Reading about the election from abroad has been an interesting experience. Many of my friends from South America who are living here have been following the elections pretty closely. Recently, Daddy Yankee, a reggaetón artist from Puerto Rico, endorsed John McCain, citing his support for immigration reform. While reggaetón is a popular genre in Latin America, the lyrics, although catchy (and fun to dance to), are reminiscent of mainstream hip hop in the U.S. and hardly warrants artists like Daddy Yankee ambassadors to their respective countries. Many of my friends here hate reggaetón and complain about its over-commercialization. Much like hip hop, anyone can be a reggaetón artist. Give them an Anglicized name, a beat, and you have a hit in Latin MTV. A good example is Nigga, a reggaetón artist who was extremely popular when I was in DF (México City) in the summer of 2007. His voice as well as his name is awful, the songs are provincial but catchy, but he was everywhere and on every ring tone I heard for three weeks. My friends here think it is absurd that reggaetón artists are representing the Latino voice in this year's election. Saying that artists like Nigga represent Latino voters is like saying Nas represents all of African Americans.
Other influential non-reggaetón Latino artists have joined a campaign to get Latinos in the U.S. to vote: Podemos Con Obama
An interesting article in Upside Down World, a political and social justice blog about Latin America: Reggaetón artists influencing U.S. elections
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