👨🏻🙋🏽👱🏾👩🏾👧🏻The Latinx Collective - Issue #29
THIS WEEK'S FIVE:
Eight of the top 10 most-viewed music videos on YouTube worldwide in 2018 were in Spanish — with Puerto Rican singer Ozuna (pictured above) appearing in three of them. P.S. now you know why Maroon 5 wanted Cardi B on their song 😉. Below is the full list of top videos:
Te Boté” Remix – Casper, Nio García, Darell, Nicky Jam, Bad Bunny, Ozuna – 1.45 billion
Nicky Jam feat. J. Balvin, “X (EQUIS)” – 1.40 billion
Maroon 5 feat. Cardi B, “Girls Like You” – 1.39 billion
Daddy Yankee, “Dura” – 1.19 billion
Ozuna & Romeo Santos, “El Farsante” (Remix) – 1.11 billion
Becky G, Natti Natasha, “Sin Pijama” – 1.11 billion
El Chombo feat. Cutty Ranks, “Dame Tu Cosita” – 947 million
Drake, “God’s Plan” – 890 million
Reik feat. Ozuna & Wisin, “Me Niego” – 736 million
Ozuna & Manuel Turizo, “Vaina Loca” – 688 million
This is a profile on Carlota Perez: the economist, historian and political scientist that's most well-known as the author of Technological Revolutions and Financial Capital: The Dynamics of Bubbles and Golden Ages, a sweeping text that tracks the impact of finance on the world’s most seismic technological shifts. Sixteen years after its release, the book is still one of Amazon’s top microeconomics titles, selling more in Silicon Valley than anywhere else. Perez is also a professor of technology and development at three British universities—London School of Economics, University College London, and the University of Sussex—and one in Estonia: the Tallinn University of Technology. She was born in 1939 in Venezuela’s capital city of Caracas, just weeks after the start of World War II. She will soon celebrate her 80th birthday!
This provides a brief overview of the broad array of Latinos who will be taking the congressional oath of office in January. Xochitl Torres Small and Jesús "Chuy" García are two of ten Latinos — nine Democrats and one Republican — who will join the freshman class of the 116th U.S. Congress and bolster the ranks of Latino lawmakers on Capitol Hill to a record high of 42. While this is a great milestone it's still not enough - we should have 78 Latino lawmakers in the House and 18 in the Senate to roughly equal our percentage of the population. Apart from García and Torres Small, the list also includes the first Latinas to represent Texas in Congress, Sylvia Garcia and Veronica Escobar; Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Antonio Delgado from New York; Mike Levin and Gil Cisneros from California; and Debbie Murcasel-Powell from Florida. Additionally, Republican Anthony Gonzalez will represent Ohio's 16th Congressional District.
This is an *excellent* critique of the Latin Grammys by Eduardo Cepeda, who writes an incredible column called "Tu Pum Pum" about reggaeton's history. I never watch the Latin Grammys - I find them to be too old-school for me (and very white) and it was interesting to learn others felt the same way. Hopefully this changes! I'm curious to hear what others think - let me know..
Of the top three most-viewed artists globally on YouTube for 2018, two are mainly reggaetoneros, while the third (Bad Bunny) performs the style often. With Bad Bunny and Drake’s collaboration “Mia” reaching no. 5 on the Hot 100 charts, and J Balvin’s appearance during Beychella, it can be argued that reggaeton (along with Latin trap and exciting new artists like Rosalía) are injecting new life into the Spanish-language music industry on a level which we haven’t seen since…the last time reggaeton injected new life into the business. These awards could have served as a proclamation of gratitude and acknowledgement of the artists who elevated Spanish-language music to new levels. And while the ceremony counted on performances from reggaeton and Latin trap superstars like Nicky Jam and Karol G for ratings, the industry once again found itself honoring its past rather than recognizing its brightest stars.
Spotlight Series:
I read the YA novel I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter in one day - it's been on my list for awhile & I'm glad I got to it. The book covers important and timely issues related to mental health, immigration, and religious and cultural issues that first generation Americans face. I definitely identified with the main character as I also grew up with overprotective parents who among other things, didn't want me attend an out-of-state college (well, they also couldn't afford it).
The story follows Julia Reyes, a 15-year-old Mexican-American girl growing up in Chicago. After the sudden and tragic death of her sister Olga, Julia is suddenly put on the spotlight, being compared to her sister who was perfect in her parents eyes. But as Julia deals with the grief of Olga's death, she soon learns that perhaps her sister wasn't as perfect as she seemed.
Here's a short review (warning: spoilers). You can purchase it here or at your favorite local book store.
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Shout out to subscriber Stuart Rowe (Operations Specialist at BioMotiv) for the recent feedback + article submissions:
thank you so much for all of the work you put into this newsletter. The diverse stories you share are always informative and inspiring reads!