Reggaeton
Reggaeton (UK: /ˈrɛɡeɪtoʊn, ˌrɛɡeɪˈtɒn/,[5][6] US: /ˌrɛɡeɪˈtoʊn, ˌreɪɡ-/),[7][8] also known as reggaetón or reguetón,[9] (Spanish: [reɣeˈton]) is a modern style of popular and electronic music that originated in Panamá during the late 1980s, and which rose to prominence in the late 1990s and early 2000s through a plethora of Puerto Rican musicians.[10][11][12] It has been popularized and dominated by artists from Puerto Rico since the early 1990s.[3]
Not to be confused with Reggae or Reggae en Español.Reggaeton
It has evolved from dancehall, with elements of hip hop, Latin American, and Caribbean music. Vocals include toasting/rapping and singing, typically in Spanish.
Reggaetón, today, is regarded as one of the most popular music genres, worldwide; it is the top music genre among the Spanish-speaking Caribbean nations and one of the primary modern genres within the Spanish-language music industry. Seemingly endless artists have risen to fame, not only from the Caribbean (Puerto Rico, Panamá, Dominican Republic, Cuba), but particularly from Colombia (Feid, J Balvin, Karol G, Maluma, Manuel Turizo, etc.) as of around 2010. Argentina has seen a modern surge in young artists inspired by the reggaetón style, fusing their music with Spanish rap verses, trapetón and R&B-style vocals (such as the “Los Del Espacio”, including LIT killah, Tiago PZK, Duki, Emilia, and María Becerra, as well as Argentine pop star Tini).
Several established, world-famous performers—notably Puerto Rican-American Jennifer Lopez and Shakira from Colombia—have embraced the style, recording numerous duets and collaborations with top reggaetoneros. Several other emerging international artists are seeing success in the genre as well, including Catalán-Spanish singer Bad Gyal (from Barcelona) and trilingual Brazilian star Anitta (from Rio de Janeiro). Mexican-American singer Becky G (from Los Angeles, California) has experienced huge success in recent years, as a Latino American artist in the reggaetón genre.[13] In 2004, Daddy Yankee released his smash single “Gasolina”, regarded by many as the first globally-successful reggaetón song; Daddy Yankee is credited with bringing the style to western pop music listeners. By the 2010s, the genre had seen increased popularity across Latin America, as well as modern acceptance within mainstream Western music; during the 2010s, several new award categories (focusing on reggaetón and Latin music) were unveiled at various American music awards shows, notably the English-language American Music Awards, Billboard Music Awards, Grammy Awards, and MTV Video Music Awards.[14]
Etymology
There are several versions about the origin of the word reggaeton. El General's representative Michael Ellis is said to have originated the term, adding the -ton suffix to "make the word big."[15][1] One of them states that the word reggaeton emerged in 1994 when Daddy Yankee mentioned it for the first time while freestyling on the mixtape "Playero 34."[16] Another version suggests that it appeared the following year when DJ Erick released the album titled "Reggaetón Live Vol.1," abbreviating the words reggae and maratón (marathon).[17]
The spellings reggaeton and reggaetón are common, although prescriptivist sources such as the Fundéu BBVA and the Academia Puertorriqueña de la Lengua Española recommend the spelling reguetón, as it conforms more closely with traditional Spanish spelling rules.[9][18]
Characteristics
Rhythm
The dembow riddim was created by Jamaican dancehall producers during the late 1980s and early 1990s. Dembow consists of a kick drum, kickdown drum, palito, snare drum, timbal, timballroll and (sometimes) a high-hat cymbal. Dembow's percussion pattern was influenced by dancehall and other West Indian music (soca, calypso and cadence); this gives dembow a pan-Caribbean flavor. Steely & Clevie, creators of the Poco Man Jam riddim, are usually credited with the creation of dembow.[56] At its heart is the 3+3+2 (tresillo) rhythm, complemented by a bass drum in 4/4 time.[57]
Popularity
Latin America
Over the past decade, reggaeton has received mainstream recognition in the Spanish-speaking Caribbean, where the genre originated from, including Puerto Rico, Cuba, Panama, the Dominican Republic, Colombia and Venezuela, where it is now regarded as one of the most popular music genres. Reggaeton has also seen increased popularity in the wider Latin America region, including in Mexico, Honduras, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, Ecuador and Peru.
In Cuba, reggaeton came to incorporate elements of traditional Cuban music, leading to the hybrid Cubaton. Two bands credited with popularizing Cubaton are Máxima Alerta (founded in 1999) and Cubanito 20.02. The former is notable for fusing Cubaton with other genres, such as son Cubano, conga, cumbia, salsa, merengue, and Cuban rumba, as well as styles and forms such as rap and ballads, whereas the latter's music is influenced more by Jamaican music.[69][70] The government of Cuba imposed restrictions on reggaeton in public places in 2012. In March 2019, the government went a step further; they banned the "aggressive, sexually explicit and obscene messages of reggaeton" from radio and television, as well as performances by street musicians.[71]
The first name of reggaeton in Brazil was the Señores Cafetões group, who became known in 2007 with the track "Piriguete" - which at the time was mistakenly mistaken by Brazilians for hip hop and Brazilian funk because reggaeton was still a genre almost unknown in the country.[72] In Brazil, this musical genre only reached a reasonable popularity around the middle of the decade of 2010. The first great success of the genre in the country was the song "Yes or no" by Anitta with Maluma. One of the explanations for reggaeton has not reached the same level of popularity that exists in other Latin American countries is due to the fact that Brazil is a Portuguese-speaking country, which has historically led it to become more isolationist than other Latin American countries in the musical scene. The musical rhythm only became popular in the country when it reached other markets, like the American. The genre is now overcoming the obstacle of language. Some of the biggest names in the Brazilian music market have partnered with artists from other Latin American countries and explored the rhythm.
United States
The New York–based rapper N.O.R.E., also known as Noreaga, produced Nina Sky's 2004 hit "Oye Mi Canto", which featured Tego Calderón and Daddy Yankee, and reggaeton became popular in the U.S.[73] Daddy Yankee then caught the attention of many hip-hop artists with his song "Gasolina",[73] and that year XM Radio introduced its reggaeton channel, Fuego (XM). Although XM Radio removed the channel in December 2007 from home and car receivers, it can still be streamed from the XM Satellite Radio website. Reggaeton is the foundation of a Latin-American commercial-radio term, hurban,[73] a combination of "Hispanic" and "urban" used to evoke the musical influences of hip hop and Latin American music. Reggaeton, which evolved from dancehall and reggae, and with influences from hip hop has helped Latin-Americans contribute to urban American culture and keep many aspects of their Hispanic heritage. The music relates to American socioeconomic issues, including gender and race, in common with hip hop.[73]
Europe
As in Latin America, reggaeton is a fairly widespread genre within Spain. For years it has topped the list as the most listened to musical genre in the Iberian country. Reggaeton arrived in Spain due to the large immigration flows of the 2000s and today it is a genre that is quite integrated into Spanish society, which also has its own exponents of the genre such as Enrique Iglesias, Rosalía, Ana Mena, Lola Índigo and Juan Magán.[74][75][76][77] In the rest of Europe, Reggaeton is less popular in Europe than in Latin America, however it attracts Latin American immigrants.[78] A Spanish media custom, "La Canción del Verano" ("The Song of the Summer"), in which one or two songs define the season's mood, was the basis of the popularity of reggaeton songs such as "Baila Morena" by Héctor & Tito and Daddy Yankee's "Gasolina" in 2005.
Asia
In the Philippines, reggaeton artists primarily use the Filipino language instead of Spanish or English. One example of a popular local reggaeton act is Zamboangueño duo Dos Fuertes, who had a dance hit in 2007 with "Tarat Tat", and who primarily uses the Chavacano language in their songs.
In 2020, Malaysian rapper Namewee released the single and music video "China Reggaeton" featuring Anthony Wong. It is the first time reggaeton was sung in the Chinese languages of Mandarin and Hakka and accompanied by traditional Chinese instruments like the erhu, pipa and guzheng, creating a fusion of reggaeton and traditional Chinese musical styles.[79]
LGBTQ Influence
Reggaeton has traditionally been male dominated and heteronormative, known to "reinforce the most unpleasant aspects of machismo".[80] The genre began to accept queer and trans artists into the mainstream after Bad Bunny publicly voiced his allyship to the queer community through challenging gender norms and homophobic notions.[81] New generation artists like Villano Antillano, Young Miko, La Cruz and others have been challenging the stereotypes and values traditionally associated with the genre.[82] In 2022 Villano Antillano, a trans-femme rap/reggaeton artist from Puerto Rico, broke the record as "the first transwoman to hit number 50 on Spotify" with Villano Antillano: Bzrp Music Sessions, Vol. 51 in collaboration with producer Bizarrap.[83] She began her music career as a male-presenting person under the artist name "Villano Antillano" and later decided to "step into [her] femininity" and transition.[84] She has since kept her original artist name, but identifies as non-binary and is referred to as her legal name "Villana".[85] Villana has spoken on her experience confronting the barriers for queer and trans people in the reggaeton and urban industry; she says, "all of these cis male artists, who are very close, aren't going to collaborate with a trans woman. There are very few. We can count them on one hand."[86] In 2023 Young Miko, a queer trap and reggaeton artist from Puerto Rico, charted in the Billboard Hot 100 with her single "Classy 101". In the same year, she was featured on Spanish rapper Bad Gyal's "Chulo Pt2", along with Tokischa, a queer Dembow singer; as of October 2023, the song has over 100 million views on YouTube.[87][88] In the start of her career, Young Miko grew a local following in Puerto Rico releasing music independently on SoundCloud, but gained national visibility after Bad Bunny invited her on stage during his Un Verano Sin Ti tour.[89] In June 2023, reggaeton artist, La Cruz, from Venezuela released a music video for his single "TE CONOCI BAILANDO", which featured several homoerotic images including several shirtless men, locker room interactions and guys twerking in front of urinals.[90] He challenged what is expected from traditional reggaeton music visuals by having gay men be the object of desire rather than women.[91] The music video has amounted 2 million views on YouTube as of October 2023.[92]
Criticism
Despite the great popularity of the genre as a whole, reggaeton has also attracted criticism due to its constant references to sexual and violent themes, similar to those of hip-hop. Mexican singer-songwriter Aleks Syntek made a public post on social media complaining that such music was played at Mexico City's airport in the morning with children present.[93] By 2019, other singers who expressed dismay over the genre included vallenato singer Carlos Vives and Heroes Del Silencio singer Enrique Bunbury.[94] That same year, some activists stated that reggaeton music gives way to misogynistic and sadistic messages.[95]
Some reggaeton singers have decided to counteract such accusations. One notable example is singer Flex, who in 2009 committed himself to singing songs with romance messages, a subgenre he dubbed "romantic style".[96]
