Nuyorican Poets Cafe ~ New York Latin Culture Magazine

The Nuyorican Poets Cafe is a historic community cultural center in the East Village (Loisaida) that was founded by leaders of the Nuyorican Movement of the 1960s-70s. It’s a Puerto Rican venue, but everyone is welcome and everyone goes. 🇵🇷

The Nuyorican now has regular jazz nights, poetry slams, and open mics. It’s won many awards and is a place where great things were done.

In 2023, the Executive Director is Caridad de la Luz “La Bruja,” a renowned spoken word artist. She’s a fierce Boricua.

When we were in print, we used to deliver the magazine around New York. One day we walked into the Nuyorican. The guy who was working looked us up and down, looked at the Latin flags on our cover, and said, “You know how strong we would be if we were all together?” We’ll never forget that day, once upon a time at the Nuyorican Poets Cafe.

The Poetry Slam

Today the Nuyorican is New York’s home of slam poetry, which is sort of standup poetry theater, or maybe theatrical rap.

Of course we speak perfect English and perfect Spanish, but many Puerto Ricans speak what can only be described as Puerto Rican. It’s a Caribbean Spanish with its own tonalities, words, and expressions. The Puerto Rican accent lends itself to bending words just like rappers do. So poetry slams have this singing quality, just like rap.

And the Spanglish element is another twist. It used to be unique, but now that Puerto Rican music has taken over the world, everybody speaks Spanglish.

Bomba, plena and the trovadores of Puerto Rico are clearly island predecessors. The improvisation, flirting, and boasting are all there. Caribbean culture is one of the sources of rap.