Three Afro Latino Artists Who Have Broke The Charts Throughout History
Even though black history month is officially over, who’s to say we can’t still celebrate these music legends for their achievements in history? 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, to Cardi B breaking into a scene dominated by males and made it her own and Tego Calderón, who’s proud of his blackness and has been outspoken about it. They all took pride in his culture and race. Through their life’s work, they were able to not only bring a bit of their culture to the world but also break boundaries through their successes.
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 introduced cultural roots from Afro Caribbean descent and expanded 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 Grammy’s, a big deal for a girl who dreamt of being under the spotlight since she was little.
She went on to win not one but three Grammy’s, 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 keep performing for her fans. Cruz emphasized her strength to keep moving forward since “inactivity is the cancer of the soul…. I’ve always thought that I will retire the day God takes away my abilities. Like Miguelito Valdés, I want to bid farewell to life while on stage.” Information obtained by AARP.
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 ten on the charts at the same time as music artists. 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 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 she worked hard in order to stay a float, even more after getting 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 into reshaping 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 the billboards hot one hundreds. In a video with W Magazine, Cardi B admits she was “scared because 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.
Photograph by Ventura Mendoza / Wikimedia Commons
Tego Calderon 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 showed him salsa and jazz, going on to attend a music school later in his childhood. Using the skills he gained in music school, he began to create his own music. Calderon drew inspiration from multiple sources, such as American hip hop and Jamaican dance hall. Soon enough he began to contribute his own music into this new and upcoming genre we now know as reggaeton.
In the early days of reggaeton, it was referred to as underground and was 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 that 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.
