Mexicans rappers transform Cervantes’ work into hip-hop

World Today

Mexicans rappers transform Cervantes' works into hip hop2

A festival honoring the author of “Don Quixote” is trying something modern to mark the 400th anniversary of his death.

It has launched a competition to turn passages from the works of Cervantes into rap songs.

CCTV America’s Martin Markovits explains.
Follow Martin Markovits on Twitter @MartinMarkovits

One might think that it would be difficult to find an outlet that can get today’s youth interested in the classical Spanish literature of Miguel de Cervantes.

But Mexico’s International Cervantes Festival program director feels she has found it. This year, she and her team launched a competition that allows rappers to incorporate passages from the literary giant into hip-hop.

The festival attracted over 80 rappers across Mexico for the first ever “Cervantes in Rap” competition. Rappers was compete it to see who could best take lines from classics works from Cervantes and incorporate them into their rhymes.

Winning the top prizes were Alfredo Martinez known in the Mexican Hip-Hop world as Danger and Jesus Camacho who came in second.

Earlier this month, the eight finalists traveled to Spain to face off against their Spanish counterparts.

Although, the three Mexican rappers lost in the grand tournament in Spain, they will go on and compete in the Cervantes festival this October.