Cuba's Captive Imaginations

A recent story on Cuban rappers is occasion to note the profound difference between these artists and their American counterparts.

American rap has long contained political content like Public Enemy's "Black Steel in the Hour of Chaos" and Tupac Shakur's "Peep Game," which remarked, "Vice President Dan Quayle, eat a d**k up." Eminem's recent "Mosh" has lyrics like "F**k Bush" and "Strap him with a AK-47, let him go fight his own war/ Let him impress daddy that way/ No more blood for oil..." ("Mosh" also has a music video.)

In totalitarian Cuba, however, rappers can't express outrage toward the Castro regime, for instance:

Fidel, eres tan tierno:
Nos pusiste en este infierno.
(Fidel, you're so tender:
You put us in this hell.)

Amamos a nuestros dueños.
¡Éramos cubanos, ahora perros!
(We love our masters.
We were Cubans, now dogs!)

Such lyrics would risk charges like "disrespect" and "enemy propaganda." Cuban rappers who have spoken their minds have been censored and deprived of work.

Documentary filmmaker Annelise Wunderlich notes, "Any rap musician who hopes to be seen at a decent venue must get the association's approval [referring to the youth branch of the Ministry of Culture], and that can only happen if their music is seen to serve the revolution." She remarks of the two-man group Anonymous Advice, "...they push the limit, but they got a painful reminder of how far that limit can be pushed two years ago [in 1999]. After performing a song about the police and racial profiling, they were arrested and thrown in jail."

Thus, "Anonimo Consejo's lyrics are edgy, but getting too edgy could end their careers. Each day is a balancing act."

American rappers like Mos Def and dead prez have visited Cuba for rap events. Where's their outrage over the muzzling of Cuban rappers?