and Grime without someone catering it to me. I feel comfortable to navigate both schools and still keep my soul.

So anywho, I talk too much again... but here they are for your own scrutiny and enjoyment...