yo does everyone forget 50 cent is the 2nd richest african american in the country next to operah…..baby got money but no 50 money!! lmao….cash money fronts sooooo bad!
I agree… unless… he got that “dope money” which the government can’t tax and put on the books… LOL that’s everyone’s excuse… I would love to see Ca$h Money on the Forbes list… but I doubt it will happen.
Maybe I am just stupid….but I need to see proof(more than word say) that 50 is the 2nd richest black person in this country, behind oprah….Bob Johnson-founder of BET,Donald Watkins, and so on, and this nigga the 2nd richest in this country….you gotta show me the proof kid! 50 cent is the 2nd richest black entertainer, after oprah. He may have more money than birdman, but there are a lot of other black business people who are ahead of him. Mohammed Al Amoudi has 9 billion he’s the richest black guy in the world.
Umm… I must say… Baby is not the most articulate “CEO”, is he? Also, I like how he continuously reffers to “his son” and pretty much every answer revolved around Weezy F Baby. haha.
i think baby should have more money than 50…he has brought out and earned off many stars, hot boys ,juve ,bg, wayne plus himself ,i would say hes fallin over money …seeing as he never pays anyone
wow baby what you trying to say bro…wayne needs to learn how to speak english. you guys getting money man you got a 100 mil deal but you dont have a 100 million in the bank brother. don’t get it confused brother stay in your lane. i don’t see you in the top ten forbes list man. WOW are you inviting Mr. Jackson to come play?
Hey you with the 50 cent comment. BET founder ron johnson is worth 2 billion, what about parson’s or the dude that from morgan stanley. jay or puff or will smith. there’s tons who have more than 50. how much you got?
You know what Baby and wayne are smarter than they look. I swear they know 50 is the king of Beef and why would they want to mess up what Wayne is doing but going at someone that can dam near end your career would be the dumbest move ever so what do they do…. they just change the subject everytime. Smart move its like we don’t want people to know we don’t want problems but don’t want to look like they scared of 50 and the crazy part is 50 is laughing everytime the question comes up with them
Having money has nothing to do with not responding to someone directly addressing you. That’s a “sellout” mentality. If you’re about yours as they always claim, then confront that situation. Stop sidestepping the questions. “Me and my son (Lil’ Flame that he likes to kiss on the mouth), we’re rich for real” (ouch shot at Ricky?. My grandmother always kept it real talk, “Those who can be bought, will eventually be sold” and that speak volumes about these money-motivated individuals. He would sell his soul for riches. He screws his artists over, allows them to wallow in drug-addiction to rob them blind, and then sidesteps competition so his little drugged out puppet (“son”) can continue to say, “I’m a gangsta, I don’t answer questions” LOL
Both Wayne and Baby act the same damn way. Whenever someone presents the question that concerns 50, Wayne and Baby just say the weirdest shit! Just tell me how Baby can call Wayne #1 rapper in the game, if he cannont address issues concerning about another rapper (aka 50)?!
I can’t believe the amount of ignorance being spouted here.
There are other black entertainers who make and have made much more than 50:
Oprah Winfrey
Will Smith
Denzel Washington
Morgan Freeman
Eddie Murphy
… the list goes on. And that’s just the entertainers. When it comes to business people there’s a ton of black folks that most people don’t even know that have more cash like Lee Daniels for example.
50 has done incredibly well. But the brother has a long way to go to play catch up to them.
I with DaStreets on this. Can’t get it to work. Any other links Missinfo, I’m guessing this is another american “not available in your country” links. Just like the MTV ones you post. Sucks for us English
wayne doin the smart thing.50′s a cornball who feeds on beef because he fucking sucks. besides that all this rap beef shit is corny as hell. its actually kinda gay…anotha nigga sayin how pussy anotha nigga is and how they’re gonna do this , that & the 3rd when they see each other…i used to be confused when nas and others would say hip hip is dead but now i kinda feel where they comin from, everyone wants to be hard instead of gettin to the music
2ND RICHEST ENTERTAINER DAMNNNNNN THESE NIGGAS ARE STUPID ON HERE COMPARING 50 MONEY TO A NIGGA (AMOUDI) IN THE OIL BIZ WTF LOL BOB JOHNSON IS NOT AN ENTERTAINER, HE USED TO OWN AN ENTERTAINMENT OUTLET BUT THAT MOFO DOESNT SING, WRESTLE, HOST JERRY SPRINGER ON THE WEEKENDS SO HE DOESNT ENTERTAIN. DAMN THATS THE REAL REASON 50 HAS SO MANY HATERS……….HIS FUCKING MONEY! STOP HATING AND GO HIT THE CORNER!
GET YA MONEY UP HATERS…….50 WILL BE THE 1ST BILLIONAIRE ENTERTAINER (FUCK OPRAH). THAT NIGGA IS HURTING RIGHT NOW CAUSE OF THE MARKET CRASH, HE WAS 380 AWAY FROM THE BILLI!!!!
I’d really love to be a fly on the wall at this dude’s family Christmas dinner or something. Does he really have that much of a one-track mind? Is he really unable to carry a conversation about anything other than how much money he’s got/getting/about to get? I wonder if he keeps a journal and just pours his emotions out when he’s looking. I bet he even cried during The Notebook.
1. If an artist got an album coming out, “F&ck 50 Cent, Banks & Yayo i.e Ja Rule been tryin to get a buzz for his album, Fat Joe, Rick Ross.
2. If people question your street credibility or sexuality, it’s fuck 50, i hope you die ugly “lol” i.e Lil Wayne, The Game, Kanye West and Rick Ross
Rappers can’t talk sh!t about getting money without comparing themselves to the cake 50 is getting, because it’s well documented in the press the proof is there.
Everybody 50 has battled has suffered severe consequences and every interview they just can’t wait to say something about 50 it’s like the hip-hop world evolves around 50 Cent. Incredible.
If you want to test an artists credibility, heart, authenticity let them go at 50.
D-Block leaving interscope plus the J-Hood situation, D-Block Vs Diddy, Mase Vs Diddy, Dipset breaking up, Rick Ross finaly admiting to be a C.O, Fat Joe’s Terror Squad breaking up. I can’t even keep up.
real talk…this had to be the most painful interview to listen to…baby needs to learn how to articulate because I don’t even remember one complete sentence he was able to put together…
and like someone pointed out..unless his money is off the books…I don’t think his money is as long as he would like us to believe…
and yes 50 got paper…but jay and puff alone have a higher net worth than him..just cause he made the forbes list this year at #2..does not mean everyone who was higher than him in previous years just went and spent all their cash…
To the people saying Baby doesn’t have that much money for real, ABC just did a special on the ‘new black overclass’ and the Williams brothers had a 15 minute segment. I don’t know how 50′s money compares, but Baby is definitely not hurting.
Tiger Woods will be the second black man/women to be a billionaire. Robert Johnson is worth $1 billion dollars as of today not $2 billion. Oprah is the second richest black person. Lebron James will come close, but fall short. 50 made Em and Dre a ton of money and the Vitamin Water money he made he had to give half of that back to the government, don’t forget about taxes when you are tallying up his net worth. I would say 50 has somewhere around $200 million.
“This is dedicated to those who want to destroy our dreams, because to take a song from one heart to another we don’t need letters of invitation, nor emigration clearances, we only need the right cause.”
-Los Aldeanos, April 6, 2009
“La Naranja se Picó” is the furious response by El B for being negated his Cuban emigration clearance two years in a row to represent as Cuba’s national freestyle champion at Red Bull’s international “Cockfight” competition in Venezuela (2007) and Mexico (2008). The song appears in Los Aldeanos’ recent album, El Atropello.
—-
Background
University of Havana psychology student, teacher at the “Galixto García” primary school, poet, rapper and genius of improvisation, Bian Oscar Rodríguez Galá, known as El B from the Cuban rap duo Los Aldeanos won the national Red Bull freestyle Spanish rap “Cockfight” competition two years in a row in 2007 & 2008. Despite the fact that the previous winner from 2006 was allowed to attend Red Bull’s international battle, El B was negated his Cuban emigration clearance both years consecutively to Venezuela in 2007 and later to Mexico in 2008. “La Naranja se Picó” is El B’s furious response to the bureaucratic processes that negated twice his request.
Red Bull’s international “Cockfight” marks the development of the musical genre and its artists as the only worldwide Spanish rap freestyle competition. Rap, despite is global commercialization, has yet to receive an awards ceremony distinctly its own, much less in Spanish. The art of improvisation, unlike studio recordings, distinguishes the intellect of the artist. At international gatherings such as Red Bull’s “Cockfight,” the best artists from sixteen Spanish speaking nations learn and advance the art form of rap’s freestyle by challenging each other and later sharing their experiences with their colleagues back home. For the international hip-hop community, it was imperative to include Cuba’s national champion, especially being that the island has presented some of the best musicians and lyrical improvisers to the world. This is both to support the rap movement within Cuba which still suffers from marginality compared to other nationalized musical forms, as well as to mark Cuba’s presence in such global gatherings that are all too often truncated by the US embargo.
Production of the music video for “La Naranja se Picó”
Director Tito Román is a Second year Puerto Rican student at the International School for Film and Television in San Antonio de Los Baños in Cuba. Román offered to produce a music video for Los Aldeanos, donating his time, experience and access to technology as part of an academic project. Together they selected to produce the video for the song “La Naranja se Picó” to support El B’s cause. The music video was filmed onsite in a cockfighting ring in San Antonio de los Baños on March 28 of this year. Scenes include appearances by various Cuban rap artists who are positioned in the video, alongside Los Aldeanos, as caged cocks prepared to fight in the ring.
What is the cause?
The US embargo against Cuba continues to limit Cuba’s presence at many international forums. In addition to this fact, Red Bull is a capitalist company whose marketing techniques are questionable within the island’s revolutionary context. Despite 50 year’s of Cuba’s alternative to global capitalism and US imperialism, many of the youths are today more interested in communicating with one another rather than continuing the political rhetoric of either side of the US embargo. These youth who grew up either during the Special Period in Cuba or under the Bush regime in the United States today want to meet, learn about, and visit each other. This song and its music video were born from the need to alleviate the bureaucratic processes that continue to limit letters of invitation, visas and emigration permissions for artists like EL B, so that they may have a chance to travel throughout the world and return to Cuba to share their experiences.
Despite Los Aldeanos’ lyrics against the bureaucracies and corruption they experience, they are authentically revolutionary. Their critiques in essence attempt to, as The New York Times posted, revolutionize the revolution, and as CNN asserted, give voice to the Cuban people. Unfortunately many groups have manipulated the content of their music towards their own political interests. This phenomenon has resulted in various controversies, their talent combined with their lyrical content and their global isolation on the island, has developed a complex problem of representation and personification. Today there exist various individuals and groups attempting to personify AL2, EL B and the rap duo Los Aldeanos on web pages such as ‘myspace,’ ‘facebook,’ ‘youtube.’ Many of these imposters use Los Aldeanos’ music in a context with which AL2 and El B are in disagreement. Take for example the surprised and disgruntled response by AL2 when he saw for the first time online an image passing for the cover of their most recent album El Atropello. The image is of a Cuban flag in a shape of a cadaver, in the middle of an open road, apparently run over (in Spanish, El Atropello means to ‘run over’).
El B, who still defines global hip-hop in local terms, has declared various times publicly and within his music that he does not want to permanently leave Cuba. He clearly states he wants the opportunity to travel, to develop his craft amongst a worldwide community of rappers, but El B has always been clear that returning to Cuba, to make his nation and his revolution stronger, completes his journey. The cause with which we want the global hip-hop community to unify with in the release of this publication of the music video for “La Naranja se Picó” is that as artists we want access, knowledge, contact and consciousness between all peoples of all nations. We will no longer be silent towards the US embargo, nor bureaucracies that attempt to limit artists’ international participation. We want an end to frontiers and borders – both real and imagined – that divide us, so that no single artist, individual, or nation may be manipulated by the interests of others.
How sad is it that Baby is pushing 40 (he’s probably already there) and still can’t string together a English sentence with no grammatical errors. I would say thats a bigger problem then 50 getting in Wayne’s ass (no homo) no? smh
May 5th, 2009 at 11:17 am
yo does everyone forget 50 cent is the 2nd richest african american in the country next to operah…..baby got money but no 50 money!! lmao….cash money fronts sooooo bad!
Reply
May 5th, 2009 at 11:39 am
does anyone have the youtube version? I can’t get this to work
Reply
May 5th, 2009 at 11:46 am
I agree… unless… he got that “dope money” which the government can’t tax and put on the books… LOL that’s everyone’s excuse… I would love to see Ca$h Money on the Forbes list… but I doubt it will happen.
Reply
May 5th, 2009 at 11:48 am
Im with “lmao” i dont believe him. 50 is caked up. Besides baby kisses wayne on his mouth thats not gangsta
Reply
May 5th, 2009 at 12:40 pm
“yo does everyone forget 50 cent is the 2nd richest african american in the country next to operah”
we didn’t forget. we just never knew.
because it’s not true.
Reply
May 5th, 2009 at 1:05 pm
@ LMAO
I seriously doubt that.
Reply
May 5th, 2009 at 1:15 pm
Maybe I am just stupid….but I need to see proof(more than word say) that 50 is the 2nd richest black person in this country, behind oprah….Bob Johnson-founder of BET,Donald Watkins, and so on, and this nigga the 2nd richest in this country….you gotta show me the proof kid! 50 cent is the 2nd richest black entertainer, after oprah. He may have more money than birdman, but there are a lot of other black business people who are ahead of him. Mohammed Al Amoudi has 9 billion he’s the richest black guy in the world.
Reply
May 5th, 2009 at 1:17 pm
correction @ LMAO…
50 is the 2nd richest african american ENTERTAINER
bob johnson (co-owner of bet and the charlotte bobcats) is still richer than 50
baby is the down south benzino… real talk
Reply
May 5th, 2009 at 2:05 pm
He’s not talking about 50 but just talk about how rich he is.
Amazing how artist who beefs with 50 brings money.
Never even saw this idiot or Wayne or Forbes top 5 list.
50 literally sold more records than his whole label combined.
heck is wrong with this guy?
Makes him self look like a foo.
Reply
May 5th, 2009 at 2:08 pm
50 cent 2nd richest black entertainer, not 2nd black richest american!
Reply
May 5th, 2009 at 2:27 pm
Umm… I must say… Baby is not the most articulate “CEO”, is he? Also, I like how he continuously reffers to “his son” and pretty much every answer revolved around Weezy F Baby. haha.
Reply
May 5th, 2009 at 2:30 pm
i think baby should have more money than 50…he has brought out and earned off many stars, hot boys ,juve ,bg, wayne plus himself ,i would say hes fallin over money …seeing as he never pays anyone
Reply
May 5th, 2009 at 2:33 pm
wow baby what you trying to say bro…wayne needs to learn how to speak english. you guys getting money man you got a 100 mil deal but you dont have a 100 million in the bank brother. don’t get it confused brother stay in your lane. i don’t see you in the top ten forbes list man. WOW are you inviting Mr. Jackson to come play?
Reply
May 5th, 2009 at 3:04 pm
Hey you with the 50 cent comment. BET founder ron johnson is worth 2 billion, what about parson’s or the dude that from morgan stanley. jay or puff or will smith. there’s tons who have more than 50. how much you got?
Reply
May 5th, 2009 at 3:27 pm
And also 50 dont o anyone, like cash money do. lol
Reply
May 5th, 2009 at 4:23 pm
not all money is accounted for according to your list that you read…Baby got oil rigs and a lot more businesses that are under the radar…
Reply
May 5th, 2009 at 4:30 pm
You know what Baby and wayne are smarter than they look. I swear they know 50 is the king of Beef and why would they want to mess up what Wayne is doing but going at someone that can dam near end your career would be the dumbest move ever so what do they do…. they just change the subject everytime. Smart move its like we don’t want people to know we don’t want problems but don’t want to look like they scared of 50 and the crazy part is 50 is laughing everytime the question comes up with them
Reply
May 5th, 2009 at 4:56 pm
men kissing men is a serious pause in HIPHOP
Reply
May 5th, 2009 at 5:00 pm
Rick ross say he got more money than 50
Reply
May 5th, 2009 at 5:26 pm
Having money has nothing to do with not responding to someone directly addressing you. That’s a “sellout” mentality. If you’re about yours as they always claim, then confront that situation. Stop sidestepping the questions. “Me and my son (Lil’ Flame that he likes to kiss on the mouth), we’re rich for real” (ouch shot at Ricky?. My grandmother always kept it real talk, “Those who can be bought, will eventually be sold” and that speak volumes about these money-motivated individuals. He would sell his soul for riches. He screws his artists over, allows them to wallow in drug-addiction to rob them blind, and then sidesteps competition so his little drugged out puppet (“son”) can continue to say, “I’m a gangsta, I don’t answer questions” LOL
Reply
May 5th, 2009 at 5:27 pm
FUCK 50 CENT!
Reply
May 5th, 2009 at 6:56 pm
Both Wayne and Baby act the same damn way. Whenever someone presents the question that concerns 50, Wayne and Baby just say the weirdest shit! Just tell me how Baby can call Wayne #1 rapper in the game, if he cannont address issues concerning about another rapper (aka 50)?!
Reply
May 5th, 2009 at 9:02 pm
I can’t believe the amount of ignorance being spouted here.
There are other black entertainers who make and have made much more than 50:
Oprah Winfrey
Will Smith
Denzel Washington
Morgan Freeman
Eddie Murphy
… the list goes on. And that’s just the entertainers. When it comes to business people there’s a ton of black folks that most people don’t even know that have more cash like Lee Daniels for example.
50 has done incredibly well. But the brother has a long way to go to play catch up to them.
Reply
May 5th, 2009 at 9:04 pm
I with DaStreets on this. Can’t get it to work. Any other links Missinfo, I’m guessing this is another american “not available in your country” links. Just like the MTV ones you post. Sucks for us English
Reply
May 5th, 2009 at 9:31 pm
wayne doin the smart thing.50′s a cornball who feeds on beef because he fucking sucks. besides that all this rap beef shit is corny as hell. its actually kinda gay…anotha nigga sayin how pussy anotha nigga is and how they’re gonna do this , that & the 3rd when they see each other…i used to be confused when nas and others would say hip hip is dead but now i kinda feel where they comin from, everyone wants to be hard instead of gettin to the music
Reply
May 5th, 2009 at 9:32 pm
2ND RICHEST ENTERTAINER DAMNNNNNN THESE NIGGAS ARE STUPID ON HERE COMPARING 50 MONEY TO A NIGGA (AMOUDI) IN THE OIL BIZ WTF LOL BOB JOHNSON IS NOT AN ENTERTAINER, HE USED TO OWN AN ENTERTAINMENT OUTLET BUT THAT MOFO DOESNT SING, WRESTLE, HOST JERRY SPRINGER ON THE WEEKENDS SO HE DOESNT ENTERTAIN. DAMN THATS THE REAL REASON 50 HAS SO MANY HATERS……….HIS FUCKING MONEY! STOP HATING AND GO HIT THE CORNER!
Reply
May 5th, 2009 at 9:35 pm
GET YA MONEY UP HATERS…….50 WILL BE THE 1ST BILLIONAIRE ENTERTAINER (FUCK OPRAH). THAT NIGGA IS HURTING RIGHT NOW CAUSE OF THE MARKET CRASH, HE WAS 380 AWAY FROM THE BILLI!!!!
Reply
May 5th, 2009 at 9:41 pm
theres no vid…
Reply
May 5th, 2009 at 10:12 pm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R3vANq8r6yY
youtube link…..
Reply
May 6th, 2009 at 1:03 am
Wow…didnt i stir the pot…i did forget to mention entertainer tho…my name says it all…….
Reply
May 6th, 2009 at 1:04 am
I dont like that these niggas got money. realtalk. I wont lie, I get heated.
Reply
May 6th, 2009 at 1:23 am
I’d really love to be a fly on the wall at this dude’s family Christmas dinner or something. Does he really have that much of a one-track mind? Is he really unable to carry a conversation about anything other than how much money he’s got/getting/about to get? I wonder if he keeps a journal and just pours his emotions out when he’s looking. I bet he even cried during The Notebook.
Reply
May 6th, 2009 at 1:23 am
I wonder if he keeps a journal and just pours his emotions out when no one’s*** looking
Reply
May 6th, 2009 at 4:31 am
Damn, 50 cent, yeah, not done bad in terms of money, must have sold a lot of those pop records he makes with a clothing line for the kids.
Reply
May 6th, 2009 at 7:35 am
50 Cent is the biggest marketing tool in hip-hop.
1. If an artist got an album coming out, “F&ck 50 Cent, Banks & Yayo i.e Ja Rule been tryin to get a buzz for his album, Fat Joe, Rick Ross.
2. If people question your street credibility or sexuality, it’s fuck 50, i hope you die ugly “lol” i.e Lil Wayne, The Game, Kanye West and Rick Ross
Rappers can’t talk sh!t about getting money without comparing themselves to the cake 50 is getting, because it’s well documented in the press the proof is there.
Everybody 50 has battled has suffered severe consequences and every interview they just can’t wait to say something about 50 it’s like the hip-hop world evolves around 50 Cent. Incredible.
If you want to test an artists credibility, heart, authenticity let them go at 50.
D-Block leaving interscope plus the J-Hood situation, D-Block Vs Diddy, Mase Vs Diddy, Dipset breaking up, Rick Ross finaly admiting to be a C.O, Fat Joe’s Terror Squad breaking up. I can’t even keep up.
It’s entertaining though, i must admit.
Reply
May 6th, 2009 at 8:43 am
Too much discussion about another dude’s wallet for my taste. I’m still reeling from the recession.
But let it be known Baby is rumored to co-own a rig or two with some Saudis in the Middle East.
Reply
May 6th, 2009 at 9:33 am
real talk…this had to be the most painful interview to listen to…baby needs to learn how to articulate because I don’t even remember one complete sentence he was able to put together…
and like someone pointed out..unless his money is off the books…I don’t think his money is as long as he would like us to believe…
and yes 50 got paper…but jay and puff alone have a higher net worth than him..just cause he made the forbes list this year at #2..does not mean everyone who was higher than him in previous years just went and spent all their cash…
Reply
May 6th, 2009 at 10:15 am
so ignorant and so ugly…all that money and his speaking ability is f**ked…yuck…go kiss your “son”
Reply
May 6th, 2009 at 10:15 am
To the people saying Baby doesn’t have that much money for real, ABC just did a special on the ‘new black overclass’ and the Williams brothers had a 15 minute segment. I don’t know how 50′s money compares, but Baby is definitely not hurting.
Reply
May 6th, 2009 at 10:21 am
Tiger Woods will be the second black man/women to be a billionaire. Robert Johnson is worth $1 billion dollars as of today not $2 billion. Oprah is the second richest black person. Lebron James will come close, but fall short. 50 made Em and Dre a ton of money and the Vitamin Water money he made he had to give half of that back to the government, don’t forget about taxes when you are tallying up his net worth. I would say 50 has somewhere around $200 million.
Reply
May 6th, 2009 at 10:46 am
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
“This is dedicated to those who want to destroy our dreams, because to take a song from one heart to another we don’t need letters of invitation, nor emigration clearances, we only need the right cause.”
-Los Aldeanos, April 6, 2009
The exclusive international on-line release of the music video for “La Naranja se Picó” by Cuban rap duo Los Aldeanos is set for May 7th at: http://www.emetreceproductions.com/ElB_La_Naranja_se_Pico.html
“La Naranja se Picó” is the furious response by El B for being negated his Cuban emigration clearance two years in a row to represent as Cuba’s national freestyle champion at Red Bull’s international “Cockfight” competition in Venezuela (2007) and Mexico (2008). The song appears in Los Aldeanos’ recent album, El Atropello.
—-
Background
University of Havana psychology student, teacher at the “Galixto García” primary school, poet, rapper and genius of improvisation, Bian Oscar Rodríguez Galá, known as El B from the Cuban rap duo Los Aldeanos won the national Red Bull freestyle Spanish rap “Cockfight” competition two years in a row in 2007 & 2008. Despite the fact that the previous winner from 2006 was allowed to attend Red Bull’s international battle, El B was negated his Cuban emigration clearance both years consecutively to Venezuela in 2007 and later to Mexico in 2008. “La Naranja se Picó” is El B’s furious response to the bureaucratic processes that negated twice his request.
Red Bull’s international “Cockfight” marks the development of the musical genre and its artists as the only worldwide Spanish rap freestyle competition. Rap, despite is global commercialization, has yet to receive an awards ceremony distinctly its own, much less in Spanish. The art of improvisation, unlike studio recordings, distinguishes the intellect of the artist. At international gatherings such as Red Bull’s “Cockfight,” the best artists from sixteen Spanish speaking nations learn and advance the art form of rap’s freestyle by challenging each other and later sharing their experiences with their colleagues back home. For the international hip-hop community, it was imperative to include Cuba’s national champion, especially being that the island has presented some of the best musicians and lyrical improvisers to the world. This is both to support the rap movement within Cuba which still suffers from marginality compared to other nationalized musical forms, as well as to mark Cuba’s presence in such global gatherings that are all too often truncated by the US embargo.
Production of the music video for “La Naranja se Picó”
Director Tito Román is a Second year Puerto Rican student at the International School for Film and Television in San Antonio de Los Baños in Cuba. Román offered to produce a music video for Los Aldeanos, donating his time, experience and access to technology as part of an academic project. Together they selected to produce the video for the song “La Naranja se Picó” to support El B’s cause. The music video was filmed onsite in a cockfighting ring in San Antonio de los Baños on March 28 of this year. Scenes include appearances by various Cuban rap artists who are positioned in the video, alongside Los Aldeanos, as caged cocks prepared to fight in the ring.
What is the cause?
The US embargo against Cuba continues to limit Cuba’s presence at many international forums. In addition to this fact, Red Bull is a capitalist company whose marketing techniques are questionable within the island’s revolutionary context. Despite 50 year’s of Cuba’s alternative to global capitalism and US imperialism, many of the youths are today more interested in communicating with one another rather than continuing the political rhetoric of either side of the US embargo. These youth who grew up either during the Special Period in Cuba or under the Bush regime in the United States today want to meet, learn about, and visit each other. This song and its music video were born from the need to alleviate the bureaucratic processes that continue to limit letters of invitation, visas and emigration permissions for artists like EL B, so that they may have a chance to travel throughout the world and return to Cuba to share their experiences.
Despite Los Aldeanos’ lyrics against the bureaucracies and corruption they experience, they are authentically revolutionary. Their critiques in essence attempt to, as The New York Times posted, revolutionize the revolution, and as CNN asserted, give voice to the Cuban people. Unfortunately many groups have manipulated the content of their music towards their own political interests. This phenomenon has resulted in various controversies, their talent combined with their lyrical content and their global isolation on the island, has developed a complex problem of representation and personification. Today there exist various individuals and groups attempting to personify AL2, EL B and the rap duo Los Aldeanos on web pages such as ‘myspace,’ ‘facebook,’ ‘youtube.’ Many of these imposters use Los Aldeanos’ music in a context with which AL2 and El B are in disagreement. Take for example the surprised and disgruntled response by AL2 when he saw for the first time online an image passing for the cover of their most recent album El Atropello. The image is of a Cuban flag in a shape of a cadaver, in the middle of an open road, apparently run over (in Spanish, El Atropello means to ‘run over’).
El B, who still defines global hip-hop in local terms, has declared various times publicly and within his music that he does not want to permanently leave Cuba. He clearly states he wants the opportunity to travel, to develop his craft amongst a worldwide community of rappers, but El B has always been clear that returning to Cuba, to make his nation and his revolution stronger, completes his journey. The cause with which we want the global hip-hop community to unify with in the release of this publication of the music video for “La Naranja se Picó” is that as artists we want access, knowledge, contact and consciousness between all peoples of all nations. We will no longer be silent towards the US embargo, nor bureaucracies that attempt to limit artists’ international participation. We want an end to frontiers and borders – both real and imagined – that divide us, so that no single artist, individual, or nation may be manipulated by the interests of others.
For more information: losaldeanos@emetreceproductions.com
Reply
May 6th, 2009 at 11:43 am
ALDEANOS…what????
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May 6th, 2009 at 12:00 pm
T.I = The Informant + Grand Hustle = Snitches !!!! /////T.I = The Informant + Grand Hustle = Snitches !!!! /////T.I = The Informant + Grand Hustle = Snitches !!!! /////T.I = The Informant + Grand Hustle = Snitches !!!! /////
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May 6th, 2009 at 12:33 pm
lol, 50 cent is a pop star and an actor…kind of like the black version of Hanna Montana.
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May 7th, 2009 at 10:41 am
FIDDY IS JEALOUS OF WEEZY!!WEEZY IS DOING IT WITHOUT THE VITAMIN WATER!!
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May 7th, 2009 at 4:56 pm
How sad is it that Baby is pushing 40 (he’s probably already there) and still can’t string together a English sentence with no grammatical errors. I would say thats a bigger problem then 50 getting in Wayne’s ass (no homo) no? smh
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August 31st, 2010 at 7:37 am
50 go ahead ,switch ur style while they watch the money pile up.sooner or later u will single handly feed cash money.
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August 31st, 2010 at 7:41 am
fuck rick ross and his crew
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