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ABSTRACT: In 2014-in the wake of a global eruption of protests including YoSoyi32, 15M, the Arab Spring, and Occupy Wall Street-the Chilean rapera Ana Tijoux and the Puerto Rican rap duo Calle 13 both released songs notable for calling their listeners to political activism. In this article, I argue that the songs "Somos Sur" and "Multi_Viral" disseminate a critique of that wave of social movements by insisting upon greater transnational cooperation between activist groups to collectively confront social and economic oppression born out of Western hegemony.
keywords: rap, social movements, protest, hip-hop, Calle 13, Ana Tijoux
RESUMEN: En 2014-tras el estallido internacional de protestas que incluyeron YoSoy132, 15M, la Primavera Árabe y Occupy Wall Street-la rapera chilena Ana Tijoux y el dúo de rap puertorriqueño Calle 13 estrenaron dos canciones notables por hacer un llamado a que sus oyentes se comprometan con el activismo político. En este artículo, sostengo que las canciones "Somos Sur" y "Multi_Viral" difunden una crítica de esa ola de movimientos sociales al insistir en una mayor cooperación transnacional entre grupos activistas para enfrentar colectivamente la opresión social y económica nacida de la hegemonía occidental.
palabras clave: rap, movimientos sociales, protesta, hip-hop, Calle 13, Ana Tijoux
In the wake of a global eruption of protests including YoSoyi32, 15M, the Arab Spring, and Occupy Wall Street, two of Latin America's most acclaimed contemporary rap artists released songs calling for more dissent, more intensity, and more outrage. Reflecting the global moment in 2014, the release of "Multi_Viral" by the Puerto Rican group Calle 13 and "Somos Sur" by the Chilean rapera Ana Tijoux marked a political high point for these already-famous musical acts. In Tijoux's case, although "Somos Sur" represents a blistering pronouncement of rebellion against the status quo world order, it is not the only track in her oeuvre packing a political punch. From the very first line of the album, Vengo (2014) prefigures the activist ideologies that surge throughout the other songs:1
We come with the world and we come with its song
We come to construct a dream
The spark of life that resides in the new man
I come in search of an ideal
Of a world without class, that can raise itself up
Similarly, the two primary members...