Creative Spotlight: Jessy Terrero Sees Through A Greater Lens
"We try to create content where there’s a void, for the voices that are not being heard.” says Jessy Terrero, Founder and Creative Director of Cinema Giants.
Toca Plays The Tracks, You Pick The Groove
D.J. Tony Touch has been a very busy man with multiple engagements on the Gram and Zoom. Inteligencia spoke with him over the phone recently to see how he was handling COVID-19 and keeping his fanbase moving.
Paloma Mami Confined by Heartache
Lonely and sassy, Paloma Mami videos are timely escapes we can relate to at this moment. The game warscape tragedy of No Te Debí Besar. The bilingual graceful push-back on haters in Don’t Talk About Me.
Rauw Alejandro y Cómo Innovar la Industria Musical
Es realmente difícil lograr un rompimiento en el mercado de la música latina. Todos quieren pertenecer a él. Ojalá pudiese tener a mano el número de cuántos artistas están haciendo reggaetón, dembow, dancehall o trap en español. Ed Sheeran, Justin Bieber, Drake, Demi Lovato, Katy Perry o Beyoncé han bebido de las aguas del reggaetón y han hecho sus colaboraciones con artistas clave del género cantando en español.
Tekashi 6ix9ine Quarantined King
We know him as the volatile unicorn. The color soup longhair, graff-face representing hip-hop today. Tekashi 6ix9ine - self-proclaimed king of New York with Billboard numbers to back up his bravado.
Bruja Seductress: Princess Nokia
Many of us met Destiny Nicole Frasqueri, better known as Princess Nokia, in the video for “Dragons.” She was low-key adorable, leaning against an arcade game in a midriff-baring knock-off Gucci tank before morphing into an anime fairy with generous eyelashes. The song ends with her naked in a shower, on some soft-porn while her man (rapper Wiki [link to Inteligencia article]) clutches a bottle of Old English Malt Liquor.
El Chapeo: On Slang, Cardi B, and Survival
Mamis, tías, and madrinas collectively agreed that, although money did not guarantee a healthy relationship, a man should still be the greatest contributor to household finances. It was ironic, then, that when Chimbala ft. El Chima's “Tu Eres Una Chapiadora” introduced the term to the Dominican diaspora in 2013, "chapiadora" was used to hypersexualize and shame women who pursued men for financial gain.
A.F. Cortés Uses Photography as a Visual Mixtape
These are all bands that I listen to and care about. For one reason or another, they are important in music history. I'm not an event photographer. I document bands that I love. That is the reason I go to the shows and do what I do. I’ve been lucky that people have seen my pictures and they’ve been featured in a few places. For me, I could do this forever even if I keep all the pictures under my bed. For me it’s a memento of my favorite shows.
Hip-Hop Artist Wiki Reps NYC
The first time I heard Wiki speak at a media event on the Lower East Side, he’d lost three teeth after getting punched. On the floor with RATKING, Patrick Morales rhymed about being a “Piece of Shit,” and he meant it. He claimed his Nuyorican heritage with pride as he staggered—mic in one hand, brown-bag 40 in the other—grinning and bleeding through his set. Wiki was young sabotage waiting to implode, slamming the mic to his forehead and laughing about his damaged grill through anecdotes on his worthlessness.