Reggaetón

History of Reggaeton

Here I’m on a hike with my family and neighbors. It was intense and involved rock climbing up a stream. They invited us to a “picnic” and this was no picnic. 

With the rise of artists like Bad Bunny, Daddy Yankee, and Luis Fonsi you’re probably familiar with the reggaeton genre of music. Even if you aren't, the style has existed in Latin America and Jamaica for over 30 years. This music originated in Jamaica in the 1970s.  There, the producers changed reggae into something different,  focusing on the beat more instead of the melody.  They started to play their music on outdoor speaker systems. These outdoor venues would soon be called dancehall, and eventually the music would adopt that name.  The music was introduced to Latin America when Jamaican workers went to Panama to work on the canal, and brought the music with them.  Dancehall changed after it was introduced to Latin America. The name switched back to reggae, the lyrics changed to Spanish, and the music was played with Latin American instruments.  

The music made it to Puerto Rico also via Jamaican immigrants.  Puerto Ricans who immigrated to New York  experienced the thriving culture of hip hop, and eventually brought it back to Puerto Rico.  Reggaeton was born.  

As a genre Reggaeton has heavy influences from black culture in various Latin American countries.  Early on, many of the songs were created to discuss social and racial injustices.  Mainstream society largely shunned the cultures of hip hop and reggaeton, especially the white population.  In the 1990s, the Puerto Rican anti-crime initiative even went so far as to target areas where the music was popular. The genre finally started to be more widely accepted when artists started incorporating Latino culture into their songs instead of just black culture. 

Reggaeton also has a clothing style that’s very popular among teens in Latin America; they usually wear baggy ripped jeans, vans, and loose hoodies.  

The sound of reggaeton is really distinct and hard to describe.  I guarantee if you hear it once you’ll hear it everywhere. It kinda sounds like a mixture of pop, and reggae. It also has the same beat EVERY SINGLE TIME.   It’s a swing beat and goes: Boom, chk Boom, Boom Boom.  Or  1  a2 and 3  a4 and 1….

Reggaeton songs are very popular in the states too.  Some reggaeton songs that you might know are Despacito by Justin Beiber and Shape of You by Ed Sheeran.  Reggaeton songs also have very bad language.  If I translate directly from one of the most popular songs in ecuador: 

"Drinking, Smoking, $#%@&!*"

So yeah…. 

This the only G-rated reggaeton music video that I could find.

I hear reggaeton everywhere I go: music videos on people’s cell phones, my classmate’s ringtones, blasting out of the bus, outdoor speaker systems next to stores, playing on the radio of people’s cars, bands at concerts, volleyball practice sessions, and many other places.  After a while reggaeton gets to you. It has a hook, which is designed to get you into the song and keep you listening.  

The beat is getting REALLY old.  Take a listen.

This is an 11 minute loop of the beat.   You really only need to listen to the first 11 seconds to get the point.  But, if you want to know how I feel, listen to all of it.