Music legend Rubén Blades writes Editus to praise Costa Rica's World Cup achievements

By David Boddiger

The idea of sports uniting an otherwise politically troubled region might seem a little dubious and superficial at first. But there really is something to it, it seems.

Costa Rica’s beloved national men’s football team, La Sele, is receiving lots of praise from throughout Central America (and the world, really) after dominating the so-called “Group of Death” during first-round play at the World Cup Brazil 2014.

The international love-fest started with Costa Rica’s shocking upset of higher-ranked Uruguay two weeks ago, with a score of 3-1. La Sele’s second goal in that match was scored by Óscar Duarte, a 25-year-old Nicaragua-born naturalized Tico. If you’ve ever traveled to or lived in Nicaragua or Costa Rica, you’ll understand the implications of this duality of citizenship and sport, particularly given the two countries’ historic political hostility.

Reaad more of the Rubén Blades article after the jump...(more)

This Afro-Latino hip hop duo takes a hard look at the sueño americano

By Monica Campbell

Let’s start with the band’s name: Los Rakas. It’s based on a slur used in Panama for someone from the streets. A hoodlum. But the two cousins who make up the duo see things another way.

“The reason we decided to call ourselves Los Rakas is to show the world that not everything that comes from the ghetto is negative,” said Abdull Rubén Domínguez, aka Raka Dun. He’s 26, and came to the US from Panama as a teenager.

He raps, along with his cousin Ricardo Betancourt, or, as he's known on stage, Raka Rich. Betancourt was born in the San Francisco Bay Area, but his parents are from Panama.

Read more and listen to some of the Los Rakas music... (more)

Hip-Hop Culture's Impact On the Gentrification of Santa Ana

by Gabriel San Roman

A graffiti mural splashed with color and the words Santa Ana looms from the rooftop over the courtyard between Fourth and French streets. In the left-hand corner of the piece, the artist tagged the phrase "East End"—the new name of the area known for decades as Fiesta Marketplace. The brick layered walkways of Plaza Santa Ana used to be home to El Faisan, a collection of kiosks offering Westernwear and Mexican imports before disappearing like many other immigrant businesses before it.

Read more at the jump..(more)