1. Hip Hop Culture in Cuba By: Christine Vinluan, Tom Dempsey, Tori Young, & Ashley Kelly

2. ● Governed by a single-party Communist regime ● Oppressive government o FreedomHouse’s freedom rankings: 1-7 scale o Freedom Rating: 6.5 o Political Rights: 7 o Civil Liberties: 6 ● Relatively high human development ● Proximity to United States allows for cultural influence ● Recent diplomatic changes will increase cultural connections Political Context

3. Question: What effect will improved diplomatic relations between Cuba and the United States have on Cuban culture and society? Quote: "For never in the last half-century has the island – its leadership, but also its society and political culture – been so exposed to the outside world. More than 2 million tourists visited Cuba in 2006, a presence whose effect would be difficult to exaggerate." "The Cuban Revolution and the Caribbean: Civil Society, Culture and International Relations" by Rafael Hernandez

4. ● In 1998 - Woman's presence in hip-hop barely existed ● Over the years women with the genre feel empowered ● 1996 first all-women’s rap group Instinto performed ● In the first years of the 21st century small number of disc were produced and lack of airplay was predominant for Cuban rap on state-controlled radio stations Cuba’s Relation with Hip Hop

5. Who is Las Krudas? ● Odaymara Cuesta, Olivia Prendes, & Odalys Cuesta ● Cuban Hip Hop MCs ● Independent Musicians ○ representing: women, immigrants queer and People of Color Action ● Fight against: ○ Oppression, for justice, balance, and our rights to celebrate life Artist: Las Krudas

6. Question: Even though women Hip-Hop artists rap about different topics than they do in the U.S do you think they are still objectified by men regardless? Quote: “ Women rappers, given their experiences in racially-defined transnational networks of hip-hop, identify with the ideas and principles of black feminism as it emerged from third-wave feminism in the U.S. These ideas, as defined in the Black Feminist statement by the Combahee River Collective, consist of a recognition that race, class and sex oppression are intertwined; women must struggle with black men against racism and with black men about sexism; black women face psychological obstacles and minimal access to resources and they must pursue a revolutionary politics.” - Sujatha Fernandes

8. Las Krudas in Relation to Power ● Consequences of the Revolution ● Oppression of Afro- Cubans ● Sexuality, Prostitution, and Machismo Culture in Cuba

9. Quote “In both Cuba and in the United States, women as fans, advocates and artists in hip hop are virtually ignored in discussions of the phenomenon. Both in the United States and in Cuba, male artists have been touted for the political awareness and resistant nature of their rap lyrics. For example, male rappers in both the United States and Cuba protest and criticize the multiple ways the black male body and masculinity is policed and surveilled. By contrast, many themes dominant in black female rappers' lyrics in both the United States and Cuba articulate and-or question hegemonic notions of femininity and black female sexuality.” -Fari Nzinga (2013)

10. How can you fight against racism, sexism, classism, and privilege in a system that claims none of those things exist?

11. ● Las Krudas fights invisibility in the industry ●Seek to politicize the social and economic reality of being black and female in Cuba Subject Positionality Vantage point towards agencyy Las Krudas performing in front of a female audience.

12. “They arrived on the scene to unplug ears and stimulate neurons, by singing about the truth of Cuban women forced to remain in their subalternity.” (Iglesias, p. 52) Quote “Las Krudas: Those Quasi-Paradigmatic Black Cuban Rappers” by Maria I. Faguaga Iglesias

13. What does it mean to exercise one's own basic rights? How does this apply to women in the Hip Hop industry in other countries? Question “Las Krudas: Those Quasi-Paradigmatic Black Cuban Rappers” by Maria I. Faguaga Iglesias

15. Cubensi, Krudas. "Krudas Cubensi | Bio." Krudas Cubensi. 1 Jan. 2013. Web. 20 Apr. 2015..http://www.krudascubensi.com/bio/ "CULTURE VIDEO AUDIO: Cuban Hip Hop Metroactive Music - "Cuba Represent!"" NEO•GRIOT. Web. 20 Apr. 2015..http://kalamu.posthaven.com/culture-cuban-hip-hop-metroactive-music "Freedom in the World." Freedom House. N.p., 2015. Web. 19 Apr. 2015. Faguaga Iglesias, María I. "Las Krudas: Those Quasi-Paradigmatic Black Cuban Rappers." Islas 7.21 (2012): 50-57. Web. June 2012. http://www.angelfire.com/planet/islas/Islas21/English/50-57.pdf Hernandez, Rafael. "THE CUBAN REVOLUTION AND THE CARIBBEAN Civil Society, Culture and International Relations." Taylor and Francis Online. N.p., 18 Mar. 2010. Web. 19 Apr. 2015. Nzinga, Fari. "Cuban Hip-Hop Group Las Krudas Embraces Feminism." Womens E News. N.p., 17 Feb. 2013. Web. 20 Apr. 2015. Bibliography