Fania Takes Nueva York | From Our Thing: The Birth of Salsa in Nueva York

8:52Johnny Pacheco:I just got back from an amazing family vacation in Northern California. After years of trips to large cities, my wife and I took off north with the kids to Marin, just north of San Francisco, where we spent all of our time in Redwood Forest hiking places like Bear Valley down to Stinson Beach. It was the perfect reset for our busy lives. Plus, the drive was long and car time with the kids always makes for magical moments. Trips like that are truly unforgettable, and what makes it even better is booking your stays on Airbnb. Now, if you're planning any upcoming trips, you could be listing your space on Airbnb.

9:26Johnny Pacheco:It's a smart, practical way to make use of your place while you're away and earn some extra cash at the same time. And with the co-host network, you could hire a local co-host to handle everything like creating your listing, managing reservations, guest communication, on-site support, and even styling your space. So while you're making your own memories, your home can be helping another family make theirs. Find a co-host at Airbnb.com slash host.

9:52Rosie Perez:You know that awkward feeling when you have to ask a friend to pay you back for a dinner or a night out? Apple Cash makes it so much easier. Everything happens right where you're already talking in the Messages app. I just tap plus to find Apple Cash and settle up with a text. And once you're settled up, you can spend the money you receive anywhere Apple Pay is accepted.

10:14Jerry Masucci:Plus, it's private and secure, with every one of your transactions protected by Face ID, Touch ID, or passcode.

10:22Rosie Perez:Whether it's splitting dinner or paying someone back for a trip, it's just so easy to use Apple Cash. Apple Cash services are provided by Green Dot Bank.

10:32Jerry Masucci:Member FDIC. Terms apply.

10:35Johnny Pacheco:The future won't wait, and neither should you. That's why American Public University offers master's programs designed for momentum, affordable, high quality, and flexible, so you keep moving forward. With career-relevant programs in business, healthcare, education, IT, and more, you can gain skills you can use right away and the confidence to power your next move. American Public University, made for what's next. Learn more at apu.apus.edu.

11:33Rosie Perez:Brooklyn, listening to Salsa music. As a New Yorican, I sometimes questioned if I was Puerto Rican enough for the motherland. Salsa reminded me that identity is not just inherited, it is created, lived, celebrated, and it was born and raised right here on the streets of New York City.

12:01Rosie Perez:So, that's where we're going to start. Episode 1. Fania takes Nueva York.

12:08Jerry Masucci:Nueva York!

12:11Rosie Perez:From Brooklyn to the Bronx, music has always been a part of New York City's heartbeat. Coming from windows, people's cars, family parties, check, check, and check. The hi-fi was up and bumping the latest tune. People would bring over their favorite records and share their latest finds. For our family, that usually included artists from Fania Records, the motel of Latin music.

12:37Jerry Masucci:You know them.

12:39Rosie Perez:Willie Colon. Héctor Lavot.

12:40Jerry Masucci:Cheo Feliciano. Larry Hollow.

12:42Rosie Perez:Ismael Rivera.

12:43Jerry Masucci:Roberto Ruena y Subopolo. Ray Barreto. Ruben Blade. Celia Cruz. Ray Barreto. Larry Hollow. Timaya Rivera. Héctor Lavot. Ray Barreto. Ruben Blade. Celia Cruz. Cheo Feliciano. Willie Colon. Héctor Lavot. Celia Cruz. Johnny Pacheco. Johnny Pacheco. Johnny Pacheco.

13:00Rosie Perez:These artists were the soundtrack to our lives. And they were here in New York City. Because if you wanted to make music, New York was where you came to make it. And the 60s was a time of change. Change in music, change in politics, change in culture.

13:23Jerry Masucci:We're taking over schools to ask for Black and Puerto Rican studies. The civil rights is going on. We're watching people crossing the bridge in the South. Full and equal freedom for all of our citizens, regardless of race or regardless of color. And getting shot with hoses from fire and being sicked on with German shepherds.

13:45Rosie Perez:Aurora Flores is a Puerto Rican journalist and writer who once worked for Fania Records and grew up in New York City. She remembers Puerto Rican activists mobilizing in the 60s.

13:57Jerry Masucci:They were advocating for the liberation of Puerto Rico. And we're marching, you know, against the Vietnam War. The war in Vietnam is a war of imperialist aggression against the colored people. In East Harlem, we're more into civil rights. We're more integrated with the black community. We were into bell-bottom jeans, you know, and torn-off T-shirts and no bra.

14:25Rosie Perez:The sneaker generation, as they were nicknamed, were going against the grain, changing things up from what their parents used to do. Their parents who used to hit the big ballrooms and big mambo numbers. You know the big bands and the boleros and merengues.

14:43Jerry Masucci:The 60s was a big shift. From Big Bang, from Mambo, from Rumba and Merengue, to Charanga, to Pachanga. In 1960, when the whole world was doing twists, New York Latinos were doing Pachanga.

15:02Rosie Perez:And don't forget, rock and roll was also taking over in the 60s. Young people in the U.S. used rock and roll to rebel. American kids rejected the big band music of their parents.

15:15Jerry Masucci:They out and out rejected and embraced rock and roll. Then by the time 64 came in, the Beatles, that took over.

15:27Rosie Perez:We were listening to rock and roll and soul too, but many Latino teenagers didn't see the need to completely reject their parents' music. We didn't do that.

15:37Jerry Masucci:We respected our parents' Puerto Rican music. We respected the Cuban music. But then we mixed it up with our music, our influences, with jazz, with rock, with what was going on, with English. And we called it salsa.

15:58Rosie Perez:Latinos were adapting the music of the past to vibe with what they were feeling at the time. And at that time, it was all about a new kind of dance, the pachanga. It's kind of like salsa to the naked eye, but more funky, more street. Often involves a pañuelo and some jumping.

16:20Jerry Masucci:The thing that came up was a pachanga.

16:22Rosie Perez:This is musician Johnny Pacheco speaking to author Mary Kant for her book, Salsa Talks.

16:29Jerry Masucci:It was number one. I started the dance and the charanga craze.

16:32Rosie Perez:Charanga was a light-feeling Cuban music, the music you dance the pachanga to. Get it? The name pachanga is actually a fusion of his name, pa for pacheco and changa for charanga, because Johnny is the one who started the dance craze, and he was literally bringing down the house as shows as he told Aurora Flores in an interview.

17:00Jerry Masucci:When I opened the palladium, The ceiling fell down and there was a car dealer and a drugstore. All the medication went on the floor and they had to put steel beams in order for me to come in with the pachanga. Johnny was like my big brother, you know, just a very lovable guy. There's really not a bad bone in his body.

17:21Rosie Perez:This is Alex Basucci, who worked alongside Johnny at Fania Records.

17:26Jerry Masucci:Always had a smile on his face, cigar in his hand, you know, and a joke on his tongue. He was always telling jokes.

17:33Rosie Perez:Let me tell you more about Johnny, because he's one of the main characters in this whole story.

17:42Rosie Perez:Juan Azarillas Pacheco Nipping, a.k.a. Johnny Pacheco, was born in the Dominican Republic and was exposed to music young.

17:51Jerry Masucci:My father was a bandleader. He used to have Oqueta Tanta Cecilia, which was the number one orchestra in that era.

17:57Rosie Perez:His father, renowned band leader and clarinetist, gifted him a harmonica one year, and that was that.

18:04Jerry Masucci:The first instrument that I got was a harmonica that was given to her. By the time I was about seven, I was playing merengues already.

18:14Rosie Perez:Johnny's family fled the Dominican Republic because of the infamous dictator, Rafael Trujillo. The Pacheco family did not sympathize with the dictator. and if you weren't down with Trujillo, it was very easy to turn up missing. So Johnny's father worked tirelessly to get his family out of the country, finally able to bring Johnny over to New York City when he was 11. After going through the public school system, he eventually studied percussion at Juilliard, the world-renowned music school. By the late 50s, Johnny was gaining traction with his orchestra, Pacheco Isu Charanga.

18:51Jerry Masucci:I was trying to get the group recorded. I never gave up. So I went in the studio and I did a demo. Nobody wanted. They said, that's the crap. It's going to die. Forget about that. Then comes Alegre Records, Al Santiago. Al Santiago came in and he says, you want to record, kid? I'll give you a contract.

19:12Rosie Perez:Al Santiago was a record producer who started Alegre Records, a.k.a. Casa Alegre, out of the Bronx.

19:19Jerry Masucci:Al Santiago was the first one to record these guys when nobody else would record them.

19:27Rosie Perez:Johnny also trusted Al Santiago. Al had grown up enthralled with Latin music, even as a kid, hanging out at the Palladium, the legendary New York City concert hall. Here is Al speaking with journalist David Karp in the 90s before he passed.

19:44Jerry Masucci:I used to be the band boy to my uncle's band who played the Palladium. and I at least was on the bandstand giving out the music. I remember going up those long flight of stairs, those many, many steps, and hearing the brass section. Ba-da-da-da, ba-da-da-da, ba-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da. That is my favorite Mambo phrase, and I'll never forget it.

20:14Rosie Perez:the palladium ballroom was one of the most famous establishments of the time a legend in the heart of midtown the club was home to the biggest acts and best dancers they wanted you to

20:26Jerry Masucci:be dressed appropriately you had to have a jacket you couldn't get in unless you wore a tie and if If you didn't have one, you were forced to rent a real ugly, wrinkled, horrible tie. And of course, in those days, we didn't have jeans and we didn't have sneakers and no one would dare go like that.

20:45Rosie Perez:The big bands played at the clubs all over town, but they all wanted top billing at Palladium. The players were dressed to the nines, the best dancers all up front, absorbing the sounds of the percussion, feeling the clave. Ba, ba, ba, ba, ba.

21:02Jerry Masucci:So all this is happening, and then clubs are happening. Not only is Harlem all over the Bronx. One of the reasons clubs came up was because the factories, you know, the whole, you know, industrial revolution, and the way it happened on the islands and all of that. People needed a place on the weekends to just relax. This was not farm work anymore.

21:26Rosie Perez:The people needed this music. They craved it. And that created competition all over the city. Because you had to get out and dance at the best spots with the best orchestras. You needed an outlet. And let me tell you something. Dancing does something to your brain. It changes you. It makes you more confident. Let me be blunt. You may not be very good looking. But boy, if you could dance, people waited in line for you. and the dancing at these clubs, it was hot. It was sensual and man, did it make you sweat with your clothes on. So without even meaning to, it was a big outlet and packed clubs meant packed wallets for the owners.

22:15Rosie Perez:So the music had to be top notch.

22:22Johnny Pacheco:I just got back from an amazing family vacation in Northern California. After years of trips to large cities, my wife and I took off north with the kids to Marin, just north of San Francisco, where we spent all of our time in Redwood Forest hiking places like Bear Valley down to Stinson Beach. It was the perfect reset for our busy lives. Plus, the drive was long and car time with the kids always makes for magical moments. Trips like that are truly unforgettable, and what makes it even better is booking your stays on Airbnb. Now, if you're planning any upcoming trips, you could be listing your space on Airbnb.

22:56Johnny Pacheco:It's a smart, practical way to make use of your place while you're away and earn some extra cash at the same time. And with the co-host network, you could hire a local co-host to handle everything, like creating your listing, managing reservations, guest communication, on-site support, and even styling your space. So while you're making your own memories, your home can be helping another family make theirs. Find a co-host at Airbnb.com slash host. The future won't wait, and neither should you. That's why American Public University offers master's programs designed for momentum, affordable, high quality, and flexible, so you keep moving forward.

23:35Johnny Pacheco:With career-relevant programs in business, healthcare, education, IT, and more, you can gain skills you can use right away and the confidence to power your next move. American Public University, made for what's next. Learn more at apu.apus.edu. Hey, it's Jacob Goldstein from Business History. In our new series, American Genius, we tell the stories of three great writers who changed the way business works in America. Our first episode is about Benjamin Franklin, who, among many other things, was a best-selling business writer. Take a listen. He's writing this much later in his life, consciously creating this image of himself.

24:20Johnny Pacheco:And I do want to emphasize how unusual this model is at the time, this self-made man myth, because you don't want to be self-made. It's low class to be self-made. You know, this idea that we have today is the opposite. Right. And it comes from Franklin. Today, there is the derisive term nepo-baiting.

24:40Jerry Masucci:Well, exactly right. Right. And these days, if you are a billionaire, you had better have a Benjamin Franklin story about starting in a garage, coming up with the idea from nothing.

24:50Johnny Pacheco:And here is Benjamin Franklin inventing it right before our eyes. This has been brought to you by Odoo. To listen to more of our American Genius series, listen to business history. New episodes release every Wednesday on the iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your podcasts.

25:11Rosie Perez:So back to our hero story. A young Johnny Pacheco had just signed with Alegre Records and Al Santiago. His first album with the label, Pacheco y su charanga, was a hit.

25:31Rosie Perez:In one of his early songs, he repeats, an African term meaning joy or happiness. The percussion is the backbone, still marking that clave. Ba, ba, ba, ba, ba. With a cowbell, marking the mambo section. The whole song is a party. And mark my word, it made you want to dance. Mucho swing.

26:03Rosie Perez:Johnny was a genius. He could play everything well. He had refined playing percussion at Juilliard. But thanks to that, he also played clarinet, violin, and one of his signatures, the flute.

26:27Jerry Masucci:Pacheco was incredibly knowledgeable about music.

26:31Rosie Perez:That's Bernie Fox, one of Fania's original sound engineers. You heard him up top.

26:36Jerry Masucci:If Pacheco had to overdub a maraca part or a guido part on a live recording, he didn't have to look at music. If once he heard the music once, he knew all the breaks, he knew all the everything, and he would just go and play it.

26:52Rosie Perez:There was nothing Johnny couldn't do. Johnny even worked on The Tonight Show on NBC. So, anyway, back to Alegre. After that initial honeymoon phase ended, Johnny realized something was amiss at the label.

27:09Jerry Masucci:We were selling records and the money wasn't coming in. They were spending money like it was going out of style. And that really ticked me off.

27:16Rosie Perez:So Johnny Pacheco decided he would leave Alegre for bigger dreams as he told Aurora Flores in an interview.

27:24Jerry Masucci:That I wanted to have the best orchestra ever, getting all the best musicians, putting them together.

27:30Rosie Perez:And by this time, Johnny, he was a star. His record had been a hit.

27:37Jerry Masucci:This record at that time sold over 100 ,000 copies.

27:42Rosie Perez:Making sure you heard that right. 100 ,000 copies in 1961. This is not streaming sales or digital downloads. This was pushing music on the radio and physical albums sold without any of the modern tools to get your name out there. Think about that. Johnny was huge, but his personal life was suffering. He was getting divorced at the time. Johnny needed a divorce lawyer. His divorce lawyer was Jerry Masucci.

28:16Jerry Masucci:It started at a party.

28:18Rosie Perez:That's Jerry Masucci, the other central character of our story. He speaks here to author Mary Kent for her book, Falsa Talks.

28:27Jerry Masucci:He was with Allegra at the time, Rickard. He was unhappy.

28:32Rosie Perez:Johnny met Jerry about the divorce, but soon the two hit it off when they talked about their mutual love for Latin music.

28:39Jerry Masucci:He's a very charming guy, Jerry. You know, very charming.

28:42Rosie Perez:This is Alex Masucci, who you heard from earlier, who is also Jerry's younger brother.

28:48Jerry Masucci:And he was really a jock, you know, he was always playing ball.

28:52Rosie Perez:Jerry and Alex grew up in Brooklyn, New York. Their parents were immigrants from Italy. And Alex remembers that even as a kid, Jerry loved Latin music.

29:03Jerry Masucci:When I was a kid, we shared a bed. So he would come home and he'd put on Latin music. And I'd say to myself, you know, how come I don't understand? How does he understand this? What is this guy? Why is he listening to this?

29:20Rosie Perez:Before he was a divorce lawyer or a cop, Jerry was in the Navy. And the Navy sent him to Cuba.

29:27Jerry Masucci:I worked in Havana. I went to school in Mexico. I always sort of had a feeling for Latin things.

29:36Rosie Perez:Jerry's time in Cuba really left a mark on him. Before the revolution, Havana was ultimately a U.S. playground filled with casinos and clubs and everything that was prohibited or taboo in the U.S. at the time.

29:51Jerry Masucci:Imagine leaving, you live behind a candy store in Brooklyn, and, you know, you're a jock and, you know, your biggest experience is going in a corner bar, you know, and all of a sudden he's in Havana. Would sell your crew singing on the corner at a cafe and all these girls dancing to Latin music and all these clubs. And then they would race, you know, cucarachas between the track. You know, it was just action town. You know, the richest people will say that and a cab driver who went there with no money. would say the same thing. It was a wild town, Havana.

30:28Rosie Perez:Jerry got back to New York and tried to find his way.

30:32Jerry Masucci:He was the youngest cop on the force. He became a cop on his 21st birthday. Jerry was always trying to start businesses. You know, one time he started this, you know, the electric carts that they use now? He had it years ago. And I believe he was traveling around the country with Mario Andretti trying to sell these carts. You know, he was always trying something. And then Jerry met Johnny.

30:55Rosie Perez:Johnny Pacheco, who happened to need a divorce and who also happened to be one of the hottest Latin musicians of the time. Soon Jerry invited Johnny to dinner at the Masucci's one weekend.

31:08Jerry Masucci:My mother, she worked eight hours a day in a factory, sewing pockets, you know what that is? Just go boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. And then she would cook. She'd make antipasta that was like, it was like a piece of art, you know? She'd roll all the salami up, put it in certain spots, and it was amazing. And then she'd make pasta, sausages, meatballs, brajol, and then she'd make chicken cutlets. So one day Johnny comes over. I was sitting outside, my mother was coming for a Sunday dinner, and all of a sudden this Mercedes pulls up. You know, there were no Mercedes in my neighborhood.

31:51Jerry Masucci:I didn't know if I knew what a Mercedes was. And Johnny gets out and Mona gets out, his second wife. And she was gorgeous. I mean, really, I'll never forget when she got out of that car.

32:08Rosie Perez:And then it became official. Here's Jerry again.

32:13Jerry Masucci:Johnny said, I want to start a record company. So we became partners.

32:20Rosie Perez:Jerry had teamed up with Johnny to create Bania Records, a new label that they said would be favorable to musicians, one that would be like a family.

32:30Jerry Masucci:My mother and father gave them the money to do the album, which was a lot of money for them to give. You know, they were making$28 a week.

32:38Rosie Perez:Tamasuchi's mom gave them$2 ,500 and they were off. Johnny would serve as musical director and Jerry would handle the business side, even if at first that was a work in progress.

32:53Jerry Masucci:He didn't know anything about the music business. You know, they opened up a phone book. I got the yellow pages out and called up the recording studio and jacket place, label place, and we made a record.

33:06Rosie Perez:Together, Johnny and Jerry, Jerry and Johnny, a real dynamic duo.

33:12Jerry Masucci:Johnny is probably one of the most talented showmen in the history of the business. An incredible songwriter. Fabulous food player. And a wonderful guy, you know? I mean, I don't think either one of them could have done it without each other, period. Jerry was a true fan of the music. He really got into the music big time.

33:35Rosie Perez:Harvey Abbein, a popular music producer and musician.

33:38Jerry Masucci:Fania, the name Fania is a coffee shop in Cuba where a lot of guys went to hang out.

33:44Rosie Perez:There's some debate about that name. Johnny is stuck by his version in many interviews that the name came from a Cuban song called Fania Bunche, originally written by Renaldo Bolaños. He also said that there was a Cuban group called Fania.

34:02Jerry Masucci:It was a group of individuals in Cuba that they had this club and was from good players only. And the name attracted me so much, I put Fania. Instead of Fania, Fania. I said, this will sound not only good to the Spanish, but to Americans. They will say Fania Records.

34:21Rosie Perez:Whatever the reason, the name Fania stuck. I'll take it. Harvey got involved right from the onset through a mutual bandmate one of Fania's first artists Larry Harlow

34:34Jerry Masucci:my bookkeeper was Larry Harlow's mother okay Larry comes to see his mother during the day and tell her about that he just signed a contract with this new record company owned by an Italian lawyer and Pacheco he said Harvey you want to meet this guy Jerry Masucci I think you two would get along as Jerry said I want to continue my law practice and put all the money I make into Fania. I believe in Fania.

35:03Rosie Perez:So, the two co-founders now have a name, some producers, and a couple of artists. Fania Records was up and running. Sort of.

35:14Jerry Masucci:There were so many record labels on 10th Avenue, you know, just in storefronts. And we were basically in a broom closet in Jerry's law office, you know? You know, we didn't sell a lot of records.

35:29Rosie Perez:Cañonazo was the first of Pacheco's albums released on the new Fania label. With 11 dance tunes, this marked the beginning of an era. They didn't even have space to store the LPs. Remember, we're talking about physical products, giant, heavy boxes. A team of two, they would deliver the records, sometimes out of the back of Johnny's own car. One person to watch the car and one to deliver the merchandise. If you know New York City, you know parking was a bitch even back then. Here's Johnny Pacheco again.

36:04Jerry Masucci:I used to do Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. And Jerry used to do Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday. We used to get in my car and put all the records. We used to go to every store delivering our own records.

36:18Rosie Perez:Despite Johnny already being a pretty big deal, here he was in the middle of winter distributing records himself. And people got a kick out of him.

36:29Jerry Masucci:It was cold like hell. My nose was running. And one guy said, look where Pacheco lined up. He's making deliveries. And he took out a dollar bill and gave him to me. And I took it. Every cent that came in, we put it back into the business.

36:44Rosie Perez:All of that paid off because the public took notice. Here's Jerry.

36:49Jerry Masucci:Dads just all came together. You know, speckled on another record. And we found no guys. And all of a sudden, bingo.

37:00Rosie Perez:Jerry and Johnny were able to get it played on the radio because Jerry was well-connected through his day job as a lawyer and a cop. And Johnny knew all the DJs. Between the two of them, they knew everyone. The public was into what they were selling because it was different. Because like we said earlier, the demographics were changing. Aurora remembers the first time she noticed the change. So I'm listening to Symphony Sid one night, and I hear a conga. I hear a lot of music, but I'm hearing this guy.

37:34Jerry Masucci:But I'm saying, wait a minute, he's not singing about the farm. He's not singing about the chicken and the rooster. he's singing about the projects. He's singing about riots. He's singing about us.

37:46Rosie Perez:This new generation of kids, dubbed the sneaker generation, was ready for change in society and in music, but with the flavor they grew up listening to at home. By 1966, the Palladium shuttered its doors and Fania Records was poised to take the city by storm. But as the saying goes, The road to hell is paved with good intentions. Coming up this season...

38:14Jerry Masucci:That night at the Cheetah, they just played un-fucking-believable. Or maybe it's somebody you didn't mess with, you know. Wanted things his way, if they were legal or not. Our rhythm is directly African. We cannot continue to act as if this is just Latin music. This is African music. La Lupe was the queen of Latin soul. Different from Celia. Why is it, Jerry, that you promote the commercial bands? Why aren't you promoting the black bands?

38:41Rosie Perez:Fania is making money in every direction.

38:45Jerry Masucci:Johnny was very hurt because Johnny trusted him.

38:48Johnny Pacheco:If you sold a hundred, that was unheard of. We sold millions. Didn't make a nickel, not a fucking penny.

38:55Jerry Masucci:I never made nothing of it. I said, holy shit. I'm Joe Botan, and I ain't got the money to pay for the flat tire.

39:05Rosie Perez:Can't wait for the next episode? Join Futuro Plus for early access to the whole season, ad-free listening, and exclusive bonus content for Our Thing, The Birth of Salsa in Nueva York. Go to futuromediagroup.org slash joinplus to get access today. Our Thing, The Birth of Salsa in Nueva York, is an original podcast from Futuro Studios. It was made possible by the Mellon Foundation. Our senior producer is Jeannie Montalvo. Our episodes were written, reported, and produced by her and Mark Pagan. The episodes were edited by Maria Garcia. Additional editing by Marlon Bishop. Our post producer is Joaquin Kotler.

39:57Rosie Perez:He and Jeannie Montalvo sound designed our episodes. Our associate producer is Liliana Ruiz. Our production managers are Francis Poon, Jessica Ellis, and Victoria Estrada. Mixing by Stephanie Lebo, Julia Caruso, and JJ Corubin. Fact-checking by Tatiana Diaz and additional booking by Javier Baez. Editorial consultation by Ernesto Lechner. Special thanks to Arua Flores, Martin Cohen, Alex Masucci, Marisol Negron, Mary Kent, and Ernesto Lucar. Special thanks to Craft Recordings, a Concord company. Theme song and original music by Ella Brick. Additional music courtesy of David Frankel and Avenida Bey.

40:45Rosie Perez:Yours truly recorded at Bridge Studios in Brooklyn by Urosh Yovanovich. And at Full English Post by Charles Atangana and Ben Steiner. Special thanks to my manager, Tar Canafani of Strand Entertainment and my glam squad, hair, Johnny Lavoie and makeup, Karen Dupish. Executive produced for Futuro Studios by Marlon Bishop and Maria Garcia. From Concord Records, executive producers are Bruce McIntosh and Wesley Adams. Show art by Jose Osto-Ostolaza. Original show concept by Marlon Bishop and Jeannie Montalvo Legal review by Neil Rossini, Michael Martin Lindhorst, and Jonathan Fisher of Legal Arts Our marketing team includes Anello Reyes and Luis Luna Futuro Media was founded by Maria Hinojosa I'm your host and resident New Yorker, Rosy Perez You can hear all the music featured in this episode and this season on our Spotify music playlist.

41:56Rosie Perez:We've got links in our show notes. And don't forget to tap the heart to save it to your library because we'll be adding to it each week. And make sure you follow our thing, The Birth of Salsa, in Nueva York on your favorite podcast app. Thanks for listening.

42:23Johnny Pacheco:The future won't wait, and neither should you. That's why American Public University offers master's programs designed for momentum, affordable, high quality, and flexible, so you keep moving forward. With career-relevant programs in business, healthcare, education, IT, and more, you can gain skills you can use right away and the confidence to power your next move. American Public University, made for what's next. Learn more at apu.apus.edu. This episode is brought to you by Navy Federal Credit Union. At Navy Federal, they want you to know that if you need a positive sign towards achieving your goal of home ownership, this is it.

43:06Johnny Pacheco:Because even though today's housing market can seem discouraging, the Home Buyers Choice Loan offers members down payment options as low as 0 % with no required private mortgage insurance. Look for your sign today, Navy Federal Credit Union. Navy Federal is insured by NCUA, equal housing lender. Terms and conditions apply. Loans subject to approval and eligibility requirements. Learn more at NavyFederal.org slash zero down. Hey, it's Jacob Goldstein from Business History. In our new series, American Genius, we tell the stories of three great writers who changed the way business works in America.

43:45Johnny Pacheco:Our first episode is about Benjamin Franklin, who, among many other things, was a best-selling business writer. Take a listen. He's writing this much later in his life, consciously creating this image of himself. And I do want to emphasize how unusual this model is at the time, this self-made man myth, because you don't want to be self-made. It's low class to be self-made. You know, this idea that we have today is the opposite, right? And it comes from Franklin. Today, there is the derisive term nepo-baiting.

44:21Jerry Masucci:Well, exactly right. And these days, if you are a billionaire, you had better have a Benjamin Franklin story about starting in a garage,

44:29Johnny Pacheco:coming up with the idea from nothing. And here is Benjamin Franklin inventing it right before our eyes. This has been brought to you by Odoo. To listen to more of our American Genius series, listen to Business History. New episodes release every Wednesday on the iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your podcasts. This is an iHeart Podcast. Guaranteed human.