Reggaeton

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reggaeton

Dem Bow: The True Story of Reggaeton “Trailer”

A film by Marcos Antonio Miranda. Coming Soon! The true story of reggaeton as told by the pioneers and superstars of this genre. The film takes you through the history and the universal appeal of this movement.

Reggaeton (/ˌrɛɡeɪˈtoʊn/ or UK /rɛɡeɪˈtɒn/, Spanish: reguetón, locally: [reɣeˈtoŋ]) is amusic genre which has its roots in Latin and Caribbean music.  Its sound derives from the Reggae en Español from Panama.  The genre was invented, shaped and made known in Puerto Rico where it got its name; most of its current artists are also from Puerto Rico.  After its mainstream exposure in 2004, it spread to North American, European, Asian and African audiences.

Reggaeton blends Jamaican musical influences of dancehall, and Haitian konpa with those of Latin America, such as salsa, bomba, latin hip hop, and electronica. Vocals include rapping and singing, typically in Spanish. Lyrics tend to be derived from hip hop rather than from dancehall. Like hip hop, reggaeton has caused some controversy, albeit less, due to alleged exploitation of women.

While it takes influences from hip hop and Jamaican dancehall, reggaeton is not precisely the Hispanic or Latin American version of either of these genres; reggaeton has its own specific beat and rhythm,  whereas Latin hip hop is simply hip hop recorded by artists of Latino descent. The specific “riddim” that characterizes reggaeton is referred to as “Dem Bow.”  The name Dem Bow is taken from the dancehall song by Shabba Ranks that first popularized the beat in the early 1990’s and that appears in his album Just Reality.

Spanish spelling and etymology

There is no consensus about the Spanish spelling of reggaeton.  Spanish spellings include reggaeton, reggaetón and reguetón.  Fundéu BBVA recommends the fully adapted form “reguetón” and states that if the spellings “reggaeton” or “reggaetón” are used in Spanish, they should appear in italics.  In 2006, the Puerto Rican Academy of the Spanish Language proposed the form “reguetón” as the normal spelling, in order to simplify the creation of derivative words.

The origin of the word reggaeton comes from combining the English term reggae with the suffix -ón, used in the Spanish languageto describe something big. It may thus be translated as “Big Reggae.”  The term was coined by Panamanian producer Michael Ellis in the late 1980’s.

History

Before the music was called reggaeton, it was known as “Spanish Reggae” or Reggae en Español.  Traveling along mass media circuits as well as diasporic networks, Jamaican popular music spread around the world in the 1960’s and ’70’s. Reggae arrived in places like Panama and Puerto Rico as quickly as it reached more traditional centers of migration, such as London and New York. Panama was the first country to introduce Reggae en Español.  The music eventually made its way through Central America and continued evolving and coming to prominence in Puerto Rico where it became reggaeton.  Reggaeton started as an adaptation of Jamaican reggae to the Spanish language and overall culture in Panama and Puerto Rico.

Since the early 20th century when Jamaican laborers were used to help build the Panama Canal.  Afro-Panamanians had been performing and recording Spanish-language reggae since the 1970’s. Artists such as El General, Chicho Man, Nando Boom, Renato, and Black Apache are considered the first Spanish reggae DJ’s from Panama. El General is often considered the father of reggae en español, blending Jamaican reggae into a Latinised version.  It was common practice to translate the lyrics of Jamaican reggae song into Spanish and sing them over the original melodies, a form termed “Spanish reggae” or Reggae en Español. Meanwhile, during the 1980s the Puerto Rican rapper and reggaeton artist Vico C released Spanish-language hip hop and reggaeton records in his native island. His production of cassettes throughout the 1980’s, mixing reggae and hip hop, also helped spread the early reggaeton sound, and he is widely credited with this achievement.  The widespread movement of “Spanish reggae” in the Latin-American communities of the Caribbean and the urban centres of the United States help increase its popularity.

Meanwhile hip hop and reggae in Puerto Rico were on the rise due to the increased popularity of Jamaican ragga imports. Towards the middle of the decade, Puerto Ricans were producing their own “riddims” with clear influences from hip hop and other styles. These are considered the first proper reggaeton tracks, initially called “under”, short for “underground”. As Caribbean and African-American music gained this momentum in Puerto Rico, Reggae Rap in Spanish marked the beginning of Boricua underground rap and served as an expression for millions of young people. This created an entire invisible, yet prominent underground youth culture that sought to express themselves through Reggae Rap in Spanish. As a youth culture that exists on the fringes of society and criminal illegality, it has often been publicly criticized. The Puerto Rican police launched a raid against underground rap by confiscating cassette tapes from music stores under Penal codes of obscenity, issuing fines, and the demoralization of rappers through radio, television, and newspaper media.

The term “underground”, coming out of hip hop discourse, associates underground artists as asserting a self-identification that rejects the commercialization of music. In San Juan “underground”, however, it was not just about authenticity or ideology, but was literally about position in the market. “Underground” music was circulated via informal networks, copied from cassette to cassette, until the mid-1990’s. DJ Playero was one of the most famous producers of “underground” at the time, releasing several underground cassettes that featured early performances of some soon-to-be-famous artists like Daddy Yankee. The basis for reggaeton was laid in Puerto Rico at this time, with the melding of Spanish reggae, with influences from fast dancehalls, hip hop and various other Latin American musical genres.

The genre morphed through the years, at various points being termed “underground”, and “Dem Bow”. This last name originated from reggaeton’s distinguishing rhythmic feature: the Dem Bow (alternately spelled dembow) beat, relying heavily on the snare drum, which is used in nearly all reggaeton songs today.  This beat, or riddim, was produced under the direction of Jamaican record producer Bobby “Digital” Dixon and performed by Steely & Clevie. It first became popular in the song “Dem Bow” (They Bow) performed by Jamaican dancehall artist Shabba Ranks in 1991.  The song and beat achieved greater popularity among Spanish-speaking Latin Americans when Panamanian artist El General released the song “Son Bow” in 1991, a Spanish language cover of “Dem Bow” using the same musical track.  It should be pointed out that neither Shabba or El General sang reggaeton as neither the genre nor its title were as yet formed. Additionally “Dem Bow” was just a single song in Shabba’s catalog, with Ranks not singing another significant song using the “Dem Bow” beat. However, the influence of the original Bobby Digital beat is undeniable, and modern reggaeton often still reflects the original instrumentation, as well as the original rhythmic structure.

Rise to popularity

This new genre was simply called “underground”. It contained very explicit lyrics about drugs, violence, poverty, friendship, love, and sex. These common themes, which in many cases depict the troubles of an inner-city life, can still be found in reggaeton today. “Underground” music was recorded in “marquesinas” (or Puerto Rican open garages) and distributed in the streets via cassettes. These marquesinas were crucial to the development of Puerto Rico’s underground scene due to the state’s “fear of losing the ability to manipulate ‘taste’.”  Marquesinas were often in “housing complexes such as Villa Kennedy and Jurutungo.”  Despite being recorded in the projects of Puerto Rico, the majority of the recordings made in marquesinas were of high quality, which helped in increasing their popularity to the Puerto Rican youths of not only the projects but those of the middle and upper class as well. The availability and quality of these cassettes led to the genre’s popularity, crossing over socio-economic barriers in the Puerto Rican music scene. The most popular cassettes in the early 1990’s were DJ Negro’s The Noise I and II, and DJ Playero’s #37 and #38. Gerardo Cruet who created these recordings spread out the genre from the marginalized residential areas into other sectors of society, particularly into private schools.

By the mid ’90’s, “underground” cassettes were being sold in commercial music stores. The genre caught up with the middle class youth and inevitably found its way to the media. By this time Puerto Rico had a few clubs dedicated to the underground scene. Club Rappers in Carolina, and club PlayMakers in Puerto Nuevo were the most notable. Bobby “Digital” Dixon‘s dembow track was exploited in order to appeal in the context of the club. Underground music wasn’t intended originally to be club music.

Underground rap music in Puerto Rico faced harsh criticism. In February 1995, there was a government-sponsored campaign against underground music and its cultural influences. Puerto Rican police launched six raids at records stores in San Juan, in which hundreds of cassettes were confiscated from record stores and fines were imposed (in accordance with Laws 112 and 117 against obscenity).  The Department of Education banned baggy clothing and underground rap music from the school systems.  In the following months after the raids, local media demonized rappers, claiming they were “irresponsible corrupters of the public order.”

In 1995, DJ Negro released The Noise 3 with a mock up label that read Non-Explicit Lyrics. The album contained no cursing until the last song. The album was a hit and underground music further crept into the mainstream. Senator Velda González of the Popular Democratic Party and the media continued to view the movement as a social nuisance.

In the mid-1990’s, the Puerto Rican Police and National Guard even went as far as to confiscate reggaeton tapes and CDs in an effort to get the “obscene” lyrics out of the hands of consumers.  Schools also banned hip hop style clothing and music in an effort to quell the influence of reggaeton in the educational environment. In 2002, Senator Velda González led public hearings in an attempt to regulate the sexual “slackness” of reggaeton’s lyrics. While the effort did not seem to negatively affect the general public’s opinion about reggaeton, it did reflect the unease of the government and upper social classes with what the music represented. Due to its often sexually charged content and because of its roots in poor, urban communities, many middle and upper class Puerto Ricans found reggaeton to be threatening, “immoral, as well as artistically deficient, a threat to the social order, apolitical.”

Despite earlier controversy, reggaeton slowly began gaining acceptance as an important part of Puerto Rican culture, helped in part by politicians, including Velda González, who used reggaeton in election campaigns to appeal to younger voters, starting in Puerto Rico’s 2003 elections.  Currently, Puerto Rican mainstream acceptance of reggaeton has grown increasing more visible with reggaeton’s appearance in popular culture, including a 2006 Pepsi commercial featuring Daddy Yankee and Ivy Queen being named the musical spokesperson for Mountain Dew by PepsiCo.  Other examples of a change in sentiment within the greater population of Puerto Rico can be seen in some religiously and educationally influenced lyrics. Reggae School for example is a rap album produced for the sole purpose of teaching math skills to children, reminiscent of School House Rock.  Reggaeton expanded and became known when other producers followed the steps of DJ Playero, like DJ Nelson and DJ Eric. In the early ’90’s, albums like Ivy Queen‘s En Mi Imperio in 1996, DJ Playero‘s Playero 37 (in which Daddy Yankee became known) and The Noise: Underground, The Noise 5 and The Noise 6 were very popular in Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic. Singers like Don Chezina, Tempo, Eddie Dee, Baby Rasta & Gringo, and Lito & Polaco were very popular.

The name reggaeton only gained prominence in the mid-2001 (from the 2001 to 2002 period), with the Dem Bow beat characterizing the genre; this is in contrast to the more reggae, dancehall and hip hop-derived tracks previously created. The name was created in Puerto Rico to signify the unique fusion of Puerto Rican sounds and distinguish it from the previous Spanish reggae, created from the years of mixing the different genres.  Today, the music flourishes throughout Latin America. Reggaeton soon increased in popularity with Latino youth in the United States when DJ Blass worked with artists such as Plan B and Speedy in albums such as Reggaeton Sex.