1 00:00:00,560 --> 00:00:03,760 Speaker 1: Oh lad, dear listener, A little heads up. This episode 2 00:00:03,840 --> 00:00:06,920 Speaker 1: is about romance and intimacy, so mm hmm, we're going 3 00:00:07,000 --> 00:00:09,680 Speaker 1: to talk about sex. There's some frank talk in here 4 00:00:09,800 --> 00:00:14,160 Speaker 1: that you may think is not suitable for younger listeners. Hey, 5 00:00:14,320 --> 00:00:18,360 Speaker 1: Latino USA listener. When the team at La Brega, a 6 00:00:18,440 --> 00:00:21,800 Speaker 1: podcast series about the Puerto Rican experience, set out to 7 00:00:21,840 --> 00:00:26,360 Speaker 1: make its second season all about music, they knew they 8 00:00:26,440 --> 00:00:34,040 Speaker 1: wanted to make an episode about love songs. Actually, every 9 00:00:34,320 --> 00:00:38,320 Speaker 1: episode is about some type of love, love for the island, 10 00:00:38,560 --> 00:00:42,760 Speaker 1: for Puerto Rican history, for Puerto Rican families, so it 11 00:00:42,840 --> 00:00:45,519 Speaker 1: was hard to pick just the right song for an 12 00:00:45,560 --> 00:00:50,519 Speaker 1: episode about romantic love. That's until they heard how a 13 00:00:50,560 --> 00:00:56,560 Speaker 1: specific love song shape Raquel Reikert. Raquel is director at 14 00:00:56,600 --> 00:01:01,080 Speaker 1: Refinery twenty nine's Somos. It's a song that shape a 15 00:01:01,120 --> 00:01:05,120 Speaker 1: lot of women in her life too. That song was 16 00:01:05,600 --> 00:01:08,360 Speaker 1: I Wonder If I Take You Home? By Lisa Lisa 17 00:01:08,440 --> 00:01:13,280 Speaker 1: and Cultchab, released in nineteen eighty five, And I'm gonna 18 00:01:13,319 --> 00:01:15,399 Speaker 1: let Raquel take it from here. 19 00:01:20,120 --> 00:01:22,840 Speaker 2: Wasn't he just gonna go backwards skaters backwards skaters all 20 00:01:22,920 --> 00:01:23,680 Speaker 2: day to You'll. 21 00:01:23,440 --> 00:01:24,280 Speaker 3: Skate backwards beings? 22 00:01:24,319 --> 00:01:27,399 Speaker 4: Ghad and all of that too. 23 00:01:27,959 --> 00:01:31,120 Speaker 2: It's a Friday in nineteen ninety nine and I'm at 24 00:01:31,240 --> 00:01:36,360 Speaker 2: Universal Skating Rink in East Orlando on teen night. I'm 25 00:01:36,360 --> 00:01:39,120 Speaker 2: only nine years old, but my mom lets me sneak 26 00:01:39,160 --> 00:01:41,080 Speaker 2: in and join my older brother to make sure he 27 00:01:41,520 --> 00:01:45,680 Speaker 2: stays out of trouble. We're on a street called Golden Rod, 28 00:01:46,080 --> 00:01:49,040 Speaker 2: where my family moved to from the Montagne Zemoca four 29 00:01:49,120 --> 00:01:52,200 Speaker 2: years earlier. On the rink and in the dance room, 30 00:01:52,480 --> 00:01:54,720 Speaker 2: most of the teens look or sound like I do. 31 00:01:55,360 --> 00:01:58,800 Speaker 2: Where young Puerto Rican transplants from the archipelago New York, 32 00:01:59,080 --> 00:02:02,520 Speaker 2: Jersey Philly in Chicago, and we're just trying to have 33 00:02:02,600 --> 00:02:06,920 Speaker 2: a good time in our swampy news city. 34 00:02:07,520 --> 00:02:07,800 Speaker 5: Wall. 35 00:02:08,360 --> 00:02:11,520 Speaker 2: The DJ is sick spinning hits from Puff Daddy and TLC. 36 00:02:16,520 --> 00:02:21,320 Speaker 2: And then we hear those familiar horns. It's Cynthia and 37 00:02:21,400 --> 00:02:25,080 Speaker 2: Johnny Oh's Dream Boy, Dream Girl. Immediately the wholroom starts 38 00:02:25,080 --> 00:02:26,960 Speaker 2: singing a song that came out when most of us 39 00:02:27,000 --> 00:02:34,360 Speaker 2: were in diapers. I wasn't even born when this Latin 40 00:02:34,440 --> 00:02:37,520 Speaker 2: dance track dropped, but somehow I know it worked for work, 41 00:02:38,120 --> 00:02:39,679 Speaker 2: and in the eyes of this middle school in high 42 00:02:39,680 --> 00:02:44,120 Speaker 2: school crowd that makes me pretty cool. As the duo sings, 43 00:02:44,520 --> 00:02:47,440 Speaker 2: tween girls dance together in a circle, young couples hide 44 00:02:47,480 --> 00:02:50,480 Speaker 2: underneath the DJ booths, sneak in a quick makeout sash, 45 00:02:50,600 --> 00:02:52,840 Speaker 2: and others rush out of the dance room to the rink, 46 00:02:53,120 --> 00:02:55,639 Speaker 2: where they bust the grape vine, the moonwalk, and other 47 00:02:55,680 --> 00:02:59,960 Speaker 2: skating tricks. In my experience, this is what happens when 48 00:03:00,040 --> 00:03:06,680 Speaker 2: freestyle comes on. I don't know how music that my 49 00:03:06,760 --> 00:03:09,560 Speaker 2: old ass parents used to listen to back in Farakaway 50 00:03:09,680 --> 00:03:13,200 Speaker 2: Queens is somehow the barometer of edge. But there's just 51 00:03:13,360 --> 00:03:17,520 Speaker 2: something about those Spanish accented stories of love and heartbreak 52 00:03:17,880 --> 00:03:20,480 Speaker 2: sung over eight o weak lavis that enliven us all. 53 00:03:21,760 --> 00:03:25,400 Speaker 2: Freestyle music taught a generation of Bordigua's about love and sex, 54 00:03:25,960 --> 00:03:30,400 Speaker 2: and even more specifically, freestyle taught us a bunch of 55 00:03:30,440 --> 00:03:34,120 Speaker 2: Bordigua girls in the South to fight for our desires 56 00:03:34,400 --> 00:03:38,640 Speaker 2: and our bodies. And we all had our anthem one 57 00:03:38,720 --> 00:03:43,880 Speaker 2: song that helped us navigate our relationships and sexual curiosities. 58 00:03:49,040 --> 00:03:53,680 Speaker 6: From Fugudo Studios and WNYC Studios, I'm alan Na Casanova. 59 00:03:53,240 --> 00:03:56,000 Speaker 2: Burgess and I'm Racael Reichert and this is. 60 00:03:56,000 --> 00:04:06,440 Speaker 3: Love Rega in this episode track four, I wonder if 61 00:04:06,480 --> 00:04:07,080 Speaker 3: I take you. 62 00:04:07,000 --> 00:04:17,320 Speaker 2: Home, Dear Lisa, Lisa, I need some advice. More than 63 00:04:17,320 --> 00:04:20,720 Speaker 2: twenty years since those nights at Universal Skating Rink, freestyle 64 00:04:20,800 --> 00:04:22,960 Speaker 2: still plays a big role in mine, in my family's 65 00:04:22,960 --> 00:04:27,720 Speaker 2: everyday life. That's Mommy scolding me for picking the gondolas 66 00:04:27,760 --> 00:04:33,640 Speaker 2: out of the yoya. I've been plucking the pigeon peas 67 00:04:33,680 --> 00:04:35,760 Speaker 2: from her yummy yellow rice since I was a kid, 68 00:04:36,520 --> 00:04:39,520 Speaker 2: and my parents have been hosting backyard floaty body house 69 00:04:39,520 --> 00:04:46,480 Speaker 2: parties like this one since before then. Boppy, our resident DJ, 70 00:04:46,760 --> 00:04:50,760 Speaker 2: make sure the set includes salsa, merengue, and of course freestyle, 71 00:04:51,320 --> 00:04:54,240 Speaker 2: and Mommy dances around the kitchen using cooking spoons as 72 00:04:54,320 --> 00:05:00,920 Speaker 2: choreography props. It's wild to me that I, whoa bad 73 00:05:00,960 --> 00:05:03,880 Speaker 2: bitch girl de Los noventas someone who grew up on 74 00:05:03,920 --> 00:05:07,360 Speaker 2: the girl power of the Spice Girls, the female independence 75 00:05:07,360 --> 00:05:11,000 Speaker 2: of Evy Queen, and the brazenness of Cardi b still 76 00:05:11,040 --> 00:05:14,520 Speaker 2: feels so liberated by this music from an era that 77 00:05:14,560 --> 00:05:19,799 Speaker 2: came before me and that other women do too. Freestyle 78 00:05:19,920 --> 00:05:29,840 Speaker 2: just feels so breathing. Freestyle is a feeling. It's been 79 00:05:29,880 --> 00:05:32,839 Speaker 2: described as a sonic novella and an Android dis gagar. 80 00:05:33,560 --> 00:05:36,520 Speaker 2: But this doesn't make it any easier to explain. It's 81 00:05:36,520 --> 00:05:39,600 Speaker 2: not hip hop, it's not totally pop, and it's not 82 00:05:39,680 --> 00:05:42,000 Speaker 2: even a house, but it's kind of like a brima 83 00:05:42,080 --> 00:05:43,120 Speaker 2: to all of these genres. 84 00:05:44,520 --> 00:05:46,880 Speaker 7: I think the house music is like four on the four, 85 00:05:47,080 --> 00:05:50,679 Speaker 7: Like there's this constant boom boom, boom boom. 86 00:05:50,720 --> 00:05:54,400 Speaker 2: That's Louis Ortiz pon Seka, a freestyle historian and artist. 87 00:05:54,920 --> 00:06:02,320 Speaker 7: Where I think freestyle to describe it sonically, like like 88 00:06:02,440 --> 00:06:05,320 Speaker 7: you hear the snare. 89 00:06:06,960 --> 00:06:10,279 Speaker 2: Well, there's not one singular freestyle beat. There are a 90 00:06:10,320 --> 00:06:12,560 Speaker 2: few key ingredients that go into a freestyle track. 91 00:06:13,839 --> 00:06:17,800 Speaker 8: I think about freestyle musically as a cousin to what 92 00:06:17,880 --> 00:06:19,360 Speaker 8: size settles are doing. Right. 93 00:06:19,960 --> 00:06:23,240 Speaker 2: Nick Lopez Rodriguez is a DJ and performance studies scholar. 94 00:06:23,480 --> 00:06:26,680 Speaker 8: We have them ballads, we have the sense in the rhythm, 95 00:06:26,800 --> 00:06:29,160 Speaker 8: but then we have what we see in side some music, 96 00:06:29,160 --> 00:06:32,840 Speaker 8: which is like sometimes my favorite, which is the keyboard break. Right, 97 00:06:32,920 --> 00:06:35,359 Speaker 8: there's always sort of a bridge or hook with a keyboard. 98 00:06:39,040 --> 00:06:41,520 Speaker 8: You hear that in freestyle music, but it's going to 99 00:06:41,560 --> 00:06:43,080 Speaker 8: be with the synthesized keyboard. 100 00:06:56,320 --> 00:06:59,240 Speaker 2: Freestyle was originally called Latin hip hop, and it was 101 00:06:59,279 --> 00:07:02,840 Speaker 2: co created by the same communities, Caribbean and Black American 102 00:07:02,920 --> 00:07:05,920 Speaker 2: youth in the Bronx. The beats are similar to early 103 00:07:06,000 --> 00:07:09,560 Speaker 2: hip hop, but the delivery is different. To put it simply, 104 00:07:09,920 --> 00:07:12,400 Speaker 2: hip hop artists rap about what happens on the streets. 105 00:07:13,080 --> 00:07:17,040 Speaker 2: Freestyle artists sing about what happens in their hearts. Louis 106 00:07:17,080 --> 00:07:19,880 Speaker 2: describes it as music from the same block, just different 107 00:07:19,880 --> 00:07:21,920 Speaker 2: sides of the avenue. 108 00:07:22,800 --> 00:07:25,480 Speaker 9: The beats and the rhythms were very much similar to 109 00:07:25,600 --> 00:07:29,200 Speaker 9: sounds that are from your parents' records and your cassette, 110 00:07:29,240 --> 00:07:32,840 Speaker 9: so there's that familiarity as well, those Latin beats, so 111 00:07:32,960 --> 00:07:33,480 Speaker 9: to speak. 112 00:07:34,360 --> 00:07:36,960 Speaker 2: That's Stacy who grew up on my block in East Orlando. 113 00:07:37,640 --> 00:07:40,560 Speaker 2: She arrived to the neighborhood in nineteen eighty two, nearly 114 00:07:40,600 --> 00:07:43,559 Speaker 2: a decade before the first mass migration of Puerto Ricans 115 00:07:43,560 --> 00:07:47,320 Speaker 2: to the area, and part of what made freestyle music 116 00:07:47,480 --> 00:07:50,200 Speaker 2: so enticing for her was that it connected her to 117 00:07:50,240 --> 00:07:56,960 Speaker 2: a city where diasporic Puerto Rican culture boomed. Nuevo with 118 00:07:57,080 --> 00:07:57,880 Speaker 2: the moves. 119 00:07:57,600 --> 00:08:00,520 Speaker 9: Like breakdancing, you know, it all came together and it 120 00:08:00,560 --> 00:08:04,920 Speaker 9: was just this perfect package of New York good looks 121 00:08:05,120 --> 00:08:10,600 Speaker 9: good beats, confidence, wilding out. There's no other word to 122 00:08:10,640 --> 00:08:13,760 Speaker 9: describe it. It was cool, and we wanted to be 123 00:08:13,920 --> 00:08:14,680 Speaker 9: cool too. 124 00:08:15,800 --> 00:08:17,920 Speaker 2: What made this genre so dope for her was that 125 00:08:17,960 --> 00:08:21,000 Speaker 2: it was performed mostly by second generation Puerto Rican teenage 126 00:08:21,000 --> 00:08:28,560 Speaker 2: girls who sang, danced, and looked incredible singers like Judy Torres, 127 00:08:29,560 --> 00:08:34,920 Speaker 2: the cover Girl, and one of the flyest New Yorrekan vocalists, 128 00:08:35,000 --> 00:08:42,360 Speaker 2: Lisa Velez also known as Lisa Lisa. These artists had 129 00:08:42,360 --> 00:08:46,960 Speaker 2: a sound and looked that everyone wanted to emulate. Sexy, daring, 130 00:08:47,200 --> 00:08:48,240 Speaker 2: and colorful. 131 00:08:48,679 --> 00:08:52,040 Speaker 9: Just the looks that these girls had, bright colors and 132 00:08:52,440 --> 00:08:56,760 Speaker 9: eyeshadows and lipstick. For us today, it seemed like it's gaudy, 133 00:08:56,800 --> 00:09:00,360 Speaker 9: but it just all worked and was put together way 134 00:09:00,400 --> 00:09:03,600 Speaker 9: that if you're a young girl like me, you're looking, oh, 135 00:09:03,679 --> 00:09:05,680 Speaker 9: man like, I want to look like that. 136 00:09:10,400 --> 00:09:12,760 Speaker 2: I get what she means. I wanted to look like 137 00:09:12,800 --> 00:09:18,080 Speaker 2: that too, bold, confident, free. As a young person, watching 138 00:09:18,120 --> 00:09:21,319 Speaker 2: and listening to these women saying about crushes, heartache and 139 00:09:21,360 --> 00:09:25,959 Speaker 2: sex felt liberating. I grew up in a Pentecostal home. 140 00:09:26,520 --> 00:09:28,880 Speaker 2: While my mother didn't force me to wear long denim 141 00:09:28,920 --> 00:09:32,080 Speaker 2: skirts or forbid me from rocking jewelry like her mom did. 142 00:09:32,720 --> 00:09:35,560 Speaker 2: My life as a girl still felt constricted in so 143 00:09:35,679 --> 00:09:41,160 Speaker 2: many other ways. During my adolescent years, Mommy and I 144 00:09:41,200 --> 00:09:45,760 Speaker 2: were bessies, always side by side. We would spend entire 145 00:09:45,840 --> 00:09:49,600 Speaker 2: weekends curled up under sabanas on the sofa watching those 146 00:09:49,600 --> 00:09:53,520 Speaker 2: classic nineties made for TV movies, you know the ones. 147 00:09:54,480 --> 00:09:57,520 Speaker 2: To us, they were all about the dramatic lives of 148 00:09:57,559 --> 00:10:01,560 Speaker 2: white women and their children in the screen. I saw 149 00:10:01,679 --> 00:10:05,520 Speaker 2: reality way different from my own parents talking to their 150 00:10:05,640 --> 00:10:09,520 Speaker 2: kids about sex and contraceptives and young people having sex, 151 00:10:10,200 --> 00:10:18,600 Speaker 2: lots of it, and everywhere. My mom and I we 152 00:10:18,679 --> 00:10:23,439 Speaker 2: could talk about shopping, school, even race and police harassment. 153 00:10:24,360 --> 00:10:29,160 Speaker 2: But six that was a topic of discussion that Mommy 154 00:10:29,160 --> 00:10:33,840 Speaker 2: and I did not touch those rare moments when it 155 00:10:33,920 --> 00:10:37,000 Speaker 2: had come up at church or home. I was taught 156 00:10:37,040 --> 00:10:42,280 Speaker 2: that teen dating leads to sex, and female sexuality is sinful, 157 00:10:42,960 --> 00:10:46,960 Speaker 2: so I rarely expressed my crushes, didn't have many boyfriends, 158 00:10:47,280 --> 00:10:51,640 Speaker 2: and was scared to death of sex. Your girl was 159 00:10:52,000 --> 00:10:57,280 Speaker 2: shook about everything. If I had a so called impure 160 00:10:57,360 --> 00:11:01,920 Speaker 2: thought or experienced arousal of any kind, I would cry 161 00:11:02,000 --> 00:11:05,720 Speaker 2: myself to sleep, begging God not to condemn me to hell. 162 00:11:05,880 --> 00:11:10,000 Speaker 2: For all eternity. I avoided holding hands because I thought 163 00:11:10,040 --> 00:11:12,680 Speaker 2: it would lead to pop kissing, and if I kissed 164 00:11:12,679 --> 00:11:16,400 Speaker 2: someone it was a rap. I broke up with them 165 00:11:16,600 --> 00:11:20,600 Speaker 2: immediately because that made me one step closer to having sex. 166 00:11:21,600 --> 00:11:26,000 Speaker 2: The message at church and home was clear, my body 167 00:11:26,400 --> 00:11:30,599 Speaker 2: was not my own to me. The women of freestyle 168 00:11:30,720 --> 00:11:34,199 Speaker 2: broke free from all the expectations that were still tearing 169 00:11:34,200 --> 00:11:37,720 Speaker 2: me apart. And that didn't just make them cool, It 170 00:11:37,800 --> 00:11:44,079 Speaker 2: made them courageous, powerful and inspiring. They dressed and danced 171 00:11:44,120 --> 00:11:46,720 Speaker 2: in ways that made them feel good, and they went 172 00:11:46,760 --> 00:11:49,720 Speaker 2: after all the things that they wanted, even if that 173 00:11:49,800 --> 00:11:53,960 Speaker 2: meant breaking the rules. And there was one song in 174 00:11:54,040 --> 00:11:58,360 Speaker 2: particular that guided us all. I Wonder If I Take 175 00:11:58,400 --> 00:12:02,400 Speaker 2: You Home? By Lisa Leea and Cold Jam, which along 176 00:12:02,440 --> 00:12:07,120 Speaker 2: with Lisa Lisa, included members Alex Spanador, Moseley and Mike Cues. 177 00:12:07,679 --> 00:12:12,160 Speaker 6: This Is Mike Cues, Mike Cues and Espanador. 178 00:12:12,600 --> 00:12:15,360 Speaker 2: In nineteen eighty five, Lisa Lisa and Cold Jam appeared 179 00:12:15,360 --> 00:12:17,080 Speaker 2: on American Bandstand. 180 00:12:16,679 --> 00:12:19,480 Speaker 1: Lisa, Lisa and ful Jam. 181 00:12:19,920 --> 00:12:22,559 Speaker 2: This same year, MTV debuted I Wonder If I'd Take 182 00:12:22,600 --> 00:12:25,160 Speaker 2: You Home as the first ever Latin hip hop music 183 00:12:25,240 --> 00:12:31,480 Speaker 2: video stunning in a florescent pink headband and a curve 184 00:12:31,600 --> 00:12:35,760 Speaker 2: hugging off shoulder jumpsuit with parachute bottoms. There were few, 185 00:12:36,080 --> 00:12:41,520 Speaker 2: if any acts hotter than Lee Salsa. No one, not Madonna, 186 00:12:41,600 --> 00:12:44,960 Speaker 2: Cyndey Lapper or Debbie Harry could rival this Puerto Rican 187 00:12:45,000 --> 00:12:46,640 Speaker 2: teen girl from House Kitchen. 188 00:12:46,800 --> 00:12:50,160 Speaker 8: And I just remember we were all kind of in awe. 189 00:12:50,200 --> 00:12:52,679 Speaker 5: We were all in awe, like, oh wow. 190 00:12:53,320 --> 00:12:55,560 Speaker 2: Michelle Courtz Has and her family moved from Brooklyn to 191 00:12:55,600 --> 00:12:58,240 Speaker 2: Long Island in nineteen eighty five, where they enjoyed cable 192 00:12:58,280 --> 00:13:01,720 Speaker 2: TV for the first time. One of her most memorable 193 00:13:01,720 --> 00:13:04,960 Speaker 2: moments in her new home was watching that MTV debut 194 00:13:05,160 --> 00:13:06,480 Speaker 2: of I Wonder If I'd Take You Home. 195 00:13:07,360 --> 00:13:09,960 Speaker 8: I mean, now, you see women in videos and you know, 196 00:13:09,960 --> 00:13:12,800 Speaker 8: everyone's got a big ass and tatas and all that. 197 00:13:13,040 --> 00:13:15,000 Speaker 5: But back then, yeah, you have. 198 00:13:15,040 --> 00:13:15,840 Speaker 8: To be skinny, man. 199 00:13:16,080 --> 00:13:19,240 Speaker 5: You really had to be like a raal, you know, 200 00:13:19,400 --> 00:13:20,760 Speaker 5: to be on television. 201 00:13:20,960 --> 00:13:21,960 Speaker 2: And she was not that. 202 00:13:23,440 --> 00:13:24,760 Speaker 5: Yeah, she had a body, yadi. 203 00:13:25,320 --> 00:13:27,600 Speaker 8: It was like, all right, well she's one of us, 204 00:13:27,679 --> 00:13:29,319 Speaker 8: and you know it was nice. 205 00:13:29,679 --> 00:13:31,480 Speaker 10: It was really nice. 206 00:13:33,960 --> 00:13:38,000 Speaker 2: And then there were the lyrics, bold, relatable and autonomous. 207 00:13:45,720 --> 00:13:48,600 Speaker 2: Here was a young Puerto Rican woman singing about her 208 00:13:48,640 --> 00:13:53,360 Speaker 2: sexual desires without shame. I wonder if I take you home, 209 00:13:53,559 --> 00:13:56,280 Speaker 2: would you still be in love? Baby? Because I need 210 00:13:56,320 --> 00:14:04,240 Speaker 2: you tonight. In one chorus, she expressed what women needed 211 00:14:04,280 --> 00:14:07,360 Speaker 2: to hear, even if the media, the church, and our 212 00:14:07,520 --> 00:14:11,560 Speaker 2: education system didn't want to tell us, women want to 213 00:14:11,679 --> 00:14:15,240 Speaker 2: have sex too. But we have to weigh that decision 214 00:14:15,400 --> 00:14:20,600 Speaker 2: against real life possibilities, your partner hitten and quitting, unwanted pregnancies, 215 00:14:20,840 --> 00:14:26,000 Speaker 2: sexually transmitted infections, revenge porn, or simply being labeled Las 216 00:14:26,080 --> 00:14:32,800 Speaker 2: Susia of the blocks. So instead of just giving into 217 00:14:32,880 --> 00:14:37,480 Speaker 2: her partners, please Lisa, Lisa advocates for herself, saying it's 218 00:14:37,560 --> 00:14:39,440 Speaker 2: on her time or not at all. 219 00:14:40,280 --> 00:14:43,200 Speaker 9: If you love, you wait to do. 220 00:14:46,840 --> 00:14:51,000 Speaker 2: Even though these conversations weren't happening in the home, Freestyle 221 00:14:51,080 --> 00:14:53,360 Speaker 2: came out of a decade when women were gaining more 222 00:14:53,400 --> 00:14:57,240 Speaker 2: agency over their bodies and fighting for access to public health. 223 00:15:01,120 --> 00:15:04,600 Speaker 2: In the nineteen seventies, the Puerto Rican led community organization 224 00:15:04,720 --> 00:15:07,920 Speaker 2: the Young Lords, had centered healthcare in their struggle for 225 00:15:07,960 --> 00:15:12,960 Speaker 2: community empowerment in the South Bronx. They famously occupied Lincoln 226 00:15:13,040 --> 00:15:16,440 Speaker 2: Hospital in July nineteen seventy and even made a point 227 00:15:16,520 --> 00:15:18,160 Speaker 2: of highlighting women's care there. 228 00:15:18,480 --> 00:15:21,040 Speaker 11: What we want this rally for is to express our 229 00:15:21,080 --> 00:15:24,920 Speaker 11: desire to have community worker control of Lincoln Hospital, a 230 00:15:24,960 --> 00:15:28,320 Speaker 11: hospital that for some time has been condemned, painted, chipping 231 00:15:28,320 --> 00:15:31,480 Speaker 11: from the emergency room. Our uncles, our grandmothers, our mothers 232 00:15:31,520 --> 00:15:34,680 Speaker 11: have died in that hospital, and nobody has pushed. 233 00:15:34,640 --> 00:15:38,800 Speaker 2: Meanwhile, Doctor Helen Rodrigueztriaz, a new Eurekan public health expert, 234 00:15:39,080 --> 00:15:42,640 Speaker 2: helped to establish protections from marginalized women who were targeted 235 00:15:42,640 --> 00:15:47,480 Speaker 2: for sterilizations, like requiring patients to sign consent forms. This 236 00:15:47,640 --> 00:15:51,480 Speaker 2: is doctor Triaz in the nineteen eighty two documentary La Operacion. 237 00:15:52,160 --> 00:15:57,840 Speaker 12: Sterilization has been pushed really internationally as a way of 238 00:15:58,120 --> 00:16:03,320 Speaker 12: population control, and there is a difference between population control 239 00:16:03,360 --> 00:16:04,240 Speaker 12: and birth control. 240 00:16:05,520 --> 00:16:07,800 Speaker 2: By the end of the decade, feminist groups in Puerto 241 00:16:07,920 --> 00:16:11,680 Speaker 2: Rico celebrated two big wins, a new government agency called 242 00:16:11,680 --> 00:16:15,240 Speaker 2: the Commission for Women's Affairs and Law fifty four, which 243 00:16:15,280 --> 00:16:19,800 Speaker 2: outlawed domestic violence. Puerto Rican women everywhere were taking control 244 00:16:19,800 --> 00:16:23,400 Speaker 2: over their bodies, their hearts, and their lives at home 245 00:16:23,600 --> 00:16:32,040 Speaker 2: and through politics, and soon enough in nightclubs too. Throughout 246 00:16:32,080 --> 00:16:34,520 Speaker 2: the nineteen eighties, there was a boom and culture pushing 247 00:16:34,560 --> 00:16:37,160 Speaker 2: songs about love and sex, most of them from a 248 00:16:37,200 --> 00:16:42,320 Speaker 2: white woman's pov where freestyle was deeply rooted in latinas 249 00:16:42,360 --> 00:16:46,800 Speaker 2: self advocacy and sexual agency. It was empowering, even liberating, 250 00:16:47,480 --> 00:16:49,040 Speaker 2: as Stacy says. 251 00:16:49,160 --> 00:16:54,080 Speaker 9: To have these young women saying, you know, singing these songs, 252 00:16:54,120 --> 00:16:57,240 Speaker 9: addressing their how they are, and even staying out late 253 00:16:57,320 --> 00:16:59,720 Speaker 9: at the club singing the songs you know for an 254 00:16:59,720 --> 00:17:03,640 Speaker 9: ad I mean to me, that's like like get it girl. 255 00:17:04,840 --> 00:17:06,840 Speaker 2: And if I were making a mixtape to help me 256 00:17:06,880 --> 00:17:09,840 Speaker 2: get into my own get it girl energy, I'd include 257 00:17:09,880 --> 00:17:13,800 Speaker 2: starter tracks like Naobi's Please Don't Go, where she calls 258 00:17:13,800 --> 00:17:21,520 Speaker 2: out fragile masculinity, the cover girls show Me for demanding 259 00:17:21,560 --> 00:17:34,240 Speaker 2: respect and receipts, Kourina's Temptation because she sings about ditching 260 00:17:34,280 --> 00:17:37,440 Speaker 2: her man for someone who treats her and let's be real, 261 00:17:37,840 --> 00:17:43,240 Speaker 2: fucks her better, and of course Lisa Lisa's I Wonder 262 00:17:43,240 --> 00:17:45,520 Speaker 2: If I Take You Home because she keeps it one 263 00:17:45,600 --> 00:17:54,200 Speaker 2: hundred about her sexual desires and the music was fire. 264 00:17:54,800 --> 00:17:58,280 Speaker 2: These vocalists from the diaspora and their self assured lyrics 265 00:17:58,600 --> 00:18:02,359 Speaker 2: made their way down the Atlas Lanti Coast across the Caribbean, 266 00:18:02,600 --> 00:18:06,640 Speaker 2: where they also became hits in Puerto Rico, inspiring young 267 00:18:06,680 --> 00:18:17,240 Speaker 2: women despite language barriers, get you. This is the mom 268 00:18:17,280 --> 00:18:21,359 Speaker 2: of my friend Stephanie Binero. Her name, as luck would 269 00:18:21,400 --> 00:18:23,560 Speaker 2: have it, is Lisa. 270 00:18:23,480 --> 00:18:28,880 Speaker 13: Yeah, I mean and Lisa Lisa Hey, Lisa Lisa Yo. 271 00:18:30,760 --> 00:18:34,679 Speaker 2: Growing up in Puerto Rico in the nineteen eighties, Lisa 272 00:18:34,720 --> 00:18:39,000 Speaker 2: discovered freestyle music through a neighbor and became obsessed with 273 00:18:39,080 --> 00:18:46,080 Speaker 2: the genre, especially Lisa Lisa, Yes, Sora, I'll go. Steph 274 00:18:46,119 --> 00:18:48,960 Speaker 2: and I haven't known each other long, but we've gotten 275 00:18:49,000 --> 00:18:52,080 Speaker 2: close over the last four years. We've bonded over our 276 00:18:52,119 --> 00:18:55,359 Speaker 2: feminist work, growing up as Puerto Rican girls in the South, 277 00:18:55,520 --> 00:19:02,760 Speaker 2: with the shared love of alligators and surprise freestyle like 278 00:19:02,800 --> 00:19:06,960 Speaker 2: in my House freestyle music often blasted from steph childhood 279 00:19:06,960 --> 00:19:11,000 Speaker 2: home in Jacksonville, Florida. Her mom Lisa used to murmur 280 00:19:11,040 --> 00:19:14,720 Speaker 2: the words while cleaning. These songs transport Lisa back to 281 00:19:14,760 --> 00:19:18,840 Speaker 2: her teenage years. At the time, there just wasn't anything 282 00:19:19,040 --> 00:19:23,720 Speaker 2: like it. A fierce bodria gal singing in English. It 283 00:19:23,880 --> 00:19:28,840 Speaker 2: was huge. It was exciting, even if Lisa couldn't understand 284 00:19:28,840 --> 00:19:34,000 Speaker 2: the lyrics yet better Nava, but the rhythm spoke for itself. 285 00:19:36,240 --> 00:19:40,160 Speaker 2: The music was hot, and the makeup, hairstyles, and fashion 286 00:19:40,280 --> 00:19:50,440 Speaker 2: were just as fresh. We're talking lots of neon. These 287 00:19:50,480 --> 00:19:54,720 Speaker 2: songs that Lisa didn't entirely understand became a soundtrack to 288 00:19:54,800 --> 00:20:00,479 Speaker 2: her romantic life as a teenage girl crushes, dating and sex. 289 00:20:01,640 --> 00:20:04,280 Speaker 2: She was dating a boy when Lisa Lisa's I Wonder 290 00:20:04,320 --> 00:20:07,640 Speaker 2: If I'd Take You Home made its way to Puerto Rico. 291 00:20:07,960 --> 00:20:11,080 Speaker 2: It's a song that she refers to as an anthem 292 00:20:11,119 --> 00:20:15,680 Speaker 2: for her for very very personal reasons. 293 00:20:19,520 --> 00:20:23,240 Speaker 6: After the break how freestyle and this Lisa Lisa jam 294 00:20:23,560 --> 00:20:27,119 Speaker 6: holds a special intimate memory for Lisa and generations of 295 00:20:27,119 --> 00:20:30,400 Speaker 6: other women. This is love Rega. Stay with us. 296 00:20:39,920 --> 00:20:44,040 Speaker 10: Hello, this is right now and you're listening. 297 00:20:43,640 --> 00:20:52,520 Speaker 6: To This is lave Rega. I'm Alana Casanova. Burgess writer 298 00:20:52,680 --> 00:20:55,360 Speaker 6: Riquel Reichert has a special place in her heart for 299 00:20:55,400 --> 00:20:59,800 Speaker 6: freestyle music, and turns out she's not alone. There are 300 00:21:00,080 --> 00:21:03,200 Speaker 6: generations of Bodiqua women who grew up on the sounds, 301 00:21:03,240 --> 00:21:07,360 Speaker 6: styles and stories found in freestyle. Like her friend's mom, 302 00:21:07,560 --> 00:21:09,960 Speaker 6: Lisa Raguel picks it up from here. 303 00:21:10,880 --> 00:21:14,359 Speaker 2: Freestyle offered Lisa a sort of roadmap to her early 304 00:21:14,400 --> 00:21:18,800 Speaker 2: love life, identity, and sexuality. But it was I Wonder 305 00:21:18,840 --> 00:21:22,240 Speaker 2: if I Take You Home, an anthem to sexual agency 306 00:21:22,760 --> 00:21:25,840 Speaker 2: that provided a young Lisa the scoring to one of 307 00:21:25,880 --> 00:21:28,439 Speaker 2: the most intimate moments of her life. 308 00:21:28,720 --> 00:21:33,960 Speaker 13: Fukamoni nobody, I mean because funida. 309 00:21:35,720 --> 00:21:44,480 Speaker 2: So that was Lisa very casually sharing a secret. So okay, 310 00:21:44,520 --> 00:21:49,160 Speaker 2: so a secret that not even her daughter, my friend Stephanie, 311 00:21:49,400 --> 00:21:50,160 Speaker 2: knew about her. 312 00:21:50,640 --> 00:21:53,720 Speaker 5: Okay, So to recap, so you're saying, I wonder when 313 00:21:53,760 --> 00:21:57,720 Speaker 5: I Take you Home? Was the song that the person 314 00:21:57,840 --> 00:22:01,160 Speaker 5: you lost your virginity to had on replay and played 315 00:22:01,240 --> 00:22:01,600 Speaker 5: over and. 316 00:22:01,520 --> 00:22:07,919 Speaker 13: Over and over, and you remember it's yeah, so it 317 00:22:08,000 --> 00:22:10,520 Speaker 13: reminds me of that moment. Yeah, I remember that moment. 318 00:22:11,080 --> 00:22:14,320 Speaker 2: And it was a moment that you don't forget, like 319 00:22:14,440 --> 00:22:15,919 Speaker 2: exactly what you were wearing. 320 00:22:16,359 --> 00:22:17,840 Speaker 5: So you wore a corduroy skirt. 321 00:22:18,760 --> 00:22:22,960 Speaker 2: Yeah, exactly where and when it happened. 322 00:22:24,520 --> 00:22:28,400 Speaker 13: It wasn't my aunt's house, right, But no, no, listen, 323 00:22:28,920 --> 00:22:32,840 Speaker 13: this is not actually inside the house in her house. 324 00:22:32,920 --> 00:22:35,560 Speaker 13: It was a little house next to her. 325 00:22:35,640 --> 00:22:35,800 Speaker 5: Right. 326 00:22:36,280 --> 00:22:41,159 Speaker 13: It was something you can get it under under the house, 327 00:22:42,200 --> 00:23:00,160 Speaker 13: and it was it was under the eyes yeah, yes, yeah, 328 00:23:00,359 --> 00:23:01,040 Speaker 13: that bitch. 329 00:23:04,160 --> 00:23:07,600 Speaker 2: And what Lisa would never forget was what was playing 330 00:23:07,640 --> 00:23:12,960 Speaker 2: when it happened. Remember, Lisa didn't understand the words of 331 00:23:13,040 --> 00:23:18,199 Speaker 2: this song when she was well taking someone home. But 332 00:23:18,280 --> 00:23:22,320 Speaker 2: a few years later, after living in Jacksonville and learning English, 333 00:23:22,960 --> 00:23:27,880 Speaker 2: she heard it again and she was floored for me, So. 334 00:23:27,800 --> 00:23:30,200 Speaker 5: You understood when you were married and you had kids already, 335 00:23:30,200 --> 00:23:32,360 Speaker 5: that's when you finally understood what that song meant exactly. 336 00:23:34,040 --> 00:23:38,320 Speaker 13: I was like, oh shit, this motherfucker know this. 337 00:23:41,400 --> 00:23:42,080 Speaker 5: Because he knew. 338 00:23:42,480 --> 00:23:45,800 Speaker 13: He knew what I know. It wasn't me that I 339 00:23:45,840 --> 00:23:47,000 Speaker 13: don't know, but he knew. 340 00:23:52,000 --> 00:23:53,479 Speaker 5: I've never heard this, And me and my mom are 341 00:23:53,480 --> 00:23:56,280 Speaker 5: pretty close, Like, I know a lot of the stories, 342 00:23:56,600 --> 00:23:59,320 Speaker 5: but I didn't know that. I didn't know that story. 343 00:24:02,880 --> 00:24:07,200 Speaker 2: But Steph knows a lot of other stories. She knows 344 00:24:07,200 --> 00:24:12,320 Speaker 2: about Lisa's past boyfriend's drunken knights at Vigocy concerts, and 345 00:24:12,359 --> 00:24:15,359 Speaker 2: that when Lisa was twenty five years old, she opted 346 00:24:15,359 --> 00:24:18,720 Speaker 2: for sterilization over other forms of birth control that made 347 00:24:18,720 --> 00:24:27,040 Speaker 2: her ill. For generations in Puerto Rico and in the US, 348 00:24:27,840 --> 00:24:30,200 Speaker 2: the bodies of Puerto Rican women were used for birth 349 00:24:30,240 --> 00:24:37,720 Speaker 2: control experiments, from pills to Jelly's to sterilization. In the 350 00:24:37,800 --> 00:24:41,399 Speaker 2: nineteen fifties, the first large scale human trial of the 351 00:24:41,440 --> 00:24:44,800 Speaker 2: birth control pill was carried out in impoverished neighborhoods in 352 00:24:44,840 --> 00:24:50,639 Speaker 2: Puerto Rico. US based physicians, scientists, and government officials coerced 353 00:24:50,640 --> 00:24:56,680 Speaker 2: women into receiving certain contraceptives and even sterilization, many without 354 00:24:56,720 --> 00:25:03,080 Speaker 2: their informed consent for dec Sterilization was encouraged there, and 355 00:25:03,160 --> 00:25:05,920 Speaker 2: it became one of the most accessible forms of birth 356 00:25:05,920 --> 00:25:10,199 Speaker 2: control available to Puerto Rican women. While it's not anymore, 357 00:25:10,560 --> 00:25:13,720 Speaker 2: it remains one of the few options women know intimately 358 00:25:14,080 --> 00:25:19,040 Speaker 2: and thus choops. By the nineteen seventies, over a third 359 00:25:19,040 --> 00:25:22,600 Speaker 2: of Puerto Rican women of child bearing age had been sterilized. 360 00:25:23,119 --> 00:25:34,440 Speaker 4: In Puerto Rico, Una de callatris astisalat simplemente como lao perracium. 361 00:25:35,520 --> 00:25:38,640 Speaker 2: It was so common that it was known simply as 362 00:25:39,200 --> 00:25:47,159 Speaker 2: la operacion the operation. For Lisa, mothering four young children 363 00:25:47,280 --> 00:25:50,560 Speaker 2: in an unfamiliar city away from her family in Puerto Rico, 364 00:25:51,400 --> 00:25:55,080 Speaker 2: sterilization felt like the best decision for her, and one 365 00:25:55,080 --> 00:25:57,600 Speaker 2: that other women in her family made as well. 366 00:25:58,400 --> 00:26:02,440 Speaker 5: My Dea was sterilized too, my grandmother. She took birth 367 00:26:02,440 --> 00:26:05,399 Speaker 5: control in the seventies and it failed her and my 368 00:26:05,440 --> 00:26:07,960 Speaker 5: mom was born and it made her feel very sick. 369 00:26:09,000 --> 00:26:14,560 Speaker 5: So the context that I have is that the reproductive 370 00:26:14,800 --> 00:26:20,480 Speaker 5: health services that are available to us in our socioeconomic 371 00:26:20,520 --> 00:26:23,800 Speaker 5: status and level were not good. They were not things 372 00:26:23,840 --> 00:26:29,360 Speaker 5: that empowered somebody to have agency over those decisions. 373 00:26:33,640 --> 00:26:36,640 Speaker 2: This is actually something I knew about my mom too. 374 00:26:38,040 --> 00:26:41,840 Speaker 2: She was also sterilized in her thirties. I was a teen, 375 00:26:42,200 --> 00:26:44,600 Speaker 2: and all I knew was that the procedure that left 376 00:26:44,600 --> 00:26:47,920 Speaker 2: her bedridden for weeks would stop her from having babies. 377 00:26:49,119 --> 00:26:51,840 Speaker 2: I didn't know what the operation entailed or why she 378 00:26:51,960 --> 00:26:56,920 Speaker 2: decided on it. We never talked about those things we 379 00:26:56,920 --> 00:27:04,199 Speaker 2: weren't supposed to. It was weird, though in so many ways, 380 00:27:04,600 --> 00:27:07,160 Speaker 2: my mom was my best friend. I spent more time 381 00:27:07,200 --> 00:27:10,439 Speaker 2: with her than anyone else. We laughed and talked about 382 00:27:10,480 --> 00:27:14,919 Speaker 2: so much while shopping, watching TV, and cooking together. But 383 00:27:14,960 --> 00:27:17,800 Speaker 2: there were certain topics that I knew, or maybe that 384 00:27:17,840 --> 00:27:21,719 Speaker 2: I just thought, were off limits, and that included the 385 00:27:21,840 --> 00:27:28,240 Speaker 2: ever terrifying sex conversations. So when I was nineteen, in 386 00:27:28,280 --> 00:27:31,240 Speaker 2: love for the first time and realizing that sex was 387 00:27:31,240 --> 00:27:34,639 Speaker 2: something I wanted to explore with my partner and maybe 388 00:27:34,680 --> 00:27:38,159 Speaker 2: even something that I was okay risking purgatory for. I 389 00:27:38,240 --> 00:27:42,760 Speaker 2: didn't know who to talk to about it. Then one 390 00:27:42,800 --> 00:27:46,080 Speaker 2: spring day, I was in the kitchen with my mom 391 00:27:46,640 --> 00:27:56,960 Speaker 2: when a familiar voice came the lasting through our homespeakers. 392 00:27:58,200 --> 00:28:03,520 Speaker 2: There in the kitchen, I blurted out, Damn, she's so right. 393 00:28:05,920 --> 00:28:08,639 Speaker 2: My mom was at the stove cooking her and Salada baba, 394 00:28:09,280 --> 00:28:16,439 Speaker 2: and to my surprise, she said she sure is my mommy, 395 00:28:16,760 --> 00:28:18,840 Speaker 2: the one who dressed me in my Sunday best For 396 00:28:19,000 --> 00:28:22,399 Speaker 2: hours long, said Visios turned to me and said something like, 397 00:28:23,440 --> 00:28:25,800 Speaker 2: that's why you have to be sure about your decision. 398 00:28:26,520 --> 00:28:28,760 Speaker 2: You don't do it for the man. You do it 399 00:28:28,880 --> 00:28:32,920 Speaker 2: for yourself, so whether they stay or go, you don't 400 00:28:32,920 --> 00:28:42,640 Speaker 2: feel bad about yourself. Damn, that was a holy word, Lisa. 401 00:28:42,680 --> 00:28:47,600 Speaker 2: Lisa wasn't the only one who understood me. Apparently Mommy 402 00:28:47,640 --> 00:28:51,680 Speaker 2: did too. After years of feeling like I couldn't talk 403 00:28:51,720 --> 00:28:54,640 Speaker 2: with my mom about sex, I wonder if I take 404 00:28:54,680 --> 00:28:58,800 Speaker 2: you home with the spark. When I finally started getting busy, 405 00:28:59,360 --> 00:29:01,840 Speaker 2: my mom and I again talking even more about sex, 406 00:29:02,440 --> 00:29:06,600 Speaker 2: and we haven't stopped talking since. This song invited us 407 00:29:06,640 --> 00:29:11,920 Speaker 2: to start speaking freely and openly. About pleasure, masturbation, fantasy's, 408 00:29:12,240 --> 00:29:16,560 Speaker 2: birth control, all of it. I'm not kidding. My mom 409 00:29:16,640 --> 00:29:18,960 Speaker 2: knows more about my sex life than most of my 410 00:29:19,040 --> 00:29:23,640 Speaker 2: closest friends. Thirteen year old me would have never believed this. 411 00:29:25,600 --> 00:29:28,520 Speaker 2: Stephanie and her mom Lisa, have a similar thing going on, 412 00:29:29,240 --> 00:29:31,760 Speaker 2: and this song helps steph make sense of the woman 413 00:29:31,760 --> 00:29:32,600 Speaker 2: who raised her. 414 00:29:33,440 --> 00:29:39,200 Speaker 5: I have always wondered where my mom came from. My 415 00:29:39,320 --> 00:29:44,600 Speaker 5: mom has always been just free. She has always like 416 00:29:44,640 --> 00:29:47,240 Speaker 5: she dressed her own way. She dropped out of school 417 00:29:47,280 --> 00:29:49,440 Speaker 5: when she was fifteen, She moved out of her parents' 418 00:29:49,440 --> 00:29:53,480 Speaker 5: house when she was fifteen, knowing that these songs were 419 00:29:53,480 --> 00:29:57,240 Speaker 5: the songs, like the soundtrack to those moments in her life. 420 00:29:57,480 --> 00:30:00,360 Speaker 5: She saw what Lisa Lisa was wearing, she was like, Oh, 421 00:30:00,440 --> 00:30:03,400 Speaker 5: I could rock that, I could kill that. Had my 422 00:30:03,480 --> 00:30:06,320 Speaker 5: mom not had those experiences, I would not be the 423 00:30:06,320 --> 00:30:09,280 Speaker 5: woman that I am right now today. 424 00:30:09,520 --> 00:30:13,120 Speaker 2: Stephanie is the executive director of Florida Access Network, the 425 00:30:13,160 --> 00:30:16,640 Speaker 2: only queer women of color led abortion fund in the state. 426 00:30:17,280 --> 00:30:20,520 Speaker 2: So much of her work centers on expanding reproductive justice 427 00:30:20,600 --> 00:30:21,680 Speaker 2: and bodily autonomy. 428 00:30:22,320 --> 00:30:28,080 Speaker 5: Part of destigmatizing abortion has also been really addressing and destigmatizing. 429 00:30:27,280 --> 00:30:30,240 Speaker 2: Sex, and for Steph, a lot of this music that 430 00:30:30,280 --> 00:30:33,200 Speaker 2: her mother listened to and that she now also blasts 431 00:30:33,200 --> 00:30:36,760 Speaker 2: from her car radio in Orlando was about sexual autonomy. 432 00:30:37,800 --> 00:30:41,880 Speaker 5: Young people deserve to feel sexually liberated too, and deserve 433 00:30:41,960 --> 00:30:46,720 Speaker 5: not to feel stifled and ashamed for being human beings, which, 434 00:30:46,840 --> 00:30:49,920 Speaker 5: like having sex and feeling sexual feelings, is part of 435 00:30:49,960 --> 00:30:51,560 Speaker 5: the human experience. 436 00:30:52,280 --> 00:30:55,360 Speaker 2: For many of us. Freestyle music speaks to these questions 437 00:30:55,400 --> 00:30:59,560 Speaker 2: and conversations that come up during Latina girlhood. The lyrics 438 00:30:59,560 --> 00:31:03,680 Speaker 2: to these song sound like bedroom cheesement among homegirls. Each 439 00:31:03,840 --> 00:31:06,280 Speaker 2: track is a diary entry of a time in a 440 00:31:06,320 --> 00:31:10,720 Speaker 2: girl's life. It's our stories, in our words and on 441 00:31:10,960 --> 00:31:15,480 Speaker 2: our terms. It's a coming of age tale where we 442 00:31:15,560 --> 00:31:21,080 Speaker 2: are the subjects, not the objects. And like girlhood, freestyle 443 00:31:21,080 --> 00:31:23,800 Speaker 2: has often been derided as frivolous and trivial. 444 00:31:24,400 --> 00:31:26,960 Speaker 8: I find it interesting that these songs that are sort 445 00:31:27,000 --> 00:31:30,320 Speaker 8: of about the desires of black and brown women, specifically 446 00:31:30,360 --> 00:31:32,400 Speaker 8: in the longings and the yearnings of black and brown 447 00:31:32,440 --> 00:31:34,959 Speaker 8: women were seen as not substantive. 448 00:31:35,960 --> 00:31:39,200 Speaker 2: That's nik Lopez Rodriguez again, the DJ and scholar. 449 00:31:39,640 --> 00:31:44,760 Speaker 8: And yet they were also the same women who were 450 00:31:44,800 --> 00:31:49,200 Speaker 8: the backbones of caretaking the results of a lot of 451 00:31:49,240 --> 00:31:52,560 Speaker 8: these socio political conditions that were happening at a time, right, 452 00:31:52,880 --> 00:31:55,960 Speaker 8: and so like freestyle music was the only music in 453 00:31:56,000 --> 00:32:01,560 Speaker 8: which women explore these complicated thoughts of like human interaction. 454 00:32:03,320 --> 00:32:07,280 Speaker 2: Dismissed as trivial chatter among Puerto Rican street kids, Freestyle's 455 00:32:07,280 --> 00:32:10,120 Speaker 2: popularity began to weigh in the nineties, with some music 456 00:32:10,200 --> 00:32:13,160 Speaker 2: experts citing it's all out death in nineteen ninety five. 457 00:32:13,720 --> 00:32:16,800 Speaker 8: Because a lot of freestyle songs at their core, they're 458 00:32:16,840 --> 00:32:20,680 Speaker 8: about love, right, and so I think that people don't 459 00:32:20,720 --> 00:32:24,800 Speaker 8: find the substances because we see we see these as 460 00:32:24,880 --> 00:32:29,120 Speaker 8: like frivolous, frivolous things. But that's also how we see 461 00:32:29,120 --> 00:32:31,480 Speaker 8: women in our society, right, We see the sort of 462 00:32:31,560 --> 00:32:35,760 Speaker 8: lives and the interpersonal lives of women as frivolous. And again, 463 00:32:35,880 --> 00:32:39,480 Speaker 8: like I would argue to say, the leaders of freestyle 464 00:32:39,720 --> 00:32:41,480 Speaker 8: were black and brown women. 465 00:32:43,560 --> 00:32:46,800 Speaker 2: But if freestyle died, you wouldn't know it. Walking around 466 00:32:46,880 --> 00:32:58,479 Speaker 2: Orlando here freestyle thrives. Those eight oh eight g lives 467 00:32:58,600 --> 00:33:01,360 Speaker 2: blast from cars carrying any Puerto Rican flags on their 468 00:33:01,360 --> 00:33:05,800 Speaker 2: rear view mirrors from east to west. Colonial nightclubs and 469 00:33:05,880 --> 00:33:09,960 Speaker 2: brunch spots host freestyle Fridays and freestyle themed costume parties. 470 00:33:10,800 --> 00:33:15,080 Speaker 2: Women pair their rhinestone encrusted boustiers with Yankee fitts, men's 471 00:33:15,080 --> 00:33:18,840 Speaker 2: sports teas that read real, men listen to freestyle, and 472 00:33:19,040 --> 00:33:22,440 Speaker 2: artists come to perform at least once every two months, 473 00:33:22,520 --> 00:33:27,200 Speaker 2: filling up small venues and huge stadiums. Orlando is now 474 00:33:27,200 --> 00:33:29,600 Speaker 2: home to one of the largest and fastest growing Puerto 475 00:33:29,680 --> 00:33:32,920 Speaker 2: Rican populations in the country. The preservation of this genre 476 00:33:32,960 --> 00:33:36,560 Speaker 2: could be interpreted as simply nostalgia, but for us, it's 477 00:33:36,600 --> 00:33:44,520 Speaker 2: so much more, so inspired by the ways freestyle bonds 478 00:33:44,560 --> 00:33:47,560 Speaker 2: people together. My friend Steph and I devise a plan. 479 00:33:48,720 --> 00:33:52,160 Speaker 2: Our moms haven't had many girlfriends since their young adult years, 480 00:33:52,440 --> 00:33:55,240 Speaker 2: so we've been talking about parent trapping them into homegirls 481 00:33:55,240 --> 00:33:59,520 Speaker 2: for about a year. The meet cute Elisa Lisa concert, 482 00:34:00,200 --> 00:34:05,000 Speaker 2: Oh You. They started so late, they never start on time. 483 00:34:05,240 --> 00:34:08,000 Speaker 2: In this car, there are two generations of adult Puerto 484 00:34:08,040 --> 00:34:12,880 Speaker 2: Rican women, single thirty somethings who are raised in Florida 485 00:34:13,360 --> 00:34:15,600 Speaker 2: and are married, fifty and sixty year old mommies from 486 00:34:15,600 --> 00:34:22,840 Speaker 2: the archipelago, And of course we're running fashionably late. Right 487 00:34:24,440 --> 00:34:28,760 Speaker 2: in Mommy's SUV there are fluorescent pink headbands, black lace gloves, 488 00:34:29,280 --> 00:34:32,160 Speaker 2: long red acrylic nails, and black tights that still have 489 00:34:32,200 --> 00:34:36,120 Speaker 2: their price tag attached them because in true Senora form, 490 00:34:36,400 --> 00:34:40,919 Speaker 2: the fits will be returned after tonight. The car ride 491 00:34:40,920 --> 00:34:46,560 Speaker 2: feels reminiscent of a typical girl's night. We're dishing juicy 492 00:34:46,640 --> 00:34:49,279 Speaker 2: girl talk, like when Lisa talks about how every song 493 00:34:52,239 --> 00:34:57,400 Speaker 2: remind her of a different guy she dated. And I 494 00:34:57,560 --> 00:35:03,319 Speaker 2: decide to reveal a secret to my mom younger, I 495 00:35:03,400 --> 00:35:05,400 Speaker 2: used to sneak into my mommy's. 496 00:35:11,160 --> 00:35:12,520 Speaker 9: Underway for every holiday. 497 00:35:13,160 --> 00:35:15,440 Speaker 2: Our moms haven't even known each other for an hour, 498 00:35:15,920 --> 00:35:19,720 Speaker 2: but they're already chatting about makeup, laughing at sex stories, 499 00:35:20,000 --> 00:35:24,200 Speaker 2: and gushing about their daughters. For these three hours, we 500 00:35:24,200 --> 00:35:27,960 Speaker 2: are like teenage BFFs, and we are ready and excited 501 00:35:28,000 --> 00:35:32,760 Speaker 2: for this performance. Lisa, Lisa, the woman who helped strengthen 502 00:35:32,800 --> 00:35:43,560 Speaker 2: these cross generational relationships. I don't luckily we arrive right 503 00:35:43,600 --> 00:35:44,240 Speaker 2: on time. 504 00:35:48,719 --> 00:35:49,400 Speaker 5: Because of you. 505 00:35:49,560 --> 00:35:51,320 Speaker 13: We still have a station. 506 00:35:56,000 --> 00:35:59,960 Speaker 2: The Hard Rock Live in Hollywood, Florida fits seven thousand people, 507 00:36:00,760 --> 00:36:05,120 Speaker 2: and this place is packed. People drove from all around 508 00:36:05,120 --> 00:36:08,560 Speaker 2: the state to sing along with heavy hitters like Lisa. Lisa. 509 00:36:10,000 --> 00:36:12,120 Speaker 2: As soon as the now fifty six year old star 510 00:36:12,200 --> 00:36:15,200 Speaker 2: hits to stage in a cleavage bearing black leather two piece. 511 00:36:15,880 --> 00:36:18,640 Speaker 2: It's clear that Lisa, Lisa has had a similar impact 512 00:36:18,680 --> 00:36:26,560 Speaker 2: on many of the other women in this venue. And 513 00:36:26,640 --> 00:36:30,840 Speaker 2: when our anthem comes on, the four of us, like 514 00:36:31,120 --> 00:36:55,719 Speaker 2: thousands of others that night, sing every single word. 515 00:37:25,080 --> 00:37:29,480 Speaker 6: That's Raquel reichert. Now, before we wrap up this episode, 516 00:37:29,760 --> 00:37:32,799 Speaker 6: we've got one more tribute to Lisa. Lisa. You've heard 517 00:37:32,800 --> 00:37:35,120 Speaker 6: me talking about the album of covers we're making of 518 00:37:35,160 --> 00:37:38,000 Speaker 6: the songs in the series, and for this one, we 519 00:37:38,080 --> 00:37:41,799 Speaker 6: turn to an artist who also puts desire, autonomy, and 520 00:37:41,880 --> 00:37:43,520 Speaker 6: feminism front and center. 521 00:37:44,040 --> 00:37:46,680 Speaker 10: I'm right Now and I'm a Puerto Rican artist. 522 00:37:47,480 --> 00:37:50,839 Speaker 6: We asked right Now to collaborate with Efe, who yes, 523 00:37:51,160 --> 00:37:55,080 Speaker 6: composed our theme song and really thinks hard about percussion. 524 00:38:04,000 --> 00:38:07,920 Speaker 14: I took the basis of the beat of the song. 525 00:38:08,480 --> 00:38:12,600 Speaker 14: It's similar to a rhythm that we use in sulsa. 526 00:38:12,719 --> 00:38:17,000 Speaker 14: Sometimes it's called orisa, and I'm using uh, you know, 527 00:38:17,080 --> 00:38:21,560 Speaker 14: traditional production like Shaka Day's Morocca or klavi and things 528 00:38:21,560 --> 00:38:24,120 Speaker 14: that you would use, you know, inside of rumba. 529 00:38:24,360 --> 00:38:27,240 Speaker 10: As a Puerto Rican, I have those rhythms in my veins. 530 00:38:28,040 --> 00:38:40,440 Speaker 10: It made me feel like this cover was pulled. I 531 00:38:40,480 --> 00:38:44,520 Speaker 10: feel very lucky to discover new things in music, challenge myself. 532 00:38:45,280 --> 00:38:46,800 Speaker 10: It's been a very cool experience. 533 00:38:47,880 --> 00:38:49,960 Speaker 6: You can listen to the rest of right Now and 534 00:38:50,080 --> 00:38:53,200 Speaker 6: ifhas cover in March when we released the Lovedega cover 535 00:38:53,280 --> 00:39:12,160 Speaker 6: album to. This episode was written by Raquel Record. It 536 00:39:12,239 --> 00:39:15,720 Speaker 6: was edited by Mark Pagan and produced by Joaquin Cutler, 537 00:39:15,960 --> 00:39:21,840 Speaker 6: with support from Lilliana Ruiz, Tasha Sandoval, Andel, Rodrigojandino. Original 538 00:39:21,920 --> 00:39:24,080 Speaker 6: art for this episode is by Mia Pagan. 539 00:39:25,239 --> 00:39:30,480 Speaker 2: Excuse me, Lana just wanted to thank Zoe Cologne, Anhelvendrel, 540 00:39:30,840 --> 00:39:35,880 Speaker 2: Jackie and Emilie Diez, Richie Rosario, Cynthi Torres, DJ Dominic 541 00:39:36,480 --> 00:39:38,680 Speaker 2: and my Mommy and Pappin. 542 00:39:40,760 --> 00:39:46,960 Speaker 6: The La Brega team includes Genie Montalbolriguajrandino, Joaquin Cutler, Lilliana Ruiz, 543 00:39:47,239 --> 00:39:52,560 Speaker 6: Tasha Sanboal, Mark Pagan, Maria Garcia, Victor Ramo Rossello, Juan 544 00:39:52,600 --> 00:39:57,239 Speaker 6: Diego Ramirez, Marlon Bishop and Jenny Lawton. Fact checking this 545 00:39:57,320 --> 00:40:01,360 Speaker 6: season is by Istra Pacco and Maria Soledad. Our engineer 546 00:40:01,719 --> 00:40:05,440 Speaker 6: is Joe Plored. Our theme song is by Efe. Original 547 00:40:05,520 --> 00:40:09,560 Speaker 6: music is by Balloon. This season of Lovedega was made 548 00:40:09,560 --> 00:40:14,279 Speaker 6: possible by the Mellon Foundation, and next week we're going 549 00:40:14,320 --> 00:40:16,759 Speaker 6: to take a break. Just picture us working away on 550 00:40:16,800 --> 00:40:21,719 Speaker 6: our next episode, track five, La Caralendes, that'll drop the 551 00:40:21,719 --> 00:40:25,640 Speaker 6: following week, March second. In the meantime, if you're new 552 00:40:25,640 --> 00:40:28,640 Speaker 6: to Lavedega, might I suggest going back and listening to 553 00:40:28,680 --> 00:40:31,440 Speaker 6: season one. We've got eight great episodes for you to 554 00:40:31,440 --> 00:40:34,759 Speaker 6: catch up on, all available in English and Spanish. There's 555 00:40:34,800 --> 00:40:37,840 Speaker 6: a Cold War spy story about betrayal, a David and 556 00:40:37,880 --> 00:40:40,600 Speaker 6: Goliath face off with the US on the basketball court, 557 00:40:41,080 --> 00:40:44,439 Speaker 6: and so much more, including a singing grandmother who can't 558 00:40:44,480 --> 00:40:47,120 Speaker 6: get enough of Bad Bunny. If you're new to our show, 559 00:40:47,400 --> 00:40:51,040 Speaker 6: welcome and enjoy see you're back here in a couple 560 00:40:51,080 --> 00:40:51,440 Speaker 6: of weeks. 561 00:40:52,280 --> 00:41:00,640 Speaker 9: Bye, I'm