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El Corrido Del Amor - Victoria "La Mala"

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El Corrido Del Amor - Victoria "La Mala"

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El Corrido Del Amor - Victoria "La Mala"

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Mexican urban banda singer Victoria "La Mala" Ortiz on Thursday stood by her feminist views on equality and said that women need to be afforded more space in the music industry.

"Women want to listen to music (made by) women because women's perspective is quite different from men's," the singer told EFE in an interview.

"I think that, although it's much harder for us - maybe even twice, three times or even 10 times as hard - we women are asking for those spaces to open up, not only for women in the music industry, but for (women) in general," she said.

"Music is a reflection of everything that happens in society," she added. "Women are living in a time (suitable) for demanding equality. Our rights."

Ortiz is currently touring the United States with reggaeton star Romeo Santos as part of his Golden Tour, which includes a pair of dates this weekend at the Forum in Los Angeles.

The singer of "El corrido del amor" and "Si va a doler, que duela" reminisced about growing up in Mexico City, where her hope for a career in music emerged.

"In school, I was always the one singing in the choir, in theater plays," she said. "It was always something I enjoyed and I can't remember a moment when I wasn't singing."

Ortiz said that she will try to mix Mexican beats with elements of hip-hop and R&B in her upcoming album.

"I had teen aunts in Los Angeles, whom I considered to be cool," she said. "They had all the clothes and listened to music in English that we did not have in Mexico."

However, the singer added that her parents only listened to Sinaloan banda, mariachi, boleros and norteño music, as "they came from a more rural setting and moved to the city," and she feels that her own style developed from that mixture.

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Mexican urban banda singer defends feminist views on equality

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Mexican urban banda singer Victoria "La Mala" Ortiz on Thursday stood by her feminist views on equality and said that women need to be afforded more space in the music industry.. Mexican urban banda singer defends feminist views on equality | Entertainment | English edition | Agencia EFE

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Co-Editor with Jason Nichols. La Verdad: An International Dialogue on Hip Hop Latinidads., Ohio State University Press Global Latino/a Studies Series, 2016.

Guest Editor, "The Brazil Issue." Words. Beats. Life: The Global Journal of Hip-Hop Culture
BOOK CHAPTERS:

" Somos Guerreras: Queer Feminisms in Latin American Hip Hop." Transitions in Latin American Literature Series (1980-2017), Mónica Szurmuk and Debra Castillo editors. Forthcoming Cambridge University Press (in preparation).

"Towards a Decolonial Feminist Hip Hop. "Entre El Sur y el Norte: Decolonizing Education through Critical Readings of Chicanx and Latinx Music. Marco A. Cervantes, Ph.d. and Lilliana P. Saldaña, Ph.d. editors (forthcoming 2020).

"Somos Mujeres Somos Hip Hop": Feminism and Hip Hop in Latin America. Routledge Companion to Gender and Sexuality in Latin America. Frederick Luis Aldama, editor. Routledge, 2018.

"Hermandad, Arte y Rebeldía: Mexican Popular Art of NYC." The Routledge Companion to Latino/a Popular Culture. Frederick Luis Aldama, editor. Routledge, June 2016.

"Yo Soy Hip Hop: Performing an Authentic Mexican Hip Hop in New York." Words. Beats. Life: The Global Journal of Hip-Hop Culture. Vol. 6 (Spring 2015).

"Representing the Streets: Space and Place in Urban Literature. " Magazine Americana. March 2012.

"Authenticity and Ghetto Realism in Donald Goines' Inner City Hoodlum." Words. Beats. Life: The Global Journal of Hip Hop Culture. Vol 5.1 (2012).
BOOK REVIEWS:
Derek Pardue, Ideologies of Marginality in Brazilian Hip Hop. New York: Palgrave MacMillan, 2008. 224 pp. Anthropological Quarterly. 84.3 (Summer 2011), 769-772.

Postdoctoral Fellow at Harvard University (Spring 2018): Taught original course HIST-LIT 90DA: From Rock and Roll to Rap en Espanol: Urban Youth Cultures in America.

"A Mexican State of Mind: New York City and the New Borderlands of Culture." University of California - Los Angeles (May 8, 2018).

"A Mexican State of Mind: New York City and the New Borderlands of Culture." Global American Studies Postdoctoral Fellow Presentations, Harvard University (Sept. 29, 2017).

"​Mexican Radical Diaspora in NYC." Freedom School, Bronx Beer Hall (July 26, 2017).

"Mexican Art Collectives in NYC."Freedom School, Brooklyn NY (June 21, 2017).
"Yo Soy Hip Hop": Transnationalism and Authenticity in Mexican New York." Seoul National University, Korea (Oct. 2, 2016).

"Yo Soy Hip Hop: Performing an Authentic Mexican Hip Hop in New York." Long Island University- Brooklyn (April 20, 2016).

Teaching Assistant at Fordham University: (Aug. 2010-Dec. 2010 and Sept. 2013-Dec. 2013): Taught twice under Mark Naison, Director, African American Studies, the 300 level course in African American Studies, "From Rock and Roll to Hip Hop." Responsibilities include teaching the class of more than 40 students while Dr. Naison was traveling (two classes each term), helping to organize guest lecturers, providing readings and music, meeting with students.
Mexican Hip Hop in New York with special guest Hispanos Causando Pániko;
A Commitment to Rap: Re-Constructing National Identity in Brazilian Hip Hop CONFERENCE PRESENTATIONS:
The Other Counterculture(s): Chicano Rock & Roll and the rise of Nuyorican Salsa;
"Yo Soy Hip Hop": Latino & Latin American Expressions of Hip Hop
Invited Lecturer to Syracuse University (Oct. 11, 2010): Taught class on Street Literature to SPA 600 " Literatura, iconos y cultura popular en América Latina." Also gave public lecture on Brazilian Hip Hop.

"Representing the Streets: An Introduction to Street Literature." Invited Lecture, Syracuse University, October 2010.

American Studies Association Conference, Atlanta, GA (Nov. 8-11):Dejamos una huella: Claiming Space in a New York City Borderlands.

American Studies Association Conference, Denver, Co. (Nov. 17-20, 2016): "Yo Soy Hip Hop: Transnationalism and Authenticity in Mexican New York."

Latin American Studies Association, New York, NY (May 27-30, 2016): "Hermandad, Arte & Rebeldia: Mexican Popular Art in New York City."

Latin American Studies Association, San Juan, Puerto Rico (May 27-30, 2014): Session Chair: "The Hip-Hop Borderlands: Aztec Identity, Black-Brown solidarity, and Puerto Rican Spiritualties." Presenter: "Global Flows: New Approaches in Brazilian hip-hop."
JOURNALISM
Words, Beats & Life 2013 Teach-In: Remixing the Art of Social Change, Washington DC (July 12-14, 2013): "Mexican hip-hop in New York"

American Culture Association/Popular Culture Association National, San Antonio, TX (April 20-24, 2011): "Not Chicano Rap: Mexican Hip Hop in New York."

Association of Writers and Writing Programs National Conference, Washington DC (Feb. 2-5, 2011): "Creative Online": projects that explore the intersections between creative writing and new media.

Latin American Studies Association, Toronto, Canada (October 6-9, 2010): "A Commitment to Rap: A Brazilian Answer to Mainstream Hip Hop."
National Association for Ethnic Studies National Conference, Washington, DC (April 8-10, 2010): "Representing the Streets: Space and Place in Urban Literature."

National Association for Ethnic Studies National Conference, Washington, DC (April 8-10, 2010): "Representing the Streets: Space and Place in Urban Literature."

American Culture Association/Popular Culture Association National Conference, St. Louis, Missouri (March 31-April 4, 2010): "Donald Goines and Ghetto Realist Fiction: Authenticity and Biography in Street Literature."

"OPINIÓN: Lo que no debe gustarte de las mujeres latinas en la television." Nov. 23, 2011.

"What Not to Love about Latinos on TV." Nov. 22, 2011.

"Hip Hop latino en Estados Unidos" and "Entrevista con Pitbull." Zona de Obras. Spring 2005 (Spain).

" Latinos in Hip Hop to Reggaeton." Latin Beat Magazine. March 2005 (Gardena, California). For the past year, reggaeton has bumped and ground its way to the forefront of Latin music.

" Radio Mundial." Latin Beat Magazine. February 2005, Gardena, California. It's tough to be a Latin Alternative act in New York.

" Slug: Latin alternative music. " Latin Beat Magazine. December 2004 (Gardena, California). Luis Tamblay wins over one timid New York audience with the pulsating rock beats of a new kind of music created in the U.S.A., but with inspiration from Latin America.

"The New Gen-Fusion." iCarambaU Magazine. Nov./Dec. 2004 (New York, NY). With their eclectic blend of urban, alternative and Jewish culture, the Hip Hop Hoodios are re-inventing our notion of Latin music.

"Radio Mundial: Latin Insurgence." Underrated Magazine. Vol 2, Issue 4 (New York, NY).

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Co-Editor with Jason Nichols. La Verdad: An International Dialogue on Hip Hop Latinidads., Ohio State University Press Global Latino/a Studies Series, 2016. Guest Editor, "The Brazil Issue." Words. Beats. Life: The Global Journal of Hip-Hop Culture BOOK CHAPTERS: " Somos Guerreras: Queer Feminisms in Latin American Hip Hop."

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Le premier média dédié aux femmes et aux LGBT+ dans le hip hop

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For their European tour, feminist rap trio Somos Guerreras made a stop in Paris for two concerts. Before their show tonight at 9PM at Le 6b in Saint-Denis, Nakury (Costa Rica), Rebeca Lane (Guatemala) and Audry Funk (Mexico) told Madame Rap about their collective and solo projects, their views on feminism and what being women in hip hop in Central America means to them.

How and when did you three meet?

Rebeca Lane: I met Nakury in 2013 at a women Festival in Nicaragua called Hall of Femme. We were doing workshops there. We connected because we were both speaking about feminism. In hip hop spaces, feminism was not something usual to talk about, even in spaces that were only for women. This festival was supported by feminist groups, they did all the food, logistics and stuff and hip hop women were taking the lead on everything else. Then, Nakury invited me to her album release party in Costa Rica.

Nakury: There, we recorded a song called Jugando con Palabras. It was the first song we recorded together.

Rebeca Lane: After that, we began to work together. At the time, there were many hip hop festivals and we toured together in Central America and Mexico. That's where we met Audry. We already knew her because she contacted me for a compilation called Somos mujeres, somos hip hop but we met her in person in 2015.

Audry Funk: When I met them in Mexico, they were planning a tour in Central America. They talked about it in my car and I asked if I could join them. They said like " yeah, why not?! ".

Rebeca Lane: A lot of people in Mexico don't want to go to Central America. There's a lot of xenophobia toward Central American people because they believe we only have wars and poor people.

Audry Funk: It's true. But I thought " why should I not build bridges with my sisters? " We are the same. I feel very connected to them. My father is from Chiapas, it's almost Central America.

When did you start touring with Somos Guerreras?

Rebeca Lane: In 2016, we started to tour in Panama City, then San Jose, Tegucigalpa in Honduras, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, El Savaldor, from the South to the North. In Guatemala City, we split and Audry went to New York for two years and Nakury and I went to Mexico. It was also a 2-month tour but we were younger!

Nakury: I remember after those two months, we were really exhausted. Our lips were cracked, our hands full of bruises. I was so dehydrated. I came to my country and people were like: " what happened to you?" " A Central American tour! "

Rebeca Lane: After that, Audry could not leave the US because of Trump. For two years, we were in contact through Whatsapp and Nakury and I kept working together. When Audry could travel again, we started a tour in Mexico in November 2018 and in April 2019 in New York.

Audry Funk: This is our first European tour together. We've been on tour for a month and a half. After France, we're going back to Germany for a week of concerts and then it will be over.

Are there many all-female rap bands in Central America? There are very few in Europe...

Audry Funk: There are a lot of girls doing cool things in Central America but there are not as visible as men.

Rebeca Lane: Girls who are doing rap now are very young. I think that when they look at older women like us, they're inspired to do their own thing. In Central America, we have all-female graffiti, dance and rap crews. There were also some when I started but their position was " I want to be the only one, the only woman ". They were really against other women. It has changed now, but I believe the situation is still different in Mexico, where there are still women who try to hold the spaces they have to themselves.

Audry Funk: I was part of the first female hip hop crew in Mexico called Mujeres Trabajando. Not everyone was feminist. It was the first time I experienced being part of a national female hip hop crew. At the time, I was the only one that wasn't on stage. It was only men. It was really tough for us women. We had to fight a lot. It was the first step, but now there are more collectives getting together. We have some feminist crews, female rappers... Something is happening.

Why do you think some women want to take all the space/credit?

Rebeca Lane: Hip hop is a pie. Because of patriarchy, women are led to believe that there is only one piece of pie. So as female artists, we think " I'm going to have it", instead of thinking " why can't I have half of the cake? " That's what is feminism in action. You can be a feminist in your mind, read books, but if you don't take action, nothing is going to happen.

With Somos Guerreras, we started linking the feminist practice with hip hop, saying " we should not be fighting for this one piece of cake, we can work together, and even have our own cake! "

Audry Funk: Our collective is doing something no one in Central America has done before. The media don't ask us for interviews, because they think we are not big enough but we are doing something different, and it is important to say it.

Rebeca Lane: Right now, in Central America, no male project is as successful as the ones led by women. We have the support of the hip hop community and also of feminist and women groups.

Nakury: As Rebeca was saying, the pie is very little. So there are very little opportunities for many women. It creates a violent scenery. Historically, the people that have been doing events in Central America are women. Because of the patriarchal society, people are used to not appreciate the work of women. It made us also realize who we are working for. Are we going to keep doing our work for men who don't appreciate us or just for us? That was a very strong motivation for us.

Also, there are a lot of guys who don't recognize our work and keep boycotting us hardly and intentionally. So the support of people from different parts of the world helped us keeping doing social work in our communities. Some men are supportive, working with us and helping a lot, but it's not the majority.

Day by day, many guys look at us and think we're breaking the system that's fucking up everyone, even them. They realize it and change their patriarchal behavior.

Do you feel you're doing politics and activism besides rap?

Audry Funk: For me, just the fact that we are doing music in this old world and industry of men is activism. It is innovative and we're breaking barriers. It is a political act.

Rebeca Lane: We are also active outside of music, each one in our own context. We're doing feminist activism, environmental activism, territorial activism, antiracist, decolonial and migrant activism...

Nakury: In the events we organize, we are addressing the issues happening inside our communities. For example, in Costa Rica, the waacking dance community has been doing a great job, addressing all the issues of LGBTQ communities. We support their events and back them up in case something happens. We want to make sure the events are inclusive and leave the society prejudices behind by defending the rights of all people.

How would you define your feminism? Is there a feminist current you most relate to?

Audry Funk: Intersectional, decolonial and communitarian feminism.

Rebeca Lane: I don't say I am a communitarian feminist because I don't live in the same conditions as women who claim it but for me, there are my teachers. I learned a lot from them. This feminism was born inside the indigenous territories in Guatemala, Bolivia and Ecuador and means unifying the struggles for land with the struggles for women's rights. It is anticapitalistic and anticolonial. For Western and white feminism, the only category of oppression is women. But there are other categories of oppressions, like class, racial and colonial oppression, that we now understand thanks to Black feminists who talked about intersectionality.

Nakury: Intersectional, decolonial and communitarian feminism. I come from a rural community where most my family lives, and women there are fighting against domestic violence and child abuse. Through the ancestral knowledge that we are all connected to nature, they teach us that we have a common sense. If you want to have equal rights for everybody, you have to fight all the oppressions. I think it's time Europe has looked at these territories and learned from them.

What have you learned from working and touring together with this project?

Audry Funk: I learned how powerful it can be to unite with powerful women instead of being in competition. It taught me to understand other realities, my sisters and why they have historical traumas in their body (because everybody who comes from a colonized country has one).

Besides, I don't feel alone anymore. There are a lot of women doing things and fighting for the same things. Sometimes you feel alone, but it's not true. It's important to know that because you can create collectives.

Nakury: Working with a team requires a lot of cooperation, respect and tolerance. It's hard but it's also very satisfying. I see them like my sisters, they teach me a lot because they are older and have more experience.

Rebeca Lane: Touring in the First World made me become aware of my privileges. For example, in Guatemala, I am a mestiza woman so I have never been subject of discrimination. But when I went to the First World, I realized I was a woman of color. It made me realize how I reproduce racism toward indigenous or Afro-descendant women in my own country and how I benefit from this structural racism. Coming here, I see how Europe is getting benefit from our oppression because we come from colonized countries. It's one of the hardest lesson to learn.

When we come to France and see this peaceful environment, women walking on the streets and feeling safe, trains going up until midnight and people not being afraid of taking one of them, we realize how hard it is for us to live in the conditions we live in and how unequal the world is. We should all be experiencing this. The peace they have here is because of the wars we have in our territories.

It has also taught me to listen to migrant people. In Europe, people think they show solidarity going to Africa or to Latin American and posting pictures of the interesting things they do there, whereas here, there are people from African, Latin American and Arab countries fleeing the war. You don't have to fly all the way to another part of the world to post these exotic photos when you can do something here for people suffering from colonialism.

In our countries, many people are not aware of it. Because we live in a small bubble and think our problems are the only ones in the world.

What are your upcoming projects?

Rebeca Lane: After this tour, we will go back to our solo projects. For 2020, we want to reactivate the process of the documentary we started in 2016. It has been difficult for us to keep our individual career, Somos Guerreras and work on the documentary. We want to do another tour with dignifying conditions to do a dignifying documentary about women in Central America.

What do you wish for today? What are your needs as artists and people?

Audry Funk: Pay the bills. Have a decent life and make money through my art. I don't ask for millions but I just need to pay the rent and be able to pay for my projects because I am an independent artist. I just want to have the right amount of money to do the right things. Art is a job, you need to be paid for it.

I also want to do more tours, have a new CD, meet more people and connect with more femcees and female artists.

Nakury: I'm going to release an album at the end of the year that speaks about community connections and do some workshops with my record label Lácteo Cósmico. We are going to work with women of the hip hop community to help them professionalize, help them understand royalties, how to make press kits, organize and event, how to make a song, master the technique, the sound system...

Also, I'm planning to write and direct the video clips of my album. It is very challenging for me because for a long time, I've been looking for help from other people, mostly men. Every time I worked with men, they wanted to change everything: the script, the actors... So I'm going to make a project full of women! I used to be scared of it but now I'm feeling very happy and empowered because I've realized it is the only way to do it.

Rebeca Lane: I want to rest! I've been touring non-stop since 2015. I'm exhausted and really wish to understand my own needs. Then I'll work on a new album. When you come from a working-class background, you learn that you need to work all the time and take all opportunities because you don't know if you're going to have another one tomorrow. I need to work on this and would like to learn to have a balance. So for the beginning of next year, I might rest!

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Somos Guerreras: "If you want equal rights, you have to fight all the oppressions" - Le premier média dédié aux femmes et aux LGBT+ dans le hip hop

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For their European tour, feminist rap trio Somos Guerreras made a stop in Paris for two concerts. Before their show tonight at 9PM at Le 6b in Saint-Denis, Nakury (Costa Rica), Rebeca Lane (Guatemala) and Audry Funk (Mexico) told Madame Rap about their collective and solo projects, their views on feminism and what being women in hip hop in Central America means to them.

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The worlds of feminism, hip-hop and environmental justice will dance together April 29 at the Merrill Cultural Center. Hosted by the Romero Institute and the Conscious Flow Collective (CFC), "Word to Our Mother" will bring out local and international artists passionate about global issues.

As conscious hip-hop will follow the tabling organizations, attendees will have the opportunity to learn about environmental and community issues, like finding ways to bridge the gap between hip-hop and at-risk youth.

Mare Advertencia Lirika, a female rapper from Oaxaca, Mexico, will be headlining the event with support from local artists, Mesha L and Gina Rene, Babii Chris and DJ Phyzk.

Mare, a fierce hip-hop artist rapping in Spanish, began her career 13 years ago in an all-women's rap collective in Oaxaca - the first in the city's history. Her music brings to light political and social issues in Oaxaca, like women's rights, prison injustices and land disputes.

Mare's hometown in Oaxaca is located 300 miles from Mexico City. It's home to the largest population of indigenous people in the country, who make up 48 percent of the population.

Many of these communities are under- resourced and marginalized, affecting everything from their agricultural production to their living conditions. Water is scarce in the city and its use is rationed. Due to increased exploitation through the transnational globalization of capitalism, living conditions are troubling, with single-story homes built with cement rocks in extremely close proximity to each other.

"There's not a lot of representation of the indigenous tribes and people in Oaxaca," Mare said. "For me, using rap as a tool to reinstate the importance of indigenous tribes and indigenous people was one of the reasons I got into it."

Once the hip-hop group disbanded in 2009, Mare began pursuing a solo career that went from local to international fame. Three years later, she visited the U.S. for the first time on a screening tour of her documentary, "Cuando Una Mujer Avanza." It was at the Santa Cruz stop that Mare first met CFC-member Jorge Flores.

"I want students to know that there is a movement behind me," Mare said. "And even though Mare Advertencia Lirika represents just one woman, there are so many more people that make this happen."

CFC is composed of three members - Flores, Juan Jose and Jay Khan - who have been integral in putting on the show. Local artists will also touch upon community issues regarding sustainability, self-care and justice for the earth. Mesha L, a community artist who raps over interstellar-sounding beats, personifies the bridge between UCSC and community.

Mesha L gained notoriety for her truthful rhymes and laid-back attitude. She's passionate about being a part of an event focusing on women in hip-hop, while continuing the fight for a sustainable way of life.

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Hip-Hop, Women, Earth? Word. - City on a Hill Press

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By Gabrielle Garcia and Marwa Safi The worlds of feminism, hip-hop and environmental justice will dance together April 29 at the Merrill Cultural Center. Hosted by the Romero Institute and the Conscious Flow Collective (CFC), "Word to Our Mother" will bring out local and international...

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Performing Feminism, Performing Testimony: Female Rap Artists from Latin America

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Crossing lines is one of the premises of hip hop in general and, especially, of female rap artists. Hip hop as an artistic expression crosses the lines between poetry and music. Femcees cross the line by entering a predominantly male genre, which has been harshly criticised for its sexist lyrics and performances.

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"Tengo millones de huevos en cada ovario / No me hace más mujer ni a vos te hace menos macho"
(I've got millions of eggs in each ovary / it doesn't make me more of a woman or you less of a man)[2]

Bandera Negra (Black Banner) by Rebeca Lane, Guatemala.

Feminist Hip-Hop is a music movement that appropriates the style and aesthetic of popular American Hip-Hop to advocate women's rights and gender equality. Young artists from various countries across Latin America are using Hip-Hop rapping to critique manliness, misogyny, and evaluate the general understandings of gender within Latino cultures. Hip-Hop Feminism tends to relate more closely to third-wave feminism, in which notions of 'universal womanhood' are critiqued and it's participants dealt more specifically with race and class. Participants in the movement seek to criticise the media's mainstream representation of Hip-Hop and provide alternative music that promotes egalitarianism in race, gender, class, sexuality, and identity.

Hip-hop culture originates from The Bronx, New York City from the 1970s. Initially started by Disc-Jockeys (DJ's) and self-titled 'Masters of Ceremonies' (MC's) who began using turntables to create mixes of various songs for young people to dance to. One of the foremost figures of American Hip-hop was Kool Herc, who advocated his dance parties as a means of deterrent from gang fighting in the local neighbourhoods. The idea was that the community would get together and burn off energy dancing rather than fighting. The scene includes MC's, Rapping, Breakdancing and Graffiti. The culture of Hip-hop developed out of minority groups and communities that had been excluded from mainstream society. For example, the way that The Bronx was left mostly derelict during the late 1970s. The people living there were forced to forge their own culture as a reaction to living on the peripheral of American life. The Bronx during the 1960s was known for extreme fires and dilapidated neighbourhoods, the conditions were compared with living in a war zone.[3] The people living in the Bronx felt dislocated from the rest of New York City. Hip Hop emerged as a successful subculture which allowed individuals to voice their concerns and highlight discrimination.

Latin American Hip-hop spread from North America to central, south and the Caribbean. Where large concentrations of immigrant areas in the United States tended to bring back the music style with them when visiting family and friends from their original countries. For example, the music was transferred from Miami, USA to the Caribbean island nations through radio transmissions and records being imported by family members and friends. Latin American Hip hop uses Spanish language lyrics and varies with the sound styles. Generally it includes the customary sounds of hip-hop (the backtracks and repetitive beats) with Spanish language and slang. Some artists feature Latino dance rhythms such as Cumbia or Salsa music rhythms combined with the more traditional back beats.

Latin America tends to be associated with heavy sexism, ownership and violence against women. As a response to this, there is a growing subculture within Latin American hip-hop of women who are using the music as a platform to critique the music industry as well as their own cultures. Artists began using the music style to spotlight social issues for women's rights. One of mainstream concerns of Hip-hop is its association with extreme masculinity, advocating of dangerous life-styles as successful characteristics. Hip-Hop feminists are appropriating the music style to reconstruct these beliefs.

Hip Hop's Inheritance: From the Harlem Renaissance to the Hip Hop Feminist Movement Reiland Rabaka describes the scope of Hip-hop Feminism:

"Hip-hop feminism is much more than feminism, and it focuses on more than feminist issues, misogyny, and patriarchy. Hip hop feminists use hip hop culture as one of their primary points of departure to highlight serious social issues and the need for political activism aimed at racism, sexism, capitalism, and heterosexism as overlapping and interlocking systems of oppression [...] hip hop feminists are simultaneously expanding the range and uses of intersectional theory and complicating what it means to be both a hip hopper and a feminist".[4]

It is possible that Latin America's history of Dominant Military leaders amplified the patriarchal-culture. Hip Hop stars from the late 1990's United States tended to glorify homophobia and hyper-masculinity that echoes the machismo culture across Latin American countries. Hip-hop's successful celebrity status combined with anti-authority gangsta-affiliation in the United States is part of its attraction to underdog groups. **

Much of the controversial hip-hop stars within the United States use their lyrics to degrade women and often feature in their video clips the 'Hip Hop Honey/Video Girl'. These women are a variation of the 'Ride-or-die Chick' willing to support her man and his illicit lifestyle despite how this might endanger or harm her. Also known as 'video vixens', these women are often aspiring actors, singers, dancers, or models who appear in men's hip hop music videos.

Rebeca Lane explains:
"...also at the level of the content, that the music you make be heterosexual in the sense that it showcases this topic of a woman loves a man, she dies for him, etcetera. And that you don't inconvenience, that you don't question, don't talk about problems but instead keep talking about love from a heterosexual perspective and other topics that don't make people uncomfortable." Somos Mujeres Somos Hip-Hop
There are several female artists and groups who are using the music to advocate women's rights and combat the masculine narrative that hip-hop is for men.

An example of such a group are "Somos Mujeres; Somos Hip-Hop" ("We Are Women; We Are Hip-Hop") which currently includes 12 women from 10 different countries across Latin America. MC Audry Funk from Mexico, met Roja (from hip-hip duo Rima Roja en Venus) from Ecuador whilst performing in New York City. In 2013 Roja organised the first festival 'Somos Mujeres; Somos Hip-Hop' in Quito, Ecuador. As various other artists have joined, including Rebeca Lane, Guatemala, it has continued to expand into female hip-hop collective. In 2015 the group recorded 12 tracks in an album titled 'Latinamérica Unida' on SoundCloud.
Audry Funk, Mexico The compilation's 12 tracks pulse with attitude and skill, in styles ranging from the melodic beauty of Chile's Dania Neko to the harsh, guttural flow of the Colombian MC Jana. "Kutipakuy", a song by Peru's Sipas Crew, a trio of MCs from Portada de Manchay I, Lima, is one of the most arresting tracks, with Quechua words peppering lyrics underpinned by a hypnotic charango beat. [5] Rima Roja en Venus, Ecuador
Rebeca Lane talks about her use of music as protest, to highlight the gender inequality and violence against women in her country, as well as Latin America.
So one always feels unsafe, either because you're a woman, or you're an activist, or simply being a young person. Having tattoos, looking different, in Central American territory, it's a threat because you're affecting the internal (order) and what should be, which is what militarism wants to impose on us-a single way of thinking, and this single way of thinking has to do with very traditional roles, both political and gender roles.[6]
The groups intend to use their music to raise awareness of the social issues across Latin America, combat sexism in the industry and act as role models to young women internationally. The lack of space for women in the industry has made the women participating organise themselves, form alliances and create their own events. Hip-Hop traditionally served as a space for the marginalised to voice their concerns and contest the popular narratives.

[1] https://i.guim.co.uk/img/static/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2015/8/5/1438781213816/a853fc1b-bd7e-4904-8925-dc5c46133cdd1360x2040.jpeg?w=300&q=85&auto=format&sharp=10&s=b99cb54297c4e0c1711613960cf16883

[2] Rap battles across Latin America tend to refer to the size of men's testes as "Huevos" in Spanish (meaning 'Eggs').

[3] Refered to by Grandmaster Caz as Like growing up in Beirut (...civil war) - Hip Hop Evolution Documentary and also from news reports about the time.

[4] Hip Hop's Inheritance: From the Harlem Renaissance to the Hip Hop Feminist Movement Reiland Rabaka

[5] https://www.theguardian.com/music/2015/aug/09/how-latin-american-women-are-changing-hip-hip

[6] http://www.telesurtv.net/english/opinion/Guatemalan-Feminist-Rapper-Tearing-Down-Walls-20160312-0043.html
Kirsty Flockhart is Head of International Cooperation at GAPA.

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Hip-Hop Feminism rising in Latin America - Global Arts and Politics Alliance

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Rebeca Lane, Guatemala [1] By Kirsty Flockhart "Tengo millones de huevos en cada ovario / No me hace más mujer ni a vos te hace menos macho" (I've got millions of eggs in each ovary / it doesn't make me more... Continue Reading →

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Latin American feminist movements have swept the region. The so-called "fourth-wave" of feminism has centered on a number of issues critical to women in Latin America: violence against women, reproductive autonomy, and equal representation across sectors, including government, to name a few.

Gender-related policy changes throughout the region have demonstrated the capacity of movements centered on women to successfully transform the social and political landscape of their countries. Ahead of the 2021 Mexican elections, #NiUnaMenos and #8M feminist protests led political parties to agree to the "three to three" pact which denounces violence against women, and advocates for gender parity. In Argentina, feminist movements not only helped drive the historic abortion legislation that passed in 2020 but also stimulated the creation of the Ministry of Women and Gender. In Chile, feminists secured gender parity in the Constitutional Assembly as a result of their mobilization. Despite these legislative wins, women's issues continue to occupy only the margins of legislative agendas.

How and why have some feminist movements achieved relative political success while others have struggled to gain national and international visibility? What factors impede the creation and implementation of policies that focus on the advancement and protection of women?

The Mexico Institute and the Latin American Program were pleased to host a discussion on the legislative and political impact of feminist movements in Latin America on Wednesday, May 26, 2021 from 10:30am-11:30am ET.

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Moving Forward: Assessing the Impact of Feminist Movements in Latin America

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Latin American feminist movements have swept the region. The so-called "fourth-wave" of feminism has centered on a number of issues critical to women in Latin America: violence against women, reproductive autonomy, and equal representation across sectors, including government, to name a few.

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F ROM THE rooftop of an office block in Mexico City, Sonia Barroeta tells of a lifetime of small abuses. If she wears a skirt, men "won't leave me in peace", she says. She has been wearing black trousers for 30 years. She counts six occasions on which she used pepper spray on aggressive men. Now nearing 60, she plans to take part in a demonstration for the first time, a protest to be held on March 8th, International Women's Day.

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On the next day she will join a "national women's strike". In her case that will mean staying home from work, along with the other 40 female staff and students of the Asteca Aviation School, which trains (mostly male) pilots and (mainly female) flight attendants. Women suffer not just on the street, but also the office, the home and everywhere in between, says Ms Barroeta. "As a woman, you are worth less from the day you are born."

Feminist groups called the march and the strike after two brutal murders in February. Ingrid Escamilla, 25, was killed and skinned by her husband. Fátima, a seven-year-old, was abducted, sexually abused and murdered. The Women's Day march is expected to be the biggest feminist mobilisation in Mexico's history. This fight against violence is the first big social movement to form during the presidency of Andrés Manuel López Obrador, a left-wing populist who took office in December 2018.

It is part of a Latin American wave. Last year, after police abused women who took part in demonstrations against inequality, price rises and election-rigging in several countries, women held protests against sexism. A Chilean anthem called "A Rapist in Your Path" has been sung from Paraguay to Honduras. (Sample lyric: "The oppressive state is a macho rapist".)

Although violence is the spur to protest, women are a smaller proportion of murder victims than in countries where they are generally better treated. In Switzerland, in 2018 the best of the 189 countries ranked in the UN Development Programme's genderinequality index, half of murder victims are female. In 74th-placed Mexico, which has many more murders, the proportion has been steady at 10-15% since the 1990s. That is because a typical murder involves one male gangster shooting another. In 2018, when 36,700 people were killed in Mexico, 3,700 were women.

Feminists argue that murders of women are especially vicious. "They kill us with a distinct cruelty," says Citlalli Hernández, a senator. Mexico recognises "femicide", the murder of a woman or girl because she is female, as a separate crime (see article). The country classified 980 killings as femicides last year, up from 411 in 2015. Many are the culmination of domestic violence that was reported to police, and are thus preventable. In surveys about whether people feel safe, a gap appeared in 2014: the share of women who feel at risk is ten percentage points higher than that of men.

That has inspired a movement characterised by the youth of its adherents, their militancy and their use of social media to organise. After a teenager accused four policemen of rape last August, women rallied under the hashtag "They don't take care of us, they rape us". They smashed the glass doors of the prosecutor's office in Mexico City, vandalised the Angel of Independence, the city's best known monument, and clashed with all-women riot squads.

Although murder is the focus of these protests, it is not the only target. "What we want is to change the culture, the social relations, the place we have been put historically," says Sayuri Herrera, a lawyer.

Most Mexicans want less violence against women. Universities and business groups are backing the Women's Day march. There is less enthusiasm for other feminist goals, such as access to abortion. The capital legalised abortion in the first trimester in 2007 and the southern state of Oaxaca did so later. Other jurisdictions have not followed.

The protests are aimed more at changing social attitudes than government policy. Their leaders do not expect much help from Mr López Obrador. Though a former agitator himself, he dislikes forces he cannot control. He claims that the feminist movement has been "infiltrated" by conservatives, who exploit its anger to criticise him. In February, while promoting a lottery to pay for medical supplies, he responded to questions from reporters about murdered women by saying, "I do not want femicides to overshadow the raffle." Some activists defend Mr López Obrador by saying that his administration includes more feminists than did earlier governments.

Being a feminist in Mexico has never been easy. "We were 20 locas [crazy women] in the streets with pro-abortion signs," says Marta Lamas, a professor at the National Autonomous University, recalling protests she took part in 45 years ago. A spate of horrific murders has captured Mexicans' attention. That may not bring about the broader changes that feminists seek. ■

This article appeared in the The Americas section of the print edition under the headline "The violet tide"

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F ROM THE rooftop of an office block in Mexico City, Sonia Barroeta tells of a lifetime of small abuses. If she wears a skirt, men "won't leave me in peace", she says. She has been wearing black trousers for 30 years. She counts six occasions on which she used pepper spray on aggressive men.

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Mexico's president Andrés Manuel López Obrador has picked yet another fight with the country's burgeoning feminist movement, saying it only started "two years ago" and bizarrely claiming it had been formed to oppose his administration.

Asked on Wednesday about a march in Mexico City for International Safe Abortion Day, the president spoke conspiratorially of the women's movement, alleging it had become "conservative" - a term he uses to deride his critics.

"You have to see what's behind it, because two years ago, when the feminist movement began, many women participated. But you started to realize they had become conservative feminists only to affect us, only for this purpose," he said.

His remarks were the latest evidence of the populist leader's hostility toward the feminist movement - which includes many people who previously supported him.

Mexican social media responded with ridicule and bewilderment.

"With this man, he believes everything revolves around him," tweeted Martha Tagle, a former opposition senator.

"[López Obrador] doesn't understand feminism and what little he does understand he considers it to be contrary to his political project," said Bárbara González, a political analyst in Monterrey.

Some in the feminist movement expressed early hopes for López Obrador's administration, which he promotes as the "fourth transformation" in Mexico's history. He appointed a gender-balanced cabinet and named prominent former supreme court justice Olga Sánchez Cordero to the interior ministry.

But Sánchez Cordero was replaced in late August - and returned to the senate - after a low-profile period in what was traditionally Mexico's most powerful cabinet position.

"The kind of woman that does politics acceptably for him is an 'Adelita'," González said, referring to the women who fought as foot soldiers in Mexico's revolution of 1910. "It's an archetype, the model of a woman that accompanies the transformation."

The president's comments come barely three weeks after the supreme court decriminalised abortion - a subject the president has barely mentioned.

The court decision followed waves of protests in Mexico and across Latin America as women took to the streets to demand action on issues such as sexual violence, abortion access and femicide.

A recent report from Amnesty International found that at least 10 women and girls are murdered in Mexico every day. Most of the cases go unpunished and families of the victims are often forced to carry out their own investigations.

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Amlo ridiculed for saying Mexico's feminist movement began two years ago

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Mexico's president Andrés Manuel López Obrador has picked yet another fight with the country's burgeoning feminist movement, saying it only started "two years ago" and bizarrely claiming it had been formed to oppose his administration.

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Galvanized by the 'Salgado Macedonio' sexual assault case, the movement is taking center stage in national politics with unprecedented force ahead of a key state election

Feminist demonstrators outside the National Palace in Mexico City protesting the Salgado Macedonio case. Sáshenka Gutiérrez (EFE)

The women's movement in Mexico is starting to shake the National Palace, the seat of the federal executive and official residence of the president. It is a threat that could either cost or win votes. Women in Mexico have put gender equality and ending violence against them at the center of the political debate. In recent days, their struggle - which has grown to a scale unprecedented in Mexico - has questioned the country's institutions, its political parties and its public figures.

The political storm surrounding Félix Salgado Macedonio, a member of the governing National Regeneration Movement (Morena) who has been nominated to run for governor of the state of Guerrero despite two rape accusations and several counts of sexual assault, is just the latest blow against the administration of Andrés Manuel López Obrador. Since López Obrador took office, his government has struggled with its approach to women's fight for greater rights.

There were more signs of tension on Tuesday, when dozens of activists gathered in the Zócalo, the central square in Mexico City, while the president was holding his daily press conference. The protesters were stopped by the police before they could reach him, but their yells could be heard in the square: "A rapist cannot be a governor!" they called out, in reference to the accusations against Salgado Macedonio. Their demands have put López Obrador on the back foot. The president - who has never been comfortable with the feminist movement - has tried to frame the protest as politically motivated - in other words, a plot by his enemies to gain more support ahead of the election in Guerrero. But with International Women's Day just days away and the vote for governor in three months, neither side is showing signs of giving up.

The demands of the women's movement are legitimate and they go beyond political parties and elections

Cristina Santana, Redefine México

"The women's movement in Mexico has been gaining a lot of traction in the last year, it's a great momentum that should be used to visibilize violence [against women] and make gains," says Wendy Briceño, the president of the equality committee in Congress. "Sexism is being stripped bare and female victims are putting themselves at the center of the debate. Because we have all been victims in one way or another, but some cases are more horrifying than others." Briceño is one of 500 members of Morena who have demanded that Salgado Macedonio be withdrawn as a candidate.

According to Melissa Fernández Chagoya, professor at Claustro de Sor Juana University, the rise of the women's movement and its growing presence in public life is due to three factors. "On the one hand, it is an achievement of the institutionalization of feminism, with many women now holding positions of state, which is an achievement of liberal feminism," she says. "On the other hand, [it is due] to the bravery of young women and their fight on the street, which is bringing visibility to the cause; and finally, the movement is making an impact on social-digital media. Now we are finding out more things than ever before, even at a local level."

The veteran feminist Patricia Olamendi, who is an outspoken critic of the Mexican government's gender equality program, believes the strength of the movement lies in the fact that it is putting women's problems front and center, "compared with a rhetoric that doesn't understand what's going on and categorizes everything in the usual boxes: its enemies, its adversaries, the far right."

"Whoever says that just doesn't get it," adds Olamendi. "They are unable to see the scale of a movement that is political and social and all about demanding rights. It is an insurgency for rights."

This particular case has attracted media coverage and it will ultimately be forgotten. But we should praise the progress that it has brought about

Melissa Fernández Chagoya, Claustro de Sor Juana University

Women protested outside the presidential palace on Wednesday, and outside the Guerrero attorney general's office the day before. In Guerrero, protesters spilled red paint and called on the justice system to clarify how the case against Salgado Macedonia is progressing. Women in Mexico do not want to wait any longer. "The demands of the women's movement are legitimate and they go beyond political parties and elections," says Cristina Santana from Redefine Mexico, a department focused on youth within the Simone de Beauvoir Institute. "It's important that a person who has been formally reported [for rape and sexual harassment] not be allowed to hold political office, regardless of what party they belong to." At 27, Santana is one of the voices underscoring the strength of the women's movement in Mexico.

The coming months will be key to determining what impact the movement will have on the June election for governor of Guerrero. The clashes between feminists and López Obrador began early in his term and have not let up. Violence against women has not lessened, with Mexico recording an average of 10 deaths a day. What has visibly diminished are the hopes many feminists had in the government of López Obrador. Disappointment and disillusionment are the words most often used to describe how they feel about the president's gender equality program.

In his morning press conferences, López Obrador has made some terrible gaffes while discussing women's problems, such as the time he became angry at a journalist who asked him about the murder of Ingrid Escamilla, a 25-year-old woman attacked by her partner in February 2020. Instead of responding to the question, the president chose to continue talking about his presidential plane - a sign that he did not have a hold on feminist discourse. Despite this, his followers claim he is the most feminist president Mexico has ever had. López Obrador avoids this definition and prefers to call himself a "humanist."

Women also raised their voice when Mexico's attorney general, Alejandro Gertz Manero, suggested addressing femicides without a gender perspective. It was yet another sign that the women's movement in Mexico was not willing to remain silent.

Society is telling the movement that it is right, that what's happening is real, that violence is real

Patricia Olamendi, veteran feminist

At Tuesday's press conference, asked about a Twitter message from former conservative president Felipe Calderón condemning the nomination of Salgado Macedonio, López Obrador replied: "So now Calderón is a feminist, what else is there left to say?" The president believes that feminism belongs to the left, something that the women's movement rejects. Sometimes López Obrador puts the movement in the context of the greater social struggle, a comparison that the suffragettes of the 19th and 20th century already put an end to. Class struggle is one thing, women's struggle, another. "From my experience, I know that feminism leans more towards the left than the center or the right, but now it permeates everything, it raises questions about the institutions and parties and political actors," says Briceño. "Feminism does not exclude rights, and that is its commitment."

This commitment will be put to the test at the election, and Briceño is sure that it will influence the process. "It's obvious that it will, because it's reaching all the public forums, the morning news conferences, Congress, the cameras..."

Cristina Santana agrees. "The movement is very strong and it is being expressed in a very public way, from the youngest [activists] to the older ones. It is defining the agenda. Women vote, they represent half of the country and our decisions as citizens are made with an eye on the people working to guarantee our rights," she says. Asked about the political cost of the Salgado case, she says there is a demand to "break the pact."

"[The president] needs to be made very aware that this does not mean breaking his alliances with men, but breaking with the complicity and the silence in the face of violence or discrimination."

Fernández Chagoya fears that the Salgado case will end up being one of many that have dropped out of the collective consciousness. "The problem is structural. There are more cases of violence beyond Salgado. This particular case has attracted media coverage and it will ultimately be forgotten. But we should praise the progress that it has brought about."

The president's attitude towards the feminist movement has run into its biggest stumbling block with the Salgado Macedonio case. Proof of it is how strongly female members of his own party have spoken out about it, as well as members of his government, with messages siding with the victims and against the alleged attacker. So far López Obrador has deflected the issue, continuing to back a nominee who does not have a lot of support at street level.

"Of course this is going to have an electoral cost," says Olamendi. "The feminist movement has been gaining a recognition that it lacked in society. And society is telling the movement that it is right, that what's happening is real, that violence is real. The president should take steps and seek to talk with the movement, something that has yet to happen. He should talk to them, although he doesn't seem to talk with anyone."

More information

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In Mexico, feminism knocks furiously at the doors of the presidential palace

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Galvanized by the 'Salgado Macedonio' sexual assault case, the movement is taking center stage in national politics with unprecedented force ahead of a key state election

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With a new single out Tuesday, two of reggaeton's most famous women are subverting the wildly popular dance genre's misogynist image, owning the style with an in-your-face ode to their sexuality.

The release of "Ram Pam Pam" sees Natti Natasha and Becky G get physical with tantalizing dance moves set to explicit lyrics, leaving little to the imagination.

For the 24-year-old Mexican-American Becky G, whose hits include "Mayores," the track is a redefinition of feminism that allows women to celebrate their desires.

Feminism, she told AFP, is "different for all of us. We all need in our own way."

"It's my way of saying, I want to be empowered as a woman... me deciding when I go there, it's because I choose to go there. And when I don't want to go there, I don't go there," the artist told AFP.

"There" is the boundary-pushing sweet spot where female artists can explore their sexuality without inhibitions or shame, in the vein of reigning hip hop royalty Megan Thee Stallion and Cardi B.

To Natti Natasha, who found international fame with her hit song "Criminal," it's a natural process.

"We express ourselves with complete freedom. We are super comfortable. If Becky or I did not feel comfortable with even a single letter in the song, we would not sing it," said the 34-year-old Dominican, whose career took off after she moved to New York and signed with Don Omar, a singer and producer who's also worked with the superstar Bad Bunny.

Now she and Becky G are releasing "Ram Pam Pam," a tune as catchy as their first collaboration three years ago, "Sin Pijama" (No Pajamas), whose seductive video notched 1.8 billion views on YouTube.

Their new song tells a story set in a school gymnasium, directed at a man who abandoned the singer: "I have a new boyfriend who makes me ram pam pam / Don't look for me; there's nothing of me left here."

"Now I have another who fits me perfectly / Now you be bitter while he be delicious, and smoother," they sing, taunting the former lover.

Then they deliver the final blow: "Now I come when I want to."

Like hip hop before it, reggaeton's brash style has long been criticized as hypersexualized and misogynistic.

But for Natti Natasha, such critiques "come more from the perspective of people who aren't used to this."

In the genre's nascent days in 1990s Puerto Rico, it was simply known as "underground," becoming the target of censorship campaigns and drawing police raids for its "pornographic" character.

But today reggaeton is booming -- especially in the Americas, but internationally as well.

And to Natti Natasha and Becky G, that once-maligned hypersexuality is ripe for reinterpretation with women at the mic.

"It might not align with everyone's idea of what feminism is, but it's always with the intention of paving the way for the ones to come," said Becky G, who gained fame on YouTube as a teen.

- 'Own their sexuality' -

To Petra Rivera-Rideau, an American studies professor at Wellesley University in Massachusetts, what Becky G, Natti Natasha and other female reggaeton stars do -- from the Colombian Karol G to American Mariah Angeliq -- "definitely can be seen as a form of feminism."

In the early 2000s, she said, women in reggaeton "who were dancing were often perceived as being problematic, as being not 'good girls,' being too sexual, being in these kinds of spaces that women, good girls, or respectable women shouldn't be in."

At that time, the Puerto Rican Ivy Queen was the best-known of a handful of women in the genre, which gained a wider following in 2004 with international hit "Gasolina" by Daddy Yankee.

"A lot of the policing of women in reggaeton has been about reinforcing a lot of assumptions -- that women need to be modest in order to be respectable and worthy -- and there's a lot of danger in those narratives," said Rivera-Rideau, author of the 2015 book "Remixing Reggaeton," a history of the genre.

She said there are many people who dislike the stereotype portraying Latinas as overtly sexy, and thus skewer reggaeton as "shameful and terrible."

"But we also need spaces where people can express themselves freely, Rivera-Rideau continued.

"And women deserve to own their sexuality and their own bodies."

Becky G thinks the conversation's tone is evolving -- and she's ready for it.

"Instead of saying, 'Ah? What did she say?'" she says, imitating the expression of a scandalized person, "now they tell you, 'You go, girl! I see you. I maybe wouldn't have done that, but I respect it.'"

And that, she adds, is "very different."

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'I choose to go there': reggaeton's women redefine feminism on their terms

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With a new single out Tuesday, two of reggaeton's most famous women are subverting the wildly popular dance genre's misogynist image, owning the style with an in-your-face ode to their sexuality. The release of "Ram Pam Pam" sees Natti Natasha and Becky G get physical with tantalizing dance moves set to explicit lyrics, leaving little to the imagination.

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Indigenous women arrived in Mexico City to present their work defending their territory and to denounce femicides inside and outside their communities, through hip-hop.

RELATED:
A Memo to Men From Latin America's Fiercest Female Rappers

They arrived from different parts of the country to the Chopo University Museum to talk about feminism and gender violence.

Zara Monrroy, an Indigenous woman from the Comca'ac community of Punta Chueca, Sonora, said she started rapping to spread culture and tradition. She added that music has been a tool for her message to reach indigenous women since many of them do not know how to write.

"Especially among young people, because there they listen to music from outside that sometimes they don't understand, because they don't speak English, but they prefer it to songs in our language."

She said she spreads her experiences and the traditions of her people and the injustices that are committed especially toward women. The rapper said she uses her music to bring to other women under violence clear messages that can help them change their situation.

For Monrroy, to find acceptance by the older people of her community wasn't easy.

"When I started singing, there were grandmothers and grandparents who were not in agreement with the musical fusion that I was doing," she said. "When they saw that my intention was good, they accepted. Now we have a mutual respect."

RELATED:
Mexico to Premiere Nation's First All-Female Radio Station

Janeidy Molina, another rapper from Sonora, said she is working the defense of Indigenous territory and against transnational megaprojects in different parts of Mexico.

"I am very inspired by the experiences of how my people face problems with mining companies, and I make music to attract the attention of the youngest because otherwise, they are almost not interested in the work we are doing in the defense of territory," Molina said.

Both singers were part of the talk "Participation of Women in Contemporary Indigenous Issues" and in the music festival, that is set to en on Nov. 26.

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Mexico: Indigenous Women Fight Femicide With Hip Hop

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Indigenous women arrived in Mexico City to present their work defending their territory and to denounce femicides inside and outside their communities, through hip-hop. RELATED: A Memo to Men From Latin America's Fiercest Female Rappers They arrived from different parts of the country to the Chopo University Museum to talk about feminism and gender violence.

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Mexican Feminist Hip-Hop Artist Raps Truth to Power

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teleSUR speaks to Zapotec hip-hop artist Mare Avertencia Lirika about art, feminism, and how her music is a tool for social change in Mexico and beyond.

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Feminist Activism in Hip-Hop Culture in México

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Feminist Activism in Hip-Hop Culture in México

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Feminist Activism in Hip-Hop Culture in México: Batallones Femeninos and Mare Advertencia Lirika

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In a Mexican political context permeated by drug-related violence, organised crime, and violence against women and feminised bodies, young women with different class and ethnic backgrounds are using hip-hop culture to denounce the government and create consciousness in relation to feminicide in the country.

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MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - The kidnapping and murder of Vivir Quintana's close friend by a man in northern Mexico was just one more femicide among thousands in the country over the past decade, but it forever transformed the songwriter's life.

The 36-year-old from Coahuila state has written a song that is shaping into an anthem for Mexico's growing outcry over the killings of women, channeling anger along with hope for justice.

"Everything changed in my perception of the world, in seeing that we were possible victims," Quintana said, describing how the killing of her friend inspired "Song Without Fear."

It demands an end to the murder of women, an issue that has spurred protests across Mexico, where femicides have risen 137% in the last five years and recent cases have drawn outrage for their brutality.

Quintana will perform the song at Mexico City's massive public square on Saturday evening with 40 other women and Chilean singer Mon Laferte, then reprise the tune at Sunday's march for International Women's Day, handing out song lyrics to encourage other voices to join.

At a recent rehearsal, Quintana strummed an acoustic guitar and belted in a deep voice: "At every minute of every week, they steal friends from us, they kill sisters. They destroy their bodies, they disappear them. Don't forget their names, please, Mister President."

The call is not only for Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, whom critics say is dismissive toward protests over gender violence, but for leaders across Latin America to prioritize the issue, Quintana said.

The commonplace names that punctuate the lyrics - Claudia, Esther, Teresa, Ingrid, Fabiola and Valeria - represent how typical femicide is across Mexico, Quintana said. She chose them by asking friends to suggest favorite female names and then searching for them online. They all showed up as women who disappeared or were murdered.

A video of the song notched more than 12,000 views within hours of being posted online on Saturday, and Quintana hopes protesters will adopt it as their own. She also hopes its popularity will one day fade.

"We want it to be a song that hopefully won't stick around, that won't become popular every March 8," she said.

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'Don't forget their names': Women in Mexico sing anthem protesting femicides

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MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - The kidnapping and murder of Vivir Quintana's close friend by a man in northern Mexico was just one more femicide among thousands in the country over the past decade, but it forever transformed the songwriter's life.

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Snow Tha Product on Telling Her Ex-Husband She's Now in a Relationship with a Girl (Part 1)

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XIMBO part of this first generation of rap in Mexico in the mid-late 90s.

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Ximbo, gran voz femenina del rap nacional

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La primera vez que Ximbo decidió agarrar un micrófono, para externar sus ideas por medio de rimas, volteó a su alrededor y vio a muy pocos exponentes —y en su mayoría hombres— del hip hop en México. Por eso, decir que es pionera “no es un juicio de valor sino un juicio cronológico”.

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A Feminist podcast that talks about the various different struggles of women and specifically Mexican women.

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Listen to Históricas Podcast on Spotify. Podcast feminista dedicado a ser tu compañía sonora y sorora.

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Las Hijas del Rap is a collective of feminist hip-hop artists that are fighting against gender violence.

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Las Hijas del Rap is an initiative of the hip hop women of the Yucatan Peninsula that began in late 2015. Conformed by dancers, rappers and visual artists, Las Hijas del Rap is a collective of feminist hip hop artists dedicated to use artivism for eradicating gender violence and motivate social action based on art and culture.

The group recently sang at the UN HeForShe event that was held in Mexico city. They were also selected to represent Mexico at the First International Women's Hip Hop Festival in Cuba. "We were able to give workshops, conferences and presentations and share with the artists of the Hip Hop scene in Cuba. It was an experience that enriched us, inspired us and helped us mature as a collective," they say.

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Las Hijas del Rap is an initiative of the hip hop women of the Yucatan Peninsula that began in late 2015. Conformed by dancers, rappers and visual artists, Las Hijas del Rap is a collective of feminist hip hop artists dedicated to use artivism for eradicating gender violence and motivate social action based on [...]

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Mexico’s First Openly Gay Female Rapper

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Mexico’s First Openly Gay Female Rapper is Making Waves in the Hip-Hop Industry

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Mexico’s first (and so far only) openly gay female rapper Niña Dioz is changing the face of the hip-hop industry, both in her home country and abroad.

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Niña Dioz first openly gay female rapper

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Tambalea (feat. Lido Pimienta & Ceci Bastida) - Niña Dioz

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Tambalea (feat. Lido Pimienta & Ceci Bastida) - Niña Dioz

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Tambalea (feat. Lido Pimienta & Ceci Bastida) - Niña Dioz (Official Music Video)

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Mare Advertencia - Sesión para "Suoni Per Il Popolo"

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Mare Advertencia - Sesión para "Suoni Per Il Popolo"

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Mare Advertencia - Sesión para "Suoni Per Il Popolo"

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Jezzy O is easily one of the most influential female rappers of the moment in Mexico.

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Mare Advertencia Lirika a Mexican rapper that is using her music to fight for Mexican woman's rights.

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Rapper's lyrical fight for Mexican women's rights

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An indigenous Zapotec, Mare's hip-hop songs speak to many women as they continue to endure rampant violence in Mexico.

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JEZZY P 'La Formula Perfecta' (Video Oficial)

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Mare Advertencia Lirika - SE BUSCA (Video Oficial)

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"The men can become aggressive with us and use harsh and sometimes violent words against us," said Leslie Reyes, the only female rapper on a local music label. "So we create our own spaces like this."

Four of Oaxaca's female rappers: Leslie Reyes, Gloria Villalobos, Cynthia Pombo and Yadira Cruz Garcia. Credit... Walter Thompson-Hernández/The New York Times

"This is who I am," rapped Gloriel Villalobos, 26, known as Doma, standing in a circle with four other female rappers in Oaxaca, Mexico. A portable speaker blared an instrumental beat as the women took turns rapping.

This scene is replicated nearly every month in the main square by a tight-knit group of women who are rapping as a way to draw attention to issues like poverty, gender inequalities and disenfranchisement of indigenous communities.

"We used hip-hop as a way to speak about the injustices that we all faced growing up," said Mare Advertencia Lirika, one of the best-known rappers in Oaxaca. She uses her music to call attention to the indigenous communities throughout Oaxaca who she says are historically disenfranchised from social services by the government.

"The men can become aggressive with us," said Leslie Reyes, the only female rapper on a local music label and studio known as Bear House Company, after a freestyle practice session days before the Zocalo performance. "Which doesn't make us feel welcomed, so we create our own spaces like this."

The Oaxacan rap scene has been dominated by men since it was first established in the early 1990s, influenced by United States rappers like Tupac Shakur, Ice Cube and a host of others. American hip-hop music eventually made its way to Oaxaca through the physical exchange of compact discs and cassettes from relatives who traveled to and from California, home to the largest Oaxacan population outside Mexico.

But as the American rap scene - both then and now - often incorporated hostility toward women, so, too, did the Oaxacan rap scene.

As online music platforms like Soundcloud and YouTube have become more accessible, the local hip-hop scene has grown.

And these women want a part in shaping the scene.

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Mare Advertencia Lirika performing in Mexico. Credit Credit... Walter Thompson-Hernández/The New York Times

Mare Advertencia Lirika's raps are an ode to the women who have influenced her. The rapper identifies as Zapotec, an indigenous community in Oaxaca and throughout California, and credits her mother, grandmother and great-grandmother, who have all had an enormous impact on her music and life.

While music and art has been a staple in the Oaxacan cultural tapestry for generations, the introduction of hip-hop when she was 12 years old gave her a voice, which eventually allowed her to question patriarchal systems of power and speak out against indigenous inequalities.

When she was 16, she began rapping as one of two women in a group of seven called Oaxside Connection. The name was inspired by the Los Angeles-based Westside Connection in the mid-1990s, composed of Ice Cube, Mack 10 and W.C. She later formed a female trio called Advertencia Lirika. Yet she still felt relatively disconnected from American rap because of the language barrier.

"I came from an entirely different context," said Ms. Lirika, who grew up listening to banda, the Mexican brass-band music, and traditional Oaxacan music.

Once she was introduced to the sounds of Mexican rap groups like Black G and the Northsiders, she fully integrated herself into the Oaxacan rap scene. She has been the only Oaxacan rapper to have performed throughout the region and in the United States, South America and Europe. Her weekly travel schedule includes frequent shows and performances throughout Mexico. She now supports herself solely from her music.

"Most people still think that women aren't compatible with rap and think that we are wasting our time," she said while taking a break from recording a song at Bear House Company Oaxaca City. "We have to continue to show up at shows because it gives us confidence to see other women rap and to show people that we can also do this."

When Cynthia Pombo records and practices in her room, her daughter, who is 4, tends to sit on the bed next to her, eagerly clinging on to every word that her mother recites.

"When my daughter was born, my life became very difficult because I was a teenage mother," she said. "But she helps me write from the bottom of my heart because she is one of the best reasons to smile every day."

She currently works at a photography studio and will be enrolling in medical school this fall. She was influenced by her older brother, who was part of a break dancing team in her neighborhood of Monte Alban, 15 minutes from the center of the city.

Ms. Pombo wrote poetry as a way to combat crippling depression. Her friends told her to convert her poetry into rap songs nearly a year ago. "Converting poetry into rap has helped bring me peace," she said. She now goes by the stage name Eriz, inspired by the Greek goddess Eris.

She was 19 the first time she rapped at a party of a friend. There were almost 30 men and only two women in the room. She remembers hiding her face with her phone so that she could correctly recite the words. When she looked up she saw that no men in the room were paying attention to her performance.

"I knew at that moment that it wouldn't be easy for me to be a rapper," she said. "I had to find a way to be strong because that was how it was going to be for the rest of my career."

While her older brother fully supported her decision to become a rapper, the rest of her family did not. "They thought rap only glorified drugs or and violence, which is how most people in Oaxaca tend to think," Ms. Pombo said.

Her family eventually changed their minds when they realized that instead of violence, she was rapping about the struggle of being a single mother and about romance.

Using rap as a medium to address societal problems like patriarchy and machismo is important to Gloriel Villalobos. The social justice organizer hosts rap workshops throughout the state. According to Ms. Villalobos, conscious rap music pushes back against popular forms like narcocorridos, a genre of Mexican norteño music, that often glorifies violence and the mistreatment of women.

"It's especially important for me to work with women who have no voice in their homes and in communities," Ms. Villalobos said, referring to violence against women. As of last year, the state of Oaxaca was declared to be on "maximum alert" after what appeared to be the random killing of seven women in a span of a week. The threat continues to grow in other countries throughout Latin America according to a report released by Argentina's Wanda Taddei Institute.

Today, Ms. Villalobos's rap career has mainly grown by creating savvy campaigns through social media platforms like Instagram and Soundcloud, a site she uses often to promote her music. She is currently completing an album featuring the other women featured in this piece.

Since graduating from the local university with a degree in design, she has committed herself to rapping full time and, like her mentor and friend, Ms. Advertencia Lirika, she hopes to use her growing profile as a tool to push for change.

"It's my way of pushing back against patriarchy? through rap because it feels like it's the only way sometimes," she said. "The work that I do in these communities is more important then fame or likes or making music videos."

"When I'm rapping I am transported into another world,"said Yadira Cruz Garcia, a mother of two.

Ms. Cruz Garcia is the only woman in a rap group called Cascos Calle 7 and is also a part-time cook. She began singing at age 5 with her father, who played the guitar at a local Adventist church.But she only started rapping five years ago. Her family, who supported her performances in church, felt differently about her choice to rap because they thought rap only spoke about murder and violence.

Her lyrics, though, are more gentle: "I feel the air touching your body, that's a motive and a new beginning, reviving all that has died between us, may your soul shine bright anew," she raps in "Busca Colores."

She hopes to help change her family's views about rap and also thinks about how the music will affect her two young daughters. "It's hard to attend events with my daughters so I have to be aware of what I rap about and make sure the songs don't affect them in a negative way," she said.

Earlier this year, Ms. Reyes was in a nearly fatal motorcycle accident, which left her hospitalized for 10 days and incapacitated for almost three months.

"The accident made me look at life differently," she said. "Once I got out of the hospital, I began to write more and more."

She was first introduced to hip-hop by an uncle visiting from the United States who brought her a CD At 17, she started rapping at a local underground rap battle event and envisioned herself like one of her favorite rappers from the United States, Eminem.

Today, Ms. Reyes is the only woman in Bear House Company, one of the most prominent co-ed groups in Oaxaca. In betweenworking at her parent's neighborhood corner store, she spends her time recording songs with her group approximately five times a week.

"Rap has saved a lot of us, and we need people to know that," she said.

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Oaxacan Rap Has a Female Voice, Finally (Published 2018)

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"The men can become aggressive with us and use harsh and sometimes violent words against us," said Leslie Reyes, the only female rapper on a local music label. "So we create our own spaces like this." "This is who I am," rapped Gloriel Villalobos, 26, known as Doma, standing in a circle with four other female rappers in Oaxaca, Mexico.

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Ciudad de Noche - Luz Reality x Daoner x Jerónimo Gorráez x Dan Koh x Miguelón

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JEZZY P | SUPERHÉROES | One Shot - Plumas Atómicas

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Luz Reality is a female rapper that talks about prevalent and heart-breaking issues that relate to femicide.

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Rebeca Lane // photo via AJ+ Digital News

Guest post by Richard Villegas

Back in 2019, during an especially heated edition of Red Bull's Batalla de los Gallos in the Canary Islands (an annual rap battle event), Mexican freestyler Radper faced off against hometown hero Sara Socas in one of the tournament's buzziest matches. From the onset, Radper's barbs turned sexual in nature, making disparaging quips about his opponent's appearance and boasting about how Mexico had the prettiest girls in the world. As if triggering a volcanic eruption, Socas retorted that if the women in Mexico were so beautiful, "why do you keep letting them die?", finishing the round to rapturous cheers from the crowd and her fellow MCs, including Radper. The clip went viral, with many praising Socas not only for taking control of the duel, but also putting a spotlight on the urgent matter of violence against women and Mexico's staggering femicide rates. However, despite the gratifying takedown, the tense interaction was ultimately symptomatic of the greater misogyny and boys club antics prevalent in hip-hop and the music industry as a whole.

Rap, hip-hop, freestyle, and other music born from the minds and experiences of marginalized communities have their genesis in social criticism, bringing attention to institutional shortcomings and systemic oppression. With the mainstreaming of hip-hop culture and an emergence of parallel genres like trap and reggaeton, political messages have been increasingly left out of chart topping bangers, relegated instead to more intellectually-branded artists. However, in a region as vast and diverse as Latin America, one of the most notable connective musical threads is how women, queer, and non-binary musicians are keeping the flames of dissent alive through music, especially in hip-hop and reggaeton. Reproductive rights, anti-colonialism, anti-racism, sexual, and gender diversity have become priority for a generation of artists narrating the seldom heard context of their lives for homegrown audiences and the world.

" Writing about these movements was organic and intuitive," says , a beloved Argentine rapper known for her acerbic feminist bars and booming, anthemic productions. "I write about what's going on around me. Feminist and trans-feminist movements, watching my sisters hard at work trying to get legislation passed, seeing my mother and her co-workers protesting injustice in the workplace. The best way I can support is from the stage, using my platform to draw attention to these conversations."

Hebe's 2009 album La Hija del Loco remains a manifesto of South American resistance, blasting repressive governments on "En Voz Baja," promoting marihuana legalization on "Tuve Que Quemar," and offering a brash prayer to the divine feminine on "Historika." Even on recent singles "Sal Fina" and "TETA," Hebe's bars are pointedly anti-fascist and promote the sexual freedom women are frequently diminished for displaying; empowering themes of personal resilience also recurring in the work of Argentine peers like Cazzu and Nicki Nicole.

"It's wonderful how in Argentina abortion rights were secured through the work of so many women," she adds. "But [we're speaking on] the 28th of September, the global day of action for abortion access, and I'm currently in Bolivia where a massive protest is being held. It's an important reminder that here and in so many other places there is still much to do before gaining the freedom to decide about our own bodies."

"In Latin America, feminism is a way of saving each other's lives," says Rebeca Lane, the Guatemalan rapper and activist behind galvanizing feminist battle cries such as "Ni Una Menos" and "Libre, Atrevida y Loca." "This isn't about wearing a t-shirt or a pink hat, or protesting on March 8th and posting it on social media; it's about surviving violent relationships, building alliances with other women, and uniting publicly and politically against femicide."

Lane observes key differences in how feminism is interpreted and mobilized in the United States and Europe versus in the global South, contrasting capitalist ideas of equality against a fierce instinct for survival. Latin America's headline-making women's movement has banded together to demand essential access to healthcare and accountability from state institutions upholding patriarchal structures that perpetuate violence against women and impunity for their aggressors. Throughout her work, Lane has put a spotlight on a plethora of challenges faced by Central American women, everywhere from growing up in war-stricken countries to the erasure of indigenous peoples.

"When I started making music, I felt I needed to be vocal about my experiences as a woman in Central America," she reflects. "Our territory has been through so many wars, we intersect with dynamics other than womanhood. If you're making conscientious music or activist art, it needs to have an active element of anti-racism." Even then, Lane - who is mestiza of K'iche' ancestry - insists on ceding the podium to artists from indigenous communities like Sara Curruchich, with whom she collaborated on the song "Kixampe." When agitated fans expressed they couldn't understand Curruchich's verses, performed in Guatemala's Kaqchikel language, Lane diagnosed a greater cultural disconnection. "It's not just a song," she says. "These people are speaking and we don't hear them. Rather than complaining you don't understand, why not ask how you can learn?"

Central American rappers like Costa Rica's and Honduras' Queen Kartel have each respectively brought attention to the protection of indigenous land rights and visibility to underrepresented Garifuna communities. Up in Mexico, Zapotec rapper Mare Advertencia Lirika captured the dire horrors of disappeared Oaxacan women across songs such as "Se Busca" and "Ausencia." And hip-hop icon has long condemned the oppression of Chile's Mapuche people, even spotlighting up and coming rapper MC Millaray on last year's revolutionary meditation, "Rebelión de Octubre."

Many of the region's women and non-binary MCs have also championed gender and sexual diversity. Mexico's dedicated her intimate 2018 album Reyna to all who've prevailed over racism, misogyny, homophobia, and transphobia, even enlisting Lido Pimienta and Ceci Bastida for the powerful affirmations of lead single "Tambalea." Over in Brazil, an extraordinary community of trans women and travestis (a Latin American term) have built a collaborative artistic network creating poignant, futuristic audiovisual work from Linn da Quebrada, Jup do Bairro, , Ventura Profana, and . And the Caribbean isn't far behind; just look to Dominican dembow luminaries and La Pajarita, or viral star recent bouts of sapphic blasphemy.

"I consider my music revolutionary and de-colonial," declares Puerto Rican agitator Villano Antillano, a trans, non-binary (she / they) trap star melding provocative sexuality with lethal and profoundly political bars. "I am a colonized person and live on a colony. I didn't realize until I became an adult that I could be sovereign over my own body because my country isn't. I also identify as 'trans-maricona.' Despite all the negative connotations that word can have in Puerto Rico and the Caribbean, to me it's synonymous with family, with resistance, with community, with kinship."

Villano Antillano made waves with her 2019 debut EP Tiranía and 2020's Ketaprincesa, as well as stylized videos for singles "Pájara" and "Muñeca," and an outrageously explicit remix of Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion's "WAP," available only on her Instagram TV. The buzz behind her became such she received a co-sign from Latin trap godfather Arcangel, and was even invited onto influential trap and reggaeton channel Rapetón for an interview; in both cases defying the overt masculinity pervasive in música urbana. She is also quick to give props to the trailblazing women of color, sex workers and fellow trans performers of the island such as who've kicked opened doors for her and the community at large.

"I'll never forget the summer of 2019, when we threw [former Governor] Ricardo Rosselló out of office," she says, reminiscing on the island-wide protests that drew millions of supporters and global super stars and Ricky Martin. "That summer brought Puerto Ricans together and I remember seeing two new flags waving in the San Juan City Hall shortly after; a rainbow flag and a trans flag. That was after a perreo combativo on the steps of the cathedral. The people who led this movement, taking rubber bullets and pepper spray, were black women and queer people. We're the ones who always show up."

Villano Antillano highlights the inherently-politicized power of reggaeton; a genre with a long history of criminalization and censorship from authorities, particularly targeting its black originators. Argentine rapper and reggaetonera Chocolate Remix has repeatedly used the medium to lampoon homophobia and moral righteousness on popular cuts "Bien Bow" and "¿Quién Sos?" Meanwhile, Chile's Tomasa del Real and her Neoperreo parties-turned-label ushered a new age of underground reggaeton; welcoming partygoers of all identities and walks of life for safe, egalitarian dance floor throwdowns.

Even in the diaspora, women and queer artists are leading introspective conversations about how rap can move forward and cultivate new avenues for fresh music and respectful dialogue. "I know that I'm able to enter spaces where a lot of this is new, but I'm here to take up space," says Portland-based rapper Karma Rivera. "If I have to educate, I'm going to do just that. And if I have to do it through my music, then so be it. One of the struggles of living in the Pacific Northwest is finding your tribe, and I didn't find my people until I was in college, both in music and the LGBTQ+ community."

Rivera has developed her own style of incisive bars and malevolent club-friendly beats, executed to perfection on "Kissy Face (Freestyle)" and "Got Me Hot." She's also delved into reggaeton and cumbia on the swaggering "Can't Trust" and "Down 2 Ride," the latter an explosive collaboration with and Reyna Tropical's Fabi Reyna. Born and raised on Chicago's south side, Rivera grew up in a household where her Puerto Rican heritage was constantly exulted.

"In my house we're proud of who we are," she muses excitedly. "My grandmother is [Afro-Latina], from the island, and she made sure we were exposed to our African ancestry playing records by Celia Cruz and La Lupe. I think that's why I'm building myself a sonic aesthetic that isn't traditional rap. I can spaz on a reggaeton beat. I can get on a Latin trap song. So I can take all these sounds and mix them with my style of rapping to create something different that people can appreciate."

Afro-Latinas have played a pivotal role in the development and expansion of Latin American rap, everywhere from the foundational groundwork of to a new generation of conscientious poets and educators including the Dominican Republic's Amara la Negra, Colombia's Cynthia Montaño, Peru's , and Cuba's La Dame Blanche. On a continental level, the contributions of all these artists cannot be understated as the conversation continues. In fact, while often omitted, women are the past, present and future of rap, hip-hop, and reggaeton. If you're just finding out, welcome to the party.

Richard Villegas is a Mexico City-based music journalist covering independent music from across Latin America and the diaspora. He is also the co-creator, host, and producer of the Songmess Podcast.

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Guest post by Richard Villegas Back in 2019, during an especially heated edition of Red Bull's Batalla de los Gallos in the Canary Islands (an annual rap battle event), Mexican freestyler Radper faced off against hometown hero Sara Socas in one of the tournament's buzziest matches.

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Today we’d like to introduce you to Audry Funk. Audry, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today? I’m from Puebla, Mexico. I’m an artist, singer, mc, feminist and immigrant. My career in music starts at the age of 15. Back in my home town, I used to […]