2️⃣009: aunque naciera en Alaska 💙
had a conference with the DJs ✈️ 🇵🇷
"I wish I could give you this feeling, I'm planking on a million"
Jay-Z
On Sunday, we celebrated 10 years since the iconic (and I don't use that term lightly) collaboration album between Kanye West & Jay-Z, Watch The Throne, was released. And to this day, the line above is one of the sentences I most frequently repeat in my head
I'm someone who feels, A LOT 🥰🥴
You don't need to have known me for a long time to be reading this and say to yourself, "Yup, that dude feels a lot. Maybe too much sometimes."
It's weird as a writer feeling so much and not being able to put it into words. Because those feeling are like visions in my head.
I just see this picture and there are a billion ways I could try and describe what that picture is and how it makes the hairs on my arms stand up straighter than an accidental erection while wearing loose boxers and basketball shorts in middle school gym class--
but nothing compares to actually experiencing that feeling without needing to put it into words
I guess that's why they say a picture is worth a thousand words
I believe that to be true, but my counter:
a thousand words are priceless
I don't know when exactly Jay and ye reached the peak of their powers (I think Kanye will never peak, he will continue going up up up), but what I think Hov was trying to say here is that he had a feeling that was so incredible, something that dug so deep into his very marrow, there was no way he could adequately describe that to someone listening using only words
The only way to understand was by feeling it yourself. By reaching the heights he reached and accomplishing everything he accomplished.
I can confidently argue...
That's what it feels like to be Puerto Rican
There's something about us Puerto Ricans. We're a different breed. I would bet good money that no one would ever question that statement.
I would bet good money that someone from every country on Earth has met a Puerto Rican (and they remember that encounter too)
Estimates say there are about 8-10 million Puerto Ricans and their descendants living around the world. With less than 3 million on the island and the number dwindling every day (but that's a topic for a different email).
With a global population of just over 7.8 billion, that means que los puertorriqueños make up 0.13% of the world's population (and I rounded up).
I would (once again) bet good money that more than 75% of the world's population has come in contact with Puerto Rican culture.
You're probably sitting there thinking, hmmm, I don't know, D, could be 75%, but that might be a stretch.
Yeah, but somewhere in the back of your head, you're thinking that it could be true
And that's all you need to know to let you know what kind of reach we have
Puerto Ricans refer to other Puerto Ricans who become famous and accomplished as
Los Nuestros (aka "Our People")
Someone you could see walking down the mall and just know that even though you and that famous celebrity have never met, you could look at each other and understand that the Boricua connection is present
And, you know what they say
Cabron, a ti ni te conocen en Plaza
(only some Puerto Ricans will get that, but you can still be Puerto Rican even if you don't)
Because being Puerto Rican is like being part of one big family
A family that refers to the people they love and admire with a single name
You know you've made it in the eyes of Puerto Ricans when you're a famous person who just gets referred to by a single name, usually your first name
Benito
Monica
Adriana
Tito
Ricky (hay 2 espero que hayas pensado del bueno y no eso otro hue*******)
Rene
Zuleyka
Luisito
Anibal (i didn't say they all had to be people we admire lol)
If you're Puerto Rican, you should immediately know who those people are, and if you don't know, go google that shit and don't admit it to nobody
We also have some who go by their last names, people who are known far and wide by many who aren't Puerto Rican even though others might have those same last names
Clemente
Lavoe
Barea
Mercado
María de Hostos
Yankee (that counts as his last name, don't @ me)
These are just a few of the names I picked, ones that stand out and mean something to me. Maybe others mean something more important to you.
And that's beautiful!
My point is, our people might be small in number, but our reach is global.
Art, sports, politics, music, writing, beauty, design, science, academia
Name a topic, an industry, and there's a high probability some Puerto Rican has excelled in that field and are known by many
Groot is Puerto Rican btw, look that shit up
John Leguizamo is NOT Puerto Rican, el es colombiano. Este cabron nos lleva mintiendo. Not that there's anything wrong with being Colombian, yo soy mitad colombiano 🇨🇴💛
(pero en mi pecho no hay un tatuaje de Colombia)
But that just goes to show you, we're so cool people lie about being Puerto Rican because it makes them look cool
What gave me the urge to write this?
Oh, nothing, just that Puerto Rico WON ITS SECOND OLYMPIC GOLD MEDAL EVER AND JASMINE CAMACHO-QUINN DESTROYED THAT RACE SHE WON BY LIKE 8 FEET SHE COULD'VE DONE THE USAIN BOLT AND CELEBRATED BEFORE REACHING THE FINISH LINE AND SHE STILL WOULD'VE WON BY A MILE
How does that make Puerto Ricans feel? I could tell you, but I'd rather show you:
Olympic Gold Medalist Jasmine Camacho-Quinn (put some respek on her name) was born in South Carolina, su mai es Boricua
Jasmine could've easily competed for Team USA (like some other vende patrias whom we shall not name and always have something to say, please crawl back into your cave nobody wants to hear from you)
But she decided she was going to rep La Isla
And it sparked some conversation about people saying she wasn't Puerto Rican enough to represent us (I won’t even link to those articles because f- those people)
Which reminds me of all the ways myself and people I know would classify someone as "Not Puerto Rican enough."
But do they speak Spanish?
Were they born on the island?
Have they ever seen a palm tree?
Let me tell you something, none of that shit matters
Porque ser Boricua isn't about where you're born, what language you speak, or the type of flora and fauna you've come into contact with
(SIDE NOTE: i've always wanted to use "flora & fauna" in something i write i'm happy it could be in an essay that means so much to me 😭 that's just a cool phrase it makes me feel intellectual and ish)
It's about love
It's about pride
It's about rePResenting
It's about knowing there's something bigger than yourself you will always fight for
That doesn't mean anyone can just claim they're Puerto Rican.
Some homie born in Iowa whose parents migrated from Germany and doesn't have a drop of Puerto Rican descent can't just start claiming he's Puerto Rican because he loves all the Bad Bunny songs (I would bet this person actually exists).
That's awesome. Thanks for supporting our culture. This ain't about you though
But if your parents are Puerto Rican and you were born in a cornfield in Iowa?
!Oh, yeah, tu eres Boricua papi!
Who are you to say someone isn't Puerto Rican because they weren't lucky enough to be born and raised on the island?
You?
A white-passing individual raised between Condado and Guaynabo speaking English for more than 70% of your life even while growing up on the island?
You?
someone who can't write a 5 paragraph essay in Spanish without using google translate because all your thoughts are in English?
You?
Someone who contributes absolutely zero to the native culture that people worldwide enjoy and try to mimic?
(david stop talking to yourself here)
If someone was born and raised in Chicago,
and they're 25 years old,
and they've never stepped foot on the island,
but they grew up in a household where their parents and grandparents and other family members are Puerto Rican and they taught them about pride and what it means to be 100x35….
that person is fucking Puerto Rican.
And there are no levels to it,
Maybe a little
Maybe a lot
Na
This shit is binary
It's either/or
If you're going to rep us
Fight for us
Protect us
Identify as us in the good and the bad
And if your lineage has even the slightest hint of factual Puerto Rican in it,
You're good in my book
If that's you, text me
Let me introduce you to my friend, Benito de Vega Baja
And then we can drive around I can show what "dando vueltas por Condado" means cuz I lived that shit
We started that shit.
Anyway, some of you might be saying:
"D, you're being too liberal with this everyone being Puerto Rican thing."
I'm not saying everyone is, but I'm saying you're wrong about the people who are not
This essay is about having more respect for the Diaspora
The people who claim our land, our culture, who fight and protect and celebrate everything we hold dear
Without ever being able to enjoy everything that being from the island means
We are privileged to be born in the greatest place on the fucking planet
And I'm sorry for the language and any disrespect you might feel, but you from ain't where I'm from
I'm from the greatest place on this Earth and any other planet we might ever step foot on or discover
A nation of fewer than 10 million people won its second Olympic gold medal ever!
(And let it not be forgotten the medals were won BY TWO WOMEN BECAUSE WOMEN ARE SO CONSISTENTLY DISRESPECTED IN OUR SOCIETY WHILE ALSO BEING THE BACKBONE OF IT)
[also, this isn't about race, there are puerto ricans of all colors, but for the record, the black woman is the most disrespected person in America, we can talk about that another day]
So when you utter the phrase:
Yo sería Borincano
Aunque naciera en la luna
Remember that applies to all Puerto Ricans
The ones who were born in Chicago, New York, Orlando, or even fucking Alaska (I'm still holding out por mi panita de los cornfrields de Iowa, I know you exist!)
Unless you have a million dollars cash to plank on, I don't think you could ever understand what it feels like to be Jay-Z
And unless you're able to scream like you just won the lottery when we win our second-ever gold medal, I don't think I could adequately explain to you what it feels like to be Puerto Rican (although I just tried)
(For the record Gold Medal for our people > a single person winning the lottery)
Even Kanye West who thinks more highly of himself than probably anyone in this galaxy, knows that my island, our island, Your island is the dopest
He even said it himself
I had a conference with the DJs, Puerto Rico 3 days
If you want some more stories about being Puerto Rican, check out the video below. It's the thing I'm most proud of that I've ever made. Thank you to my brother Giano Currie for helping me bring it to life. And if you don't want to watch it, that's cool too
Nos vemos el martes que viene
