Immortal Technique and Chino XL on Latinos in Hip-Hop
The video to the right features an interview with two of the biggest names in underground rap, Immortal Technique and Chino XL. Both of these men happen to be of Latin descent, Immortal Technique is of Peruvian descent and Chino XL of Puerto Rican. Both men became popular in New York and are some of the most influential rappers not only in Latino rap but in rap in general.
The interviewee at the beginning of the interview, Davey D, asks the two, “…what does it mean the fact that both of y’all are Latino?...” in regards to them not only being a part of the rap scene but being top acts in the rap scene. Immortal Technique is the first to respond. He starts out very interestingly and talks about how no one is allowing them to be in the “game”, they are a part of rap music because they know what they are “entitled” to. They are “People who will put in work, veterans, people who respect the culture, who know the culture, because I think at times Latinos are written out of the history of Hip-Hop and that unfair because we were the people that came here and started it along with black people too.” This idea of them being entitled to participation in the rap game is a very interesting idea. Immortal Technique in a nutshell is claiming that he and Chino and by extension Latinos in general are not only allowed in the rap scene but also entitled to a certain position maybe even some prestige. He talks about the role of early involvement of Latinos in rap music and the Hip-Hop culture and he says that even though they weren't involved in the role of MCing they were still an integral part in the evolution and creation of the Hip-Hop culture. |
"Immortal Technique and Chino XL on Latinos in Hip Hop", Hardknocktv, Hardknocktv, August 30th, 2009.
When Chino responds to the question he says “When I first came out son… This was before Pun, this was way back in the day and it was so hard for me to get my respect, because of my complexion and because my last name was Barbosa…” This response is another interesting response. He talks about early Latino involvement in the rap scene and how getting respect was difficult. This can be attributed to a number of things, it could be that the early mentality on the Latino involvement in rap was seen as not as important or authentic. This is the most likely reason, in early rap the necessity of being black was there and if you didn't fit into that dynamic you weren't authentic. With the change to the ghettocentric mindset this changed. It is also possible that he was just in a place in his life that wasn't conducive to the release of music. |