What's up mi gente?
I'm Laz Alonso and I play Terry
in "My Dad the Bounty Hunter".
- Dad? - Daddy?
Now, as many of you may know,
I'm of Cuban descent
and today I'm sharing some of my favorite parts
of my Cuban culture with you.
This is "Rep Your Flag".
So my favorite Cuban dish is a dish called Ropa Vieja.
As of lately, it's become very, very popular dish,
but growing up it was one of my favorite dishes,
because
it has a tremendous amount of flavor.
The whole thing come together, it's insane.
Favorite Cuban musician is always gonna be
the queen herself, Celia Cruz.
I thought she was part of the family growing up,
like that's how much she was
talked about in my home,
on our TV sets, played at parties,
I thought she was literally related to us,
and she's something that I'm extremely proud of
being Afro Cuban.
Cuban Salsa.
Puerto Ricans created the genre salsa in New York,
but they got the music from Cubans.
Puerto Ricans, don't at me right now.
Y'all know what it is.
Y'all know the history.
And I'm a humongous fan
of New York, New Yorican salsa.
This ain't no beef.
I don't want no smoke, 'cuz Puerto Ricans do have
some of the biggest legends in salsa ever.
I have been back to visit Cuba.
It was amazing going to the island,
meeting relatives that I had always heard of.
Just smelling the air, tasting the food,
feeling the warmth and the energy of the people.
It's something that's magical,
you know, I pray that one day
the situation is such that,
just like everybody else can go home for the holidays,
we can go there for the holiday.
That would be a dream of mine.
That's probably my favorite.
It's like, yo, what up homie?
I root for all Cuban athletes.
At one point it felt like there was a floodgate
of Cuban baseball players coming here
to the US, to the Majors.
So much talent on the island.
There's a boxer by the name of Yordenis Ugás,
that I'm a big fan of and
he's repping Cuba all the time
and he's also repping the freedom for Cuba.
There was a movie growing up called "El Super",
and I have tried to find that movie
on every streaming platform known to man.
If you can put "El Super" on Netflix,
I guarantee you every Cuban on the planet
will be streaming this.
That movie was so beautiful.
It was about this immigrant family in New York,
this Cuban guy who was the super,
or the maintenance man of this building,
and it just magically captured the beauty
of just a immigrant family in New York.
Just stuff that everybody grows up around.
Also growing up in two cultures,
because when you grow up in the US,
outside of the home, you're not Cuban anymore,
outside of the home, you know,
I was a black man in DC.
But inside the home, I was Cuban.
So that whole dual culture thing, dual language thing,
speaking Spanish at home
and speaking English when you leave the home,
it's a balance.
You know, learning how to juggle both worlds
and being embraced in both worlds.
Cubans are very superstitious,
which means I am very superstitious.
There's one that I still definitely live my life by,
and that's,
don't tell anybody what you're working on,
keep it to yourself.
You don't want anybody's like doubt or fears
to cast any bad energy on it.
Which is a closed mouth, flies will not come in.
Mojito, 100%.
I will proudly say
that I am one of the best mojito makers
living and breathing on the planet.
I have been challenged
by Cubans from the island,
I have yet to lose yet.
In a blind taste test,
my mojito versus any other, mine will always win.
I do guarantee you
if you taste my mojito, you'll love it.
You may not make it to number two though.
They're very strong.
Shout out to all mi gente from Cuba
and all my Latinos from the diaspora.
If you're proud of your culture,
drop your flag in the comments
and don't forget to check out
"My Dad the Bounty Hunter", now on Netflix.