Even though Black History Month is officially over, who’s to say we can’t still celebrate these music legends for their achievements? Oftentimes, we tend to leave Afro Latinos out of the picture. This is certainly still true within the music industry, where Afro Latinos make significant contributions but aren’t as widely acknowledged. When we don’t acknowledge Afro Latinos, but rather overlook them, we create a space where Afro Latinos doubt their existence and importance to the community they have uplifted and influenced.
Afro-Latino artists have made some meaningful innovations and contributions to not only the Spanish but also the English music scenes. Celia Cruz brought Afro-Caribbean music to the United States. Cardi B broke into Hip-Hop, and Tego Calderón changed reggaeton forever. They all took pride in their culture. Throughout their work, they not only brought a bit of their culture to the world but also broke boundaries through their success.
Celia Cruz
Photograph by Narcy Studios / Wikimedia Commons
Singer and writer Celia Cruz fled from Cuba to the United States as a form of rebellion against the Cuban regime. Her music drew on cultural roots from Afro-Caribbean descent and helped expand the growth of salsa. Her media presence influenced the rise of fellow Afro-Latinos artists who came after her, embracing true authenticity. In the 2000s, Cruz received an award for best salsa performance at the very first Latin Grammys, a big deal for a girl who had dreamt of being under the spotlight since she was little.
She went on to win not one but three Grammys, four Latin Grammy awards, along with twenty-three gold records and many others influenced by her other accompaniments. Taking the industry by storm, tragedy struck her music career when Cruz was diagnosed with brain cancer. She remained committed to continuing to perform for her fans. In an interview with AAPR, she confesses, “I’ve always thought that I will retire the day God takes away my abilities.” Expressing her will to keep going.
Cardi B
Photograph by Cardi B / Wikimedia Commons
Actor, singer, and rapper Cardi B was one of the first women of Dominican descent to have five singles in the top 10 on the charts at the same time. She made history again in other ways shortly after. The following year, she won an award for the best rap album for Invasion of Privacy during the 61st Grammy Awards. She was the first female solo artist to win this award. Cardi B created spaces for women in a male-dominated field that was not welcoming her, especially as a woman of mixed race, and decided to change that. Cardi B took over the industry with her captivating beats and rap lyrics, which challenged gender norms.
Cardi B grew up in poverty and worked hard to stay afloat, even more so after being kicked out of the home she grew up in. She worked 7 days a week at a strip club and came home to an abusive boyfriend. She was, to say the least, determined to reshape her life, becoming independent, including leaving her boyfriend behind. Independence may have been what she needed to succeed as her music took off early in her musical career. The release of Bodak Yellow in 2017 reached number one on Billboard’s Hot 100. In a video with W Magazine, Cardi B admits, “I was also scared, the song was so big I didn’t know if the next record could follow up.” She implies that this didn’t happen because of strategic features she did following Bodak Yellow’s success.
Tego Calderón
Photograph by Ventura Mendoza / Wikimedia Commons
Tego Calderón is one of the pioneers of reggaeton music. He was born and raised in Puerto Rico, where he grew up surrounded by a plethora of musical influences. His parents exposed him to salsa and jazz, and he later attended a music school. Using the skills he gained in music school, he began to create his own music. Calderon drew inspiration from multiple sources, including American hip hop and Jamaican dancehall. Soon enough, he began contributing his own music to the new, emerging genre we now know as reggaeton.
In the early days of reggaeton, it was considered underground and not as widely known or accepted as it is today. That fact made Calderon’s debut album “El Abayarde” all the more impressive. It sold an unprecedented 50,000 copies in its year of release, 2002. Calderon not only takes pride in his work but also in his identity. In an interview with Enrique Rivera on NPR, Calderon admits that “my parents are people who are pro-black and also for the independence of Puerto Rico. I grew up in a household very different from others…” Latin America and Latin American spaces tend to be anti-black, but Calderon doesn’t allow his fame to sway his opinions on his identity.
These Afro Latinos artists have contributed deeply to the music industry incorporating their own styles, culture and breaking barriers never seen before on billboards, artists like Celia Cruz and Tego Calderón paved the way for other artists to shine.
