Paper Planes X Puerto Rico's 50 Years of Contribution to Hip-Hop
Paper Planes provided me with the opportunity of capturing their new capsule for the 50th anniversary of Puerto Rico's contribution to Hip Hop. I set out over a weekend in May and began thinking about what it meant to not only be "Nuyorican" but also a die hard Hip Hop fan, in the birthplace of the genre we all hold so dear to our hearts.
New York has a grittiness, and aura, an ambience that goes hand in hand with Hip Hop; characteristic’s we all seem to embody as well. From Big Pun and the Terror Squad to Bad Bunny… PR’s presence is strong in Hip Hop and it isn’t going anywhere. The level of impact made even more evident with cars that literally shake the block with their subwoofers, flags taller than our baby cousins, and murals of the greats that brought Hip Hop to the world stage, from the streets of the Barrio.
Thank you to everyone who showed us love in Los Sures, especially Mark, who made sure we were set on the 9. Major shoutout to Yvette who opened her amazing home in the Bronx to us, which literally transports you to a Finca en Mayaguez. And to Shanice for taking us around her neighborhood and making us feel welcomed.
Mucho amor y paz para todo mis Boricuas and the Spanish community in NY as a whole. This project was a blessing!