Reading practice 41
Reggaeton music made its grand entrance onto mainstream U.S. radio with Daddy Yankee's 2004 crossover hit, "Gasolina." By that time, reggaeton's infectious and innovative blend of Jamaican dancehall reggae, Latin American salsa and merengue, and North American hip-hop and electronic music had already been well established and widespread throughout Latin American countries. Reggaeton, pronounced "reggae-TONE," is thought to have originated in Panama, although the cultivation and popularity of its signature style took place in Puerto Rico. Puerto Ricans1, inspired by the blend of Spanish rap music and dancehall reggae coming out of Panama in the 1970s and 80s, perfected the genre of reggaeton during the early 1990s.
Ethan Perry, a musicologist who studies emerging genres, somewhat derisively2 explains, "Not only is it ironic that one song ["Dem Bow"] can so easily be pinpointed as the catalyst for a new genre, but it is also rare that a musical genre can be so easily defined by such a simple, recurring musical pattern. For this reason, it is hard to take reggaeton seriously as a genre when it seems doomed by its own lack of imagination."
Although it may be true that reggaeton has predictable musical features, reggaeton artist Felipe Noche explains that attempts to belittle the genre will only strengthen its core appeal. "Reggaeton is a subversive, underground style. If mainstream critics try to marginalize it, they will only solidify its street credibility, just like someone telling you they don't like your girlfriend only makes you defend her even more passionately." Furthermore, reggaeton is not the only musical genre with very stable defining characteristics. Blues music, for example, is characterized by a common type of chord progression known as "12-bar," and reggae almost universally features guitar of keyboard accents on all the off beats and kick-drum accents on the 3rd beat of each measure3.
The syncopated rhythm found in "Dem Bow" and most reggaeton is fundamental to Latin music. However, the fact that the reggaeton beat is recorded with bold, electronic, dancehall sounds instead of acoustic percussive instruments sets this style of music apart from the music Latino youths associate with their parents. When added to the aggressive, dance-friendly, urban rap lyrics that typify reggaeton songs, it is not difficult to see how the genre offers Latino youth a provocative mixture of something culturally familiar but brashly individualistic.
The dissemination of reggaeton throughout the U.S. during the late 1990s was predictably strongest in areas with vibrant Puerto Rican communities, such as New York, Miami, and Los Angeles. The work of influential Puerto Rican DJ Playero in the 90s helped to introduce these communities to eventual reggaeton stars like Daddy Yankee, Don Chezina, Master Joe, and O.G. Black. The popularity of reggaeton has extended internationally, finding audiences throughout the Caribbean, as well as in Europe and Asia4. These latter successes suggest the undeniable appeal of the genre is not limited to the Latino youth who first embraced it.
"At first when I got requests to play shows in Japan, I was truly stunned," says reggaeton artist Dos Cabezas, "but I think there's an energy to this music that makes it exciting to everyone. It's got a gritty sound that evokes the rough attitude of street cultures everywhere, and the beat just makes people want to move." Despite the negative feedback from some music critics who find the music too repetitive and from some parents who find the lyrics too violent and sexually suggestive, reggaeton at least deserves the recognition of being a distinct art form that has achieved global prevalence in the early part of this century.5
