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Mathew Ramirez Warren on Latin boogaloo and how it shaped Latino-American identity

Shad talks to director Mathew Ramirez Warren about his new doc We Like It Like That and the ways New York's 60's Boogaloo scene helped shape the American identity of Latino youth.
Pete Rodriguez and his band, Pete Rodríguez y Su Conjunto, the boogaloo band behind the song I Like It Like That. (courtesy of Pete Rodriguez)

If you were a child in the 1960s, you're probably familiar with Latin boogaloo. It was one of the countless music crazes that defined the decade.

But for many Hispanic people — then and now — it was much more than just a fad. It was an entry point to defining their unique identity in Canada and the U.S.

We kept hearing, 'Before Latin boogaloo, I wasn't really into Latin music. It was my parents' music.'- Mathew Ramirez Warren

The genre's rise and fall is the subject of a new documentary called We Like It Like That. Director Mathew Ramirez Warren talks to Shad about the film and how boogaloo helped shape the American identity of Latin youth.