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Reggaeton (, ) is a modern style of popular music and electronic music that originated in Panama during the late 1980s, and which rose to prominence in the late 1990s and early 2000s through a plethora of Puerto Ricans musicians. 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 from the Caribbean have risen to fame (Puerto Rico, Panama, Dominican Republic, Cuba, Colombia). Argentina has seen a modern surge in young artists inspired by the reggaetón style, fusing their music with Spanish rap verses, Latin trap and R&B-style vocals (such as the "Los Del Espacio", including LIT killah, Tiago PZK, Duki, Emilia Mernes, and María Becerra, as well as Argentine pop star Tini Stoessel).
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 Catalans-Castilian people 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. 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 Pop 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.
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.
By the mid-1990s, "underground" cassettes were being sold in music stores. The genre caught on with middle-class youth, then found its way into the media. By this time, Puerto Rico had several clubs dedicated to the underground scene; Club Rappers in Carolina and PlayMakers in Puerto Nuevo were the most notable. Bobby "Digital" Dixon's "Dem Bow" production was played in clubs. Underground music was not originally intended to be club music. In South Florida, DJ Laz and Hugo Diaz of the Diaz Brothers were popularizing the genre from Palm Beach to Miami.
Underground music in Puerto Rico was harshly criticized. In February 1995, there was a government-sponsored campaign against underground music and its cultural influence. Puerto Rican police raided six record stores in San Juan, hundreds of cassettes were confiscated and fines imposed in accordance with Laws 112 and 117 against obscenity. The Department of Education banned baggy clothing and underground music from schools. For months after the raids local media demonized rappers, calling them "irresponsible corrupters of the public order."
In 1995, DJ Negro released The Noise 3 with a mockup label reading, "Non-explicit lyrics". The album had no cursing until the last song. It was a hit, and underground music continued to seep into the mainstream. Senator Velda González of the Popular Democratic Party and the media continued to view the movement as a social nuisance.
During the mid-1990s, the Puerto Rican police and National Guard confiscated reggaeton tapes and CDs to get "obscene" lyrics out of the hands of consumers.John Marino, "Police Seize Recordings, Say Content Is Obscene", San Juan Star, 3 February 1995; Raquel Z. Rivera, "Policing Morality, Mano Dura Style: The Case of Underground Rap and Reggae in Puerto Rico in the Mid-1990s", in Reading Reggaeton. Schools banned hip hop clothing and music to quell reggaeton's influence. In 2002, Senator González led public hearings to regulate the sexual "slackness" of reggaeton lyrics. Although the effort did not seem to negatively affect public opinion about reggaeton, it reflected the unease of the government and the upper social classes with what the music represented. Because of its often sexually charged content and its roots in poor, urban communities, many middle- and upper-class Puerto Ricans found reggaeton threatening, "immoral, as well as artistically deficient, a threat to the social order, apolitical".
Despite the controversy, reggaeton slowly gained acceptance as part of Puerto Rican culture — helped, in part, by politicians including González who began to use reggaeton in election campaigns to appeal to younger voters in 2003. Puerto Rican mainstream acceptance of reggaeton has grown and the genre has become part of popular culture, including a 2006 Pepsi commercial with Daddy Yankee and PepsiCo's choice of Ivy Queen as musical spokesperson for Mountain Dew. Other examples of greater acceptance in Puerto Rico are religiously and educationally influenced lyrics; Reggae School is a rap album produced to teach math skills to children, similar to School House Rock. Reggaeton expanded when other producers, such as DJ Nelson and DJ Eric, followed DJ Playero. During the 1990s, Ivy Queen's 1996 album En Mi Imperio, DJ Playero's Playero 37 (introducing Daddy Yankee) and The Noise: Underground, The Noise 5 and The Noise 6 were popular in Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic. Don Chezina, Tempo, Eddie Dee, Baby Rasta & Gringo and Lito & Polaco were also popular.
The name "reggaeton" became prominent during the early 2000s, characterized by the dembow beat. It was coined in Puerto Rico to describe a unique fusion of Puerto Rican music. Reggaeton is currently popular throughout Latin America. It increased in popularity with Latino youth in the United States when DJ Joe and DJ Blass worked with Plan B and Sir Speedy on Reggaeton Sex, Sandunguero and Fatal Fantasy.
Musicians began to incorporate bachata into reggaeton, with Ivy Queen releasing singles ("Te He Querido, Te He Llorado" and "La Mala") featuring bachata's signature guitar sound, slower, romantic rhythms and emotive singing style. Daddy Yankee's "Lo Que Paso, Paso" and Don Omar's "Dile" are also bachata-influenced. In 2005 producers began to remix existing reggaeton music with bachata, marketing it as bachaton: "bachata, Puerto Rican style".
That same year, Shakira's "Hips Don't Lie", featuring Wyclef Jean of the Fugees, became "the most popular song in the genre's history", with "the dembow beat in the background, the trumpet sample of Jerry Rivera's "Amores como el nuestro" in the chorus, the obvious salsa influence." "Turning the Tables: The 200 Greatest Songs by 21st Century Women", Part 7, NPR, July 30, 2018, "Song 67" by Maria Sherman.
In June 2007, Daddy Yankee's set a first-week sales record for a reggaeton album, with 88,000 copies sold. It topped the Top Latin Albums and Top Rap Albums charts, the first reggaeton album to do so on the latter. The album peaked at number nine on the Billboard 200, the second-highest reggaeton album on the mainstream chart. – Billboard.com – Accessed 10 November 2008
The third-highest-ranking reggaeton album was Wisin & Yandel's , which debuted at number 14 on the Billboard 200 and number one on the Top Latin Albums chart later in 2007. In 2008 Daddy Yankee soundtrack to his film, Talento de Barrio, debuted at number 13 on the Billboard 200 chart. It peaked at number one on the Top Latin Albums chart, number three on Billboard's Top Soundtracks and number six on the Top Rap Albums chart. In 2009, Wisin & Yandel's La Revolución debuted at number seven on the Billboard 200, number one on the Top Latin Albums and number three on the Top Rap Albums charts.
By 2008, Reggaeton was the "biggest-selling genre of Latin music" and one of its artists, Tego Calderon, was using it to describe and encourage black pride.
The riddim was first highlighted by Shabba Ranks in "Dem Bow", from his 1991 album Just Reality. To this day, elements of the song's accompaniment track are found in over 80% of all reggaeton productions. During the mid-1980s, dancehall music was revolutionized by the electronic keyboard and drum machine; subsequently, many dancehall producers used them to create different dancehall riddims. Dembow's role in reggaeton is a basic building block, a skeletal sketch in percussion.
In Reggaeton 'dembow' also incorporates identical Jamaican riddims such as Bam Bam, Hot This Year, Poco Man Jam, Fever Pitch, Red Alert, Trailer Reloaded and Big Up riddims, and several samples are often used. Some reggaeton hits incorporate a lighter, electrified version of the riddim. Examples are "Pa' Que la Pases Bien" and "italic=no", which uses the Liquid riddim.Marshall, Wayne. "The Rise and Fall of Reggaeton: From Daddy Yankee to Tego Calderón and Beyond" in Jiménez Román, Miriam, and Juan Flores, eds. The Afro-Latin@ reader: history and culture in the United States. Durham NC: Duke University Press, 2010, p. 401.
Since 2018 a new variation of the Dembow rhythm has emerged; Starting with Te Bote, a sharper minimalist Dembow has become a stable of Reggaeton production which has allowed for more syncopated rhythmic experiments.
Unlike hip-hop CDs, reggaeton discs generally do not have parental advisories. An exception is Daddy Yankee's Barrio Fino en Directo ( Barrio Fino Live), whose live material (and with Snoop Dogg in "Gangsta Zone") were labeled explicit. Snoop Dogg and Daddy Yankee filmed the video for "Gangsta Zone" in Torres Sabana housing projects in Carolina, Puerto Rico on January 27, 2006. Shot in grayscale, Daddy Yankee said the video depicts "the real way we live on the island".
Artists such as Alexis & Fido circumvent radio and television censorship by sexual innuendo and lyrics with . Some songs have raised concerns about their depiction of women. Although reggaeton began as a mostly-male genre, the number of women artists has been a slowly increasing and include the "Queen of Reggaeton", Ivy Queen, Mey Vidal, K-Narias, Adassa, La Sista and Glory.
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 music, merengue music, 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.Sullivan, Al (16 October 2016). "Trash truck worker competes for a Latin Grammy: Local Cuban exile fulfills dream as musician" . The Hudson Reporter.van Boeckel, Rik (19 September 2006). "Reggaeton a lo Cubano: From Cuba to the Rest of the World" . 'LA'Ritmo.com: Latin American Rhythm Magazine. Retrieved 21 March 2018. 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.Bellaco, Daniel (11 March 2019). "Cuba prohíbe el reggaeton por sexista, machista y violento" . Digital Sevilla.
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 mistaken by Brazilians for hip hop and funk carioca because reggaeton was still a genre almost unknown in the country. 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.
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.
/ref> 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
/ref> New generation artists like Villano Antillano, Young Miko, La Cruz and others have been challenging the stereotypes and values traditionally associated with the genre.
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 in collaboration with producer Bizarrap. 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. She has since kept her original artist name, but identifies as non-binary and is referred to as her legal name "Villana". 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."
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. 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.
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. He challenged what is expected from traditional reggaeton music visuals by having gay men be the object of desire rather than women. The music video has amounted 2 million views on YouTube as of October 2023.
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".
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