MARIANA-RAPPER

Female rapper Mariana broke out of an all-male crew to establish her own voice and talent and wants to be taken seriously as an artist performer and protagonist. Mariana is part of a new wave of female rappers in contemporary Cuban hip-hop, that are gaining recognition alongside men, not as atmosphere, but as poets, performers and producers, carving out an autonomous space for themselves within the Cuban hip-hop movement. Mariana uses the form to empower women and women’s issues.

This is a deep contrast to the eroticization of black women within the new Cuban tourist economy, that bills black women as sexually available, good lovers and sensual dancers. Mariana reclaims for women the capacity of thinking, speaking, rhyming and producing “real hip-hop.” Mariana rejects the currently available role models for young Cuban women as cooks, housekeepers and sex objects; rather she chooses to be a hip-hop artist because of the platform it gives her to push the feminist agenda forward and participate along side other feminist rappers such as Oye Habana, Esencia, Yula, I & I, Atomicas, Soy, and Las Positivas, to name but a few.