Poet Caridad de la Luz Performs Live (Get Lit)

Summary

All Of It (WNYC) – "Poet Caridad de la Luz Performs Live (Get Lit)"

Date: April 2, 2024
Host: Kusha Navadar (in for Alison Stewart)
Featured Guest: Caridad de la Luz (La Bruja), poet, singer, rapper, executive director of the Nuyorican Poets Cafe

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Episode Overview

This episode brings together poetry, music, and the resilient spirit of New York City’s creative scene. Poet and performer Caridad de la Luz—known as La Bruja—joins "All Of It" for a live, electrifying spoken word and musical set as part of the "Get Lit" event. The discussion explores the intersections of hip hop, bilingual expression, cultural identity, and the ongoing evolution and impact of the Nuyorican Poets Cafe, which has just launched a major renovation milestone.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Caridad de la Luz – "Every Oyster" Live Performance (01:26 – 04:56)

• Performance Highlight: Caridad opens with her evocative song "Every Oyster," blending English and Spanish, exploring coming-of-age, generational wisdom, the challenges of girlhood, and cultural heritage.
  • Quote:
    • “Every oyster in the ocean doesn’t have a pearl. Hail Mary 14, still got my cherry. Please don’t let me be less than ordinary.” – Caridad de la Luz (01:29)
  • Themes include familial advice, self-respect, and pride in identity.
• Multilingual Verse: She weaves Spanish naturally into her performance, illustrating lived experience as a bilingual Latina in NYC.

2. The Inseparability of Poetry, Hip Hop, and Identity (05:00 – 07:51)

• Kusha Navadar / Simon Close (Get Lit Producer) Q&A: The conversation centers on how hip hop and poetry informed each other in Caridad’s creative evolution.
  • Quote:
    • “We were doing hip hop before we were told it was even hip hop...inside the house it was salsa, merengue, cha-cha... When I tried to do rhymes, I was 14. My first hip hop song was called ‘Square Pegs’.” – Caridad de la Luz (05:35–06:13)
• Breaking Barriers at Nuyorican Poets Cafe: Caridad recalls entering the male-dominated cipher circles, earning respect by returning with written "bars," and how poetry always offered a safe passage, especially amidst the challenges of the music industry.
  • Quote:
    • “Somebody was like, ‘You just a poet, you’re not an emcee.’ And I was like, I’ll be back… came back the next month with some bars… and here we are.” – Caridad de la Luz (06:13)

3. Bilingualism, Spanglish, and Cultural Expression (07:51 – 09:34)

• Language as Resource and Rebellion: Caridad champions writing in both English and Spanish—at a time when she was told to choose one over the other—and celebrates inventive Spanglish.
  • Quote:
    • “That was one of the things that people were like, you know, choose—don’t, you can’t do both. And at the time, it just didn’t seem... commercial enough.” – Caridad de la Luz (08:16)
  • Emphasizes how bilingual wordplay creates unique “delicious” expressions and honors poetic mentors like Pedro Pietri and Tato Laviera.

4. The Meaning and Power of "La Bruja" (09:34 – 12:35)

• Origin and Impact of Performer Name: Caridad explains her adoption of "La Bruja" (“The Witch” in Spanish) as a feminist, spiritual, political, and cultural act.
  • Quote:
    • “I wasn’t trying to win any popularity contests by calling myself La Bruja… My name is Caridad de la Luz, which means charity of the light, so I’ve dedicated my life to being a witch of the light and using word and arts to help illuminate truth and love.” – Caridad de la Luz (10:43)
  • She references inspirations, family ties to spirituality, and her commitment to defending children, nature, and community.

5. Reimagining the Nuyorican Poets Cafe (12:35 – 14:16)

• Milestone Moment: Caridad discusses the Cafe’s recent $24 million renovation groundbreaking and her unexpected path as executive director.
  • Quote:
    • “When I became the executive director, I resurrected it from the pandemic. It was shut down for those years… I just know that I will [do it].” – Caridad de la Luz (12:42)
• Despite physical closure, the Cafe remains vibrant with programming across the city. She encourages listeners to take part and participate in open mics—her own launchpad as an artist.

6. Live Performance – “S.P.I.C.S.” (14:28 – 16:10)

• Provocative Spoken Word: Caridad reclaims and deconstructs the slur “S.P.I.C.” through a rapid-fire acronym poem, turning it into a manifesto of resilience, identity, and pride.
  • Notable Lines:
    • “S-P-I-C-S—Spanish people in crisis, speak politely I’m crazy… Strong pro independence community… Socio-political insanity continues. Speaking purpose, constitutional—it don’t mean the same thing to me.” – Caridad de la Luz (14:56)
  • The piece is a blend of biting wit and political commentary, stressing the power of words.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “You better use your head in this world, young girl… every oyster in the ocean doesn't have a pearl.” – Caridad de la Luz, "Every Oyster" (01:26–04:56)
• “We were doing hip hop before we were told it was even hip hop.” – Caridad de la Luz (05:35)
• “The poetry was always my saving grace… no matter what was going on, that was the thing that always gave me a safe passage.” – Caridad de la Luz (07:34)
• “My name is Caridad de la Luz, which means charity of the light, so I've dedicated my life to being a witch of the light and using word and arts to help illuminate truth and love.” – Caridad de la Luz (10:43)
• “If he left, let him go.” (On spell requests as La Bruja) – Caridad de la Luz (11:54)
• “I may not know how to do it. I just know that I will.” – Caridad de la Luz (12:59)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• [01:26] – “Every Oyster” live poetry/song performance
• [05:00] – Discussion: Hip hop, poetry origins, and the NY scene
• [07:51] – On bilingual writing and Spanglish
• [09:34] – Meaning behind “La Bruja” and cultural roots
• [12:35] – Nuyorican Poets Cafe: Renovation and director role
• [14:28] – “S.P.I.C.S.” live performance and deconstruction of slur

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Final Notes

This episode is a tribute to the transformative power of poetry, music, and cross-cultural storytelling, offering a compelling look at Caridad de la Luz’s journey from Bronx teen poet to cultural leader and icon of resistance, self-definition, and light. Her performances and stories prompt listeners to honor heritage, take up the mic, and find their own voice in the city’s ever-evolving creative chorus.

Transcript

[Uncle]

I'm gonna put you on, nephew.

[Nephew]

All right, unk.

[Caridad de la Luz]

Welcome to McDonald's.

[Nephew]

Can I take your order, miss?

[Uncle]

I've been hitting up McDonald's for years. Now it's back. We need snack wraps. What's a snack wrap? It's the return of something great. Snack wrap is back.

[Kusha Navadar]

You're listening to all of it on wnyc. I'm Kusha Navadar. I'm in for Alison Stewart, who's out on medical leave. As always, our march get lit event ended with some music. It's great. And since novel Anita Damonte laughs last is about the power of of art and finding your own voice. We were really thrilled to be joined by someone who's made a career in music and spoken word poetry. Caridad de la Luz is a poet, a singer, a rapper, and the executive director of the famed Nuyorican Poets Cafe. And she actually joined us for the event on the same day that the Nuorican Poets Cafe broke new ground on their 24 million doll renovation project on the Lower east side. So it was a really great moment for us to be gathering together. In just a bit, you're going to hear Cari Dodd's conversation with get lit music producer Simon Close. But first, here's Karidad performing as la bruja with a special live rendition of her song Every oyster.

[Caridad de la Luz]

You better use your head in this world young girl just couldn't feel the song. Every oyster in the ocean doesn't have a Pearl. Hail Mary 14, still got my cherry Please don't let me be less than ordinary Grandma tells me this world could be very scary I need to think a lot more and be a little less daring I know she's sharing and only trying to be caring But I can't help looking back at the guys that are staring. Be picky by what I wear spend too much on my hair buy makeup I could share with my girlfriends in the stairs but we still kids. I don't wanna be big at Christmas time. I wanna hear that Santa sent me this. Every year grandma's there to give me her kiss. I wanna live the kind of life I that my mama wish make them proud and not piss Giving no reason to diss in school. Try my best and learn to treat myself with respect and realize love ain't all about the sex and feel good about having my virginity kept. Amen. You better use your head in this.

[Nephew]

World, young girl.

[Caridad de la Luz]

Every oyster in the ocean doesn't have a pearl. You better use your head in this world, young girl in your eyes and in you I see the world. Wish I could make it rain peace, love and happiness. Wish I could take your pain and put my joy where your sadness is. Growing up, you didn't have to say much. But everything you did left me impressed. I looked up to you, how could I resist? You were the best. Nothing less than influential. Took care of school, food, clothes and residential. God bless you for being special. God forgive me for the times I used to stress you. My mistakes were not meant to hurt or disrespect. Been pissed at myself for being less than you expected. But the bad I've done, I've tried to correct it. Problems I faced it. Time was not wasted, negative replaced it. Now I wanna do the things to make your face light up. Walk past the old crew that made me stray from you. When I did the things you told me not to. Looked you in the eyes and said it was not true. I was scared. You better lose your head in this world, young girl. Every oyster in the ocean doesn't have a. You better use your head in this world, young girl? Cause I'm looking in your eyes and in you I see the world. On my knees I feel pleased that.

[Nephew]

I'm able to breathe.

[Caridad de la Luz]

And the warmth I have for you. The coldest winter couldn't freeze Mommy. Mucha gracia poldame y Rosa Blanca Concada paso yo trato de pensadlo usando mi cabeza entendiendo nue trap. Every oyster in the ocean doesn't have a. You better use your head in this. Cause I'm looking in your eyes and in you I see the world.

[Nephew]

Thank you.

[Simon Close]

So I guess I want to jump in by. Before that song, you talked about spoken word and hip hop. And in. Anita Demonte laughs last. Raquel is a big hip hop fan. I think the quote is she loved art history, but she was obsessed with music, hip hop most of all. So I'm interested in your experience. Did you get into hip hop through spoken word and poetry? Was it the reverse? Are they not really separate in your mind or.

[Caridad de la Luz]

Hmm.

[Nephew]

Well, I'm born in the Bronx, still living there.

[Caridad de la Luz]

And, you know, so I was born.

[Nephew]

In 1973, the same year that hip hop started. And so it was. We were doing hip hop before we were told it was even hip hop. So, I mean, admittedly, inside the house, it was salsa, merengue, cha cha, you know, all the Latin, you know, dances and music and, you know, so when I. When I started trying to, like, do rhymes, I was like, 14. I had started my Own little girl group, it was called Vogue. Before all of that, like I was, I knew and you know, so my.

[Caridad de la Luz]

First hip hop song was when I.

[Nephew]

Was 14 and it was called Square Pegs. So I think it's always been connected to me. But when I went to the New York and Poets Cafe was when I realized I was not an emcee. I went with my poetry and, you know, got on the open mic and then outside there would be these ciphers. Male dominated, of course. And you know, like I remember, you know, somebody was like, you just a poet, you're not an emcee. And I was like, I'll be back. And so I came back the next month with some bars and then just started going in and, and here we are. I mean, I had a record deal.

[Caridad de la Luz]

At one point, but it was also.

[Nephew]

You know, male dominated. And I thought I would be escaping it by getting out of like hip hop music, you know, not really focusing my career on hip hop because I mean, there was, you know, sexual harassment, sexual assault, sexual. Just, just all kind of like always want. They were like, don't be political, you know, be sexy or, you know, do this. I even had a reggaeton song called Migatita Negra and that was, I thought it was a feminist approach because I had a milkman, but I never showed his face, just his body. You know, I tried to do something different, but, you know, it's been a challenge. But the poetry was always my saving grace. The, the writing and the poetry, you know, no matter what was going on, that was the thing that always gave me a safe passage.

[Simon Close]

Was so in that last song you, you wrote in both English and Spanish, were both languages always in your, in the poetry and verses that you wrote or.

[Nephew]

Yes, you know, that was one of the things too that at the time, you know, nobody was really doing that other than my, my, my, my friend in heaven now, Hurricane G. She was like the first boricua that I heard in hip hop that I was like.

[Caridad de la Luz]

Oh, oh, we doing it, we're doing it.

[Nephew]

You know, and she was a santera and she, you know, brought in, you know, the La Reli Hyung and her beliefs into it. So she was an inspiration to me. But I always was bilingual and that was one of the things that people were like, you know, choose don't. You can't do both. And at the time it just didn't seem. It wasn't commercial enough.

[Simon Close]

Do you find there are some things that you can express in one language better than, than the other?

[Nephew]

Oh God, yes. There's things in Spanish in Spanglish is fantastic too. I'm like, yeah, we make. We make up some words that are so delicious.

[Caridad de la Luz]

Like if you acting well.

[Nephew]

You know, you know, don't park there, you'll get a ticket. You know, if it's cold, when it's cold, you put on go, you know, so, yeah, it's. It's a ever evolving language too. So I. I love playing with both languages and I learned from the best, you know, Pedro Pietri, Tato Laviera, Miguel Algarin. You know, those were mentors to me and they inspired me immensely.

[Simon Close]

Your performer name is a Spanish word. Abruja?

[Nephew]

Yes. What.

[Simon Close]

What's valuable to you? Or I guess. Well, it translates to witch, right?

[Nephew]

It is the witch.

[Simon Close]

How is an alias valuable to you as a performer?

[Nephew]

How is it valuable? I mean, choose. It was a feminist choice, it was a spiritual choice, it was a political choice, cultural choice to call myself La Bruja. I, you know, I wasn't trying to win any popularity contests with by calling myself la Bruja. You know, I also, I'm named after la carida del cobre. And, you know, we had an altar at home, and I just didn't understand why it was a secret. There was a botanica on every corner. I was like, why? Why is this a secret? You know, and it was something that gave me so much strength that I. And I was also inspired by a woman named Selena Gonzalez, who was from Cuba. And she. She was the first music that I heard. It was Epiritigmo y Santeria. And she celebrated the orishas. And that was like the only time I really heard my name in any music, you know, La Carida. But she had this one song, and in it she's like, ayuda me, bruja, Abre me lo camino Bruja, you know, help me, help me, bruja Open up my journey. And I was like, wow, could I be a bruja? Like, that would be great. And I also. My parents got married on Halloween. I mean, you know, so. And you know, when we write, we spell, we are spelling. And I believe, you know, in the power of word, the magic that it has. I. But la bruja carrying that, it's been. It's been a badge of honor. But it hasn't been easy. You know, I've had people have, you know, always take like a second look, like, what kind of brew? How are you? You know, but my name is caridad de la luz, which means charity of the light. So I've, you know, dedicated my life to being a witch of the light and using word and arts to help illuminate truth and. And love. So. And. And, you know, and it also the kind of bruja that I am, not that I'm like, doing any, you know, negative spells, because I do believe that when you do that, it comes back to you triple fold. So you're doing a disservice to yourself. You know, like, I've had people because I'm called Abrujabi, like, can you make my man come back to me? And I'm like, if he left, let him go. But, you know, of course, being la bruja, I've had to be fierce and defend myself and defend others, especially children and nature. Like, I. Like, I've been quick to defend children than I've been to defend myself, you know, but the kind of bruja I am depends on you.

[Simon Close]

Today was a pretty exciting day. You just broke ground on the renovations for which are planned to last over the next few years, I think.

[Nephew]

Yes. So the New York and Poets Cafe has been, you know, it's in 100-year-old building. And, you know, when I became the executive director, I resurrected it from the pandemic. It was shut down for those years, and that was crazy. I mean, I've never been the executive director. And so they were just like, let bruja do it. They believed in me. The board believed in me. Even I didn't even believe in me. I was like, oh, my God. But when they asked me, I just, I said, okay, you know, well, I may not know how to do it. I just know that I will. And learned as I went along and still was able to conduct shows in this space that if you plugged in two heaters at one time, it would.

[Caridad de la Luz]

Blow up the house.

[Nephew]

But we were able to survive the two years and do wonderful performances. But now, you know, this has been 10 years in the making, this new year reconstruction. And so we've closed our physical doors and we thought it was only going to be three years. We were told today that it's only. It's going to be two years.

[Simon Close]

Oh, great.

[Caridad de la Luz]

Yeah. And.

[Nephew]

But, you know, a lot of people think we've closed our doors and we're done. We've, you know, we've been like the big bank. We closed the doors and we're now doing performances and programming everywhere. So go to nyerecan.org and see and join us and get on an open mic. That's how I started my Career on an open mic at the New York Compose Cafe, you know, in. And look what's happened, you know.

[Simon Close]

Well, I'm gonna let you take the mic back and get off the stage, but. Carrie De La Luz, thank you so much for joining tonight.

[Caridad de la Luz]

Thank you.

[Nephew]

We're gonna get a little political with acronyms, but this song, I remember, it was. It was controversial because somebody told me that this word didn't exist anymore. And then when I looked in the dictionary, there it was. I was like, oh, well, we gonna write about this, huh? My people, let's let them know. Let's let them know, huh? Let's go.

[Caridad de la Luz]

It don't mean the same thing to me. S P I C S P, I C S P, I C S P I C I C they call me ESP I see what I see Spanish people in crisis Speak politely I'm crazy. Spain probably isn't caring Statehood probably isn't coming Separated people inevitably crumble Start participating in culture Strong pro independence community Society prefers indifference Collectively speaking powerfully involves commitment Similar patterns in chimps Slander purposely impairs confidence Surviving people's insensitive comments Socio political insanity continues Speaking purpose constitutional it don't mean the same thing to me S P I C S P I C I define my dictionary esp I see what I see still placed in cadenas sees Puerto Ricans in chancletas Spiritualists praying ignite candles Some propaganda is comedy Stop praising ignorant celebrities.

[Kusha Navadar]

That was Caridad de la Luz with a special live performance from the march get lit with all of it book club event with author Sochiel Gonzalez. And hey, that's all of it for today. I'm Kusha Navadar. Thank you so much for listening. And we're gonna meet you back here tomorrow. See you then.

[Caridad de la Luz]

Shoe points in pale cockroaches so at parades including Columbus. Soy perfecta inventando caridades Seeking past inner conquistador Speak properly in code Some poetry.

[Uncle]

I'm going to put you on, nephew.

[Nephew]

All right?

[Caridad de la Luz]

Welcome to McDonald's.

[Nephew]

Can I take your order, miss?

[Uncle]

I've been hitting up McDonald's for years. Now it's back. We need snack wraps. What's a snack wrap? It's the return of something great. Snack wrap is back.