History of Reggaeton

 Hey Readers!

    Where Reggaeton Originated

    This episode of "LOUD: The Nueva York Connection"was hosted by Ivy Queen. She hosted one of the leaders of the reggaeton movement El General (a past interview) and La Artevida. This podcast is about the history of reggaeton and how it began with reggae in Jamaica and how Latinos in New York put their own twist on hip-hop and R&B and how it exploded into the genre it is today. I learned that the genre of reggaeton was created by latinos mostly from Puerto Rico, Panama, and the Caribbean. They used different aspect of reggae music and added their own hip-hop spin. I love that a genre of music that was already great blossomed into their own genre that is a large genre in the latin community. Queen said "I remember I first find out about hip-hop through my brother Jacob. He has tapes of Das EFX, Busta Rhymes, even through he didn't understand the music spoke to us"  (Latino 19:34- 19:50). It is really cool to hear the two fusions of the genre to make something that can stand on its own ab be so popular. I was sad that El General wasn't able to give an interview for the channel wit Ivy Queen. It would have been really great to hear his thoughts of what he thinks about reggaeton today.

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This is Latin artist EL GENERAL

What is Reggaeton

   The article "Urban Bachata and Dominican Racial Identity in New York" by Deborah Pancini Hernandez is about the how bachata and reggaeton has shaped the community. The article talks about urban latin music aka reggaeton. A few pages into the article they start talking about "the boundaries between urban and tropical Latin music were further destabilized in the mid-aughts, when another audibly urban "Latin" style began making waves throughout the us: reggaeton, whose multiple roots in Jamaican dancehall, Panamanian reggae en espanol and English and Spanish-language hip-hop had converged in Puerto Rico" (Hernandez 13). This is supported by the statement in the podcast about where reggaeton originated and the fusions of the different music. Reggaeton was created by a blend of cultures and their music to make the product loved by many. Many artists from different countries create reggaeton music today. I'm sure you have heard artists like Daddy Yankee and Bad Bunny on the radio or Ivy Queen from your parents. 

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Reggaeton pioneer Ivy Queen 

Conclusion

The podcast and the article concluded that the inspiration of hip-hop and R&B along with the fusion of different countries in Latin America created the genre of reggaeton because "there was a logic to this new nomenclature, because reggaeton and urban bachata were both clearly products and expressions of contemporary urban life, but more specifically because of their audible connections to hip-hop and R&B, two styles that for decades had been collectively been referred to as urban music" (Hernandez 13). People like "Vico C y DJ Negro were time breakers and were the stars of a new genre, rapping in español, and business was booming" (Latino 26:35-26:44). The creation of reggaeton connect to my topic of "What is the relationship between technology and invention in the creation of art?". Reggaeton was invented by the fusion of cultures and genres of music and made the art of reggaeton. Cassette tapes were spreading this new music like wildfire and putting the word out there. 

Work Cited 

Hernandez, Deborah Pacini. “Urban Bachata and Dominican Racial Identity in New York.” Cahiers d’Études Africaines, vol. 54, no. 216, EHESS, 2014, pp. 1027–54, http://www.jstor.org/stable/24476193. 

Queen, Ivy. “LOUD: The Nueva York Connection.” CapRadio, 17 Sept. 2021, www.capradio.org/news/latino-usa/.