Producing a Crossover Fail: A Case Study of Latin Pop Star "Nigga"/Flex

• In Event: ICA Plenary Interactive Paper/Poster Session I
  In Interactive Paper Session: Ethnicity and Race in Communication Interactive Poster Session

Abstract

This paper highlights a Latin pop star known as “Flex” in the US and as “Nigga” across Latin America. As part of the Latin music industry’s global launch of this artist, Internet fan outreach and viral marketing strategies were devised to divert attention from the “Nigga” moniker by rebranding and repackaging him as “Flex.” Yet, the use of a racially charged moniker and dual marketing strategies worked against his global branding appeal and produced a crossover fail. Through Internet discourse analysis, I examine four social networking fan pages maintained (2007-2008) under each moniker. This case study is particularly compelling, as it analyzes how representations of Blackness and Latinidad are produced in a hegemonic system that depends on uneven access to power. Extending critical work on Latin popular culture, it also interrogates the pressures of race, nation, and commodification on Latin crossover artists producing and globally circulating representations of Blackness and Latinidad.

Author

• Michelle M Rivera, U of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign