American Popular Music With Hispanic Influences
In the music industry, artists use different songs to pass the intended message to the people and the government concerning the overall state of the society based on the current issues. Hispanic communities experienced hardship and mistreatment from their country’s governments that prompted them to address the challenges. The suffering from economic status and ineffective governance led to the development of a music genre called Nueva Cancion. The main aim of the music was to speak on behalf of the people who were oppressed by the authority. The emergence of the songs spread across the Hispanic groups. The pieces mainly featured the drums, guitar, and wind instruments. Currently, most American popular music has some elements of Latin instruments and music styles such as hip-hop and Latin jazz.
Generally, Latin music was used to address the challenges Hispanic groups faced in their countries, this inspiration also made the black Americans explore and express their freedom. Black Americans have extensively developed great influence in today’s music genres, ranging from rap, R&B, and pop songs. The black people have incorporated the influence from the Latin musicians and thus used the songs to reflect challenges they face in the US and the overall lives of Americans.
Currently, there is a large Hispanic population in the US, leading to the rise of Latin culture in most of the states within the country. The increased demographic has made it easier for the Hispanic genre to infuse and effectively combine with popular American music (Kagan, 2019). Most black American musicians collaborate with Latin singers to produce music that has both the Hispanic and American instrumental mix. For example, the song ‘Motorsport’ is a collaboration of Nicki Minaj, Migos, and Cardi B. the combination makes the artists create an influence in pop music and other renowned music genres in the US. Coming together of the Latino and American artists has been significant in making the impact of the Hispanic music genre to be part of the US popular variety of songs.
The song ‘Best Life’ is a piece of music that depicts and describes the power of thinking positively (https://youtu.be/yLczB9NiDmY). It communicates about the nature of life, such as emotional experienced that young people undergo in life. The track gives individuals hope of having a better life even after going through the worst moments. The artist (Cardi B) creates the image from her personal self-reflection based on how she overcame the hardship she faced in real life.
The song was composed by Cardi B and Chance the Rapper. Cardi B is a Latino artist called Belcalis Marlenis Almanzar, while Chance is an American musician known by the official name Chancellor Johnathan Bennet. The song ‘Best Life’ is a great collaboration that portrays how Hispanics have influenced rap music in the US (Cardi B, 2018). The content of the song indicates the hardship that people go through, which makes the popular US music genres communicate the same.
In conclusion, the music industry in the US has currently taken a new twist as most of the famous American genres have significantly been impacted by the rapidly growing Latino music culture. Rap and pop music are addressing the challenges that people face, just as the Nueva Cancion of the Hispanic communities. The recording of songs by both the Americans and Latinos has led to the incorporation of Latin instrumentals and dance moves into American music.
References
Cardi B. [Best Life feat. Chance The Rapper]. (2018). Best Life [Video]. YouTube. Web.
Kagan, R. L. (2019). The Spanish Craze: America’s Fascination with the Hispanic World, 1779-1939. U of Nebraska Press.