Hip Hop in the DR
I know its a spanish speaking country but wanted to know if there are any clubs that play Hip hop music in Sosua or Puerto Plata?
I know you asked about Sosua and Puerto Plata but truth be told the bulk of the DR's hip hop scene is found in Santo Domingo and even then you'll have a tough time finding some straight up hip hop clubs. You have to determnine what a hip hop club is: a) A club that plays exclusively urban music or b) a club that holds rap and break dance and dj'ing battles. Neither of which exist in SD and the DR.
Either way if you are a real hip hop fan this is not the place for you. First, the US Hip Hop you will find here is that watered down "Gangster pop" that is played on top forty radio. Real hip hop despise that stuff. The clubs that will play a hip hop song will play one or two tracks by 50 Cent and Snoop Dogg. Garbage!
Then you might get some horrible reggeaton. Blahdy Blah and boring to boot. And then there is Rap Dominicano. Yeah this is as close as you can get in terms of rapping and rhyming, but no where near what you see in the US or even Europe (Holland has some amazing Hip Hop culture and so does Marseille, France: the heart of European hip hop)
A lot of the hip hop you hear will come from the shanty shack clubs in the barrios and then there are the freestyle battles with cats who love to rhyme but unless you know some guys in the know its not like these places will pop out at you.
I've been here a bit and have tried to step into the hip hop scene, but it bored me so I gave up trying to do it. Best bet if you want hip hop just get some kid with a big radio in his car and have him play the music while you parking lot pimp at a gas station...
Mr. Lu