Identidades in English No 1, February 2014 | Page 37

Limitless Censorship
or
The Other History of Cuban Rap
Alina Guzmán Tamayo
Photographer
Executive Producer OMNI Zona Franca
Civil Activist. General Producer de ACETATO Producciones
Havana, Cuba

W

hat is censorship? How do we feel when
we are censored? The most difficult equa-

or housing project in Cuba embraced the sound of international HIP HOP as a tool for social communica-

Rap: enthusiasm and reflection
tion to understand is: Rap + Rappers – Cuban Hip Hop
= CENSORSHIP.
About twenty years ago, Cuba saw the rise of a phenomenon that combined the strength of African
rhythms and more contemporary musical expression
from around the world. Lacking the interest or
knowledge to join New AGE MUSIC, young people
in marginalized neighborhoods from every city, town

36

tion and way to publicly express their human, social,
political and economic concerns.
THE FIRST CUBAN RAP FESTIVAL made Cuban
music history: it is part of that history. “The Festival”
was also the first of its kind in all of Latin America
and inspired great expectations, on an international
scale, which made both the ground and censors at
Cuba’s institutions, tremble. Rap was the forced renovation of protest songs in Cuba. A new kind of air, not