Currently promoting his latest single, “Yes,” Puerto Rican rapper Fat Joe stopped by Hot 97’s Ebro in the Morning radio show for an interview where he touched on a lot of topics, including justifying why he feels all Latinos can identify themselves as black.
Afro-Latino musicians identifying themselves as black and acknowledging their African ancestry isn’t a new thing. As a matter of fact, some are even given a pass with the use of the N-word.
According to the Lean Back rapper, all Latinos are black and Caribbean music is heavily influenced by elements of African music.
“All the music is African. Brazilian music, Dominican music, Spanish drums, all the music is African music,” he started.
“Let’s speak about Latinos not being black. Latinos are black. In Cuba, at one time, there was eight million Cubans. Five million, unfortunately, were slaves. Three million were actual Cubans, and they integrated and had babies. Same thing with Puerto Rico when you go to Loíza. And when you talk about Santeria, that came from the motherland Africa,” he added.
“Sometimes, Latinos may even identify themselves with African and black culture more than black people. This ain’t no crazy thing. Fat Joe ain’t on crack. He know what he talking about.”
The single, which features Cardi B and Puerto Rican star Anuel AA has a sample of Willie Colón and Héctor Lavoe’s “Aguanile,” a very popular classic song with elements of African music.
Cardi B, who is of Dominican and Trinidadian heritage, also recently touched on the same topic when she was addressing people who said she can’t identify herself as black.
“It’s like, ‘Cardi’s Latin, she’s not Black.’ And it’s like, ‘Bro, my features don’t come from…white people f*cking, OK?,’” she said, according to XXL. “And they always wanna race-bait when it comes to me…I have Afro features. ‘Oh, but your parents are light-skinned…all right, but my grandparents aren’t.”
Fat Joe is widely known for using the N-Word in his songs. Speaking alongside Joe Budden, Scottie Beam, and Brandon Jenkins on Revolt’s State of the Culture talk show last year, black female rapper Remy Ma revealed that the Puerto Rican is the “blackest Spanish guy” on the planet.
Watch the full interview below:
