May 17-20 Rebel Diaz Concert

The Rebel Diaz group was exactly as I had imagined them to be... laid back and very chill. I found the brothers to be humble yet passionate about their work. One of my biggest questions going into their workshop was their creative process.  Their songs can be a lot to take in and I found myself having to listen and read the lyrics at the same time to not miss anything. The brothers said that it is an alternating process between the two. These brothers don't miss a beat and want to be able to give you as much information as possible. 

Through our reading I became intrigued that the group didn’t align themselves with any particular party. Before this semester, I had never really thought about how in the U.S. we only have 2 dominant parties that are supposed to represent our nation. I took "World Politics" this past semester and was able to see that this system can be flawed. Rebel Diaz acknowledges this and brings attention to the fact that while smaller parties don’t get much attention, these 2 dominant parties still come from the same branch. Simply put, they consider these 2 parties to be on the same side and the other side being with activists like Ojeda Ríos and those who really want to help society without worries about what they will gain from it. 

The workshop flew by and I found it be very engaging. I was most surprised at how they explained that hip pop was a community influencer and that not only young adults and teenagers were the ones that listened to it. I didn't realize that "grandmas" as Rebel Diaz put it, were also a part of the scene! I've always thought of rap/hip pop as being looked down upon by older generations and I don't exactly think of playing that kind of music around my grandparents. I also did not know that these DJ sessions occurred in apartment rec rooms nor that they became a family thing at basketball courts. 

I feel that the topic of memory was seen when Rebel Diaz spoke about dancing and how Rod Starz 4 year old son has it in his blood. They spoke about how older traditional dances have had an influence on "B boys and girls" and on hip pop dancing in general. I would consider traditional dances such as the  "mamba" to be cultural memory. If these young children learn these dances from their parents because they learned it from other family members, then it would be cultural memory. Later on, these children put their own twist on the moves and hip pop dancing begins to emerge. 

I was also not aware that the expressway built in the Bronx displaced many groups of people. This displacement caused many groups to mix together and learn about each other; although there were cases of harmonious "blending", there were also instances of discord and distastes between different ethnic groups. The displacement of people was the result of hegemonic structures. The expressway was placed and people participating in moving away. Some people proved to be counter-hegemonic and did not move or did voice their complaint. 

Overall, I enjoyed the workshop and the concert was a great way to end the week.