Quedate Callao!

by Guest Contributor Marisol LeBron, originally published at Post Pomo Nuyorican Homo

Reggaetonero SieteNueve has released a tiraera pa Daddy Yankee due to his endorsement of John McCain. The song called “Quedate Callao” asks how much money Daddy Yankee got to sell his people out and lead them into war over “gasolina.” The chorus says “Mejor quedate callao si vas a hablar por los otros” (roughly:”it’s better that you stay quiet if you’re going to speak for us“).

The hook uses a line from a voting campaign that Daddy Yankee was part of in January 2008 called “Voto o Quedate Callao” which translates to vote or shut up, or vote or be quiet.

Raquel Rivera, has written about the campaign and what it says to try and get the youth vote, so I urge people to look at her take over at Reggaetonica.

I think that SieteNueve’s track is great and points to alot of the political reasons why people are bugging out over Daddy Yankee’s endorsement of McCain. What I think is interesting is the use of the slogan “Voto o Quedate Callao” that Daddy helped popularize now being used to silence his (non) vote. The whole voto or quedate callao campaign basically said if you’re not going to vote, or in this case you can’t vote because of neocolonial law, then you have no right to voice your opinion. I think it is interesting and telling that SieteNueve’s video ends with him saying “I endorse Don Pedro Albizu Campos,” alluding to the fact the Daddy Yankee has no business voting for Obama or McCain, because the issue is still Puerto Rican independence and neither candidate is going to provide that.

*tip of the fitted cap to Angry Brown Butch and Vivir Latino