Mexican American Hip Hop Archive

The Mexican American Hip Hop Archive (MAHHA) documents, preserves and advances Mexican American contribution to and achievement in Hip Hop culture. We curate, produce, promote and distribute content related to the past, present and future of Mexican-American emceeing, dancing, DJing, street art, fashion, music production and media. 

The project is inspired by the work of the Smithsonian Hip Hop Archive, Harvard Hiphop Archive and Research Institute, Cornell Hip Hop Collection and UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center. MAHHA was created to address the gap in documentation and representation.  

KID FROST’ HISPANIC CAUSING PANIC 30 YEARS LATER 

2020 marks the 30 year anniversary of Kid Frost’ seminal rap album, Hispanic Causing Panic. Its signature song, La Raza, serves as a touchstone for Mexican-American contributions to hip hop and pop culture. Behind the bass, bounce and thump, though, is a captivating look into Mexican-American youth culture of the late 1980’s and early ‘90’s.

On this 3-part podcast, multimedia producer Carlos “Bookworm Brown” Aguilar  and Boston University professor Jonathan Calvillo, take listeners on a hunt for the story behind the album, unpacking history, exploring identity, banging hip hop and chasing down  Kid Frost along the way.  In the process, they launch the Mexican American Hip Hop Archive and convince Kid Frost to provide the inaugural artifact.