se consume

In 2015, Jesús González Manrique was recorded with a phone camera rapping free style outside his highschool in México City. This video quickly became viral and his verses—in which he didn’t attack his opponent but rather were a verbalization of his stream of consciousness— became a meme. Here are two examples of his verses:

“El mundo se consume en dinero El dinero es dinero (x3)
Aprende algo: dinero”

“Yo soy España
Yo amo España
Yo soy al monarquía española No hay error (x3)
¡Y España te ataca!”

Translation:

“The world is being consumed by money Money is money (x3)
Learn something: money”

“I am Spain
I love Spain
I am the Spanish Monarchy There’s no mistake (x3) And Spain attacks!”

He was given the nickname “Mc Dinero” (“MC Money”) and was generally portrayed as a funny meme of a guy who didn’t know how to rap. However, I always found MC Dinero’s choice of words fascinating. Why choose to say that the world is being consumed by money instead of rapping about his rival, as he was supposed to? Why invoke—and, in a way, embody—his country’s historical colonizer whose systemic legacy is not yet gone but still very much alive? I don’t have the answers but this piece is an homage to MC Dinero and his very particular way of voicing the collective imaginary—even if inadvertently.