Reggaeton

Puerto Rico and the Rise of Reggaetón by Hannah Ehlers Background of Puerto Rico

Puerto Rico has two official languages, English and Spanish; Spanish is the most frequently used. There is second language education present in schools, just like the situation in the United Stated. Puerto Rican Spanish has many lexical and semantic items that are different and distinct from other Spanish-speaking countries. This is because of the great amount of influence that the Africans and Jamaicans had on the Puerto Ricans, and more recently from the United States because of its current relationship status. Puerto Rican culture is a mix of about four cultures, African (slaves), Taíno (Amerindians), Spanish, and recently, North American. The Puerto Ricans have obtained the "bomba and plena", from the Africans. Both are types of dance containing the maracas. From the Taínos they obtained many terms for types of food and instruments. The Spanish language contributed names for food, cultural differences, and styles of music. The United States contributed the English language, College system and the adoption of some traditional holidays and practices. On March 12, 1903, University of Puerto Rico was officially founded. The majority of the population of Puerto Rico is influenced by the music. Like the country as a whole, Puerto Rican music has evolved over the years by combining the influences together to make music their own. In the earliest music of Puerto Rico the Spanish and African influences were most evident. However, the cultural movement across the Caribbean has constituted to most of the changes and influences that are evident in the Puerto Rican music today.

The Background of Reggaetón

Reggaetón was made when music from Panama was combined with music from Jamaica. It was believed to have been created with the Jamaican laborers helped to construct the Panama Canal and played music. The Panamanians heard this music while their music was playing and decided that if the two were mixed together that it would make a perfect combination. Created in the late 1990's, the music was exposed to Puerto Rico, it evolved into its own style of music, known as reggaetón. Reggaetón blends themes of reggae and dancehall with those of Latin American music, such as bomba, plena, salsa, merengue, latin pop, cumbia and bachata as well as that of hip hop, contemporary R&B, and electronica. However, reggaetón is rapped or sung in Spanish. The influences of this genre are now visible in the United States and Latin America. It takes influences from Jamaican music, but it would be wrong to classify it as the Latin version of reggae; reggaetón has its own distinct beat, whereas Latino hip hop is just music recored by singers of Latino descent. The specific rhythm that characterizes reggaetón is referred to as "Dem Bow." It is named after the dancehall song by Shabba Ranks that first made the beat popular in the early 1990s. Reggaetón's beginnings come from the Carribean, Latin America, and the United States. This music inspired youth in Puerto Rico, Panama, Domincan Republic, Venezuela, Mexico, and Latin Americans in the United States. Reggaetón did not gain much popularity in the United States untill about 2004. This is when many of the records went on sale in the United States including the most famous of the artists: Daddy Yankee, Ivy Queen, and Don Omar. Reggaetón is most closely related to Puerto Rico, as this is where the genre became famous, and where the majority of the current reggaetón artists are from and live. Urban crime, drugs, sex and racism are all very popular themes in reggaetón. They are what the youth are interested in, just like hip hop music.

The Style of Reggaetón
 * Plays off of the presence of women and their sexuality
 * Viewed by many to be degrading to women
 * Exploitation of women in lyrics and dance moves/ music videos
 * A cross between rap, reggae, and hip-hop
 * Dance move titled: perreo- explicit dance moves appeal to men
 * Targeted at middle age teens to middle age women and men
 * Played in clubs all over the United States,Spain, Mexico, and parts of Southern America
 * Very common to mix English with Spanish in reggaetón
 * Artists such as 'Pitbull' use primarily English and enhance with Spanish

Leading Reggaetón Artists Tego Calderon, Queen Ivy, and Daddy Yankee are the most popular for the Puerto Rican youth today. Many claim that these three reggaetón artists are responsible for making reggaeton famous in not only Latin America, but also around the world. The reggaetón style of music is ever growing and is projected to obtain many more hit artists in the years to come.

Tego Calderon Tegui Calderon Rosario was born on February 2nd in 1972. He is a rapper born to Santurce, Puerto Rico. He is known around the reggaetón world as Tego Calderon. Along with rap music, Tego is part of the alternative reggaetón genre. He wrote songs that are strictly reggae without the Spanish influence. He believes that the record El Abayarde is responsible for making him famous amongst the reggae/reggaetón enthusiasts. Calderon has earned many awards for his work over the years. He received “International Artist of the Year” from The Source Magazine, and a Tú Música award. He also received nomination in more than one ceremony around the Spanish-speaking world. The Latin Grammy, Billboard Award, Premios Lo Nuestro and Premios La Gente. Tego has also broke many records for the amount of people who came to his concerts in Guatemala, Ecuador, Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, México and El Salvador. He is becoming increasingly popular amongst the youth of Puerto Rico as are many other reggaetón artists. Tego made a few appearances on other reggaetón rappers albums, eventually he sang with the label White Lion. In the year 2002 he was able to publish his first album titled El Abayarde. Reggaetón at that point was considered an underground genre but was loved by so many people that he was able to get it on the market. His album sold over 50,000 copies on its release, this set a sales record for an urban music album, especially of an underground genre. Only three months after he published El Abayarde, he organized his first concert which took place in San Juan. The venue was sold out within a matter of hours. The day after the concert he became the first rap artist to be asked to perform at the yearly Puertorican Día Nacional de la Salsa celebration. media type="youtube" key="NncAAq_CLWI" height="288" width="353" Ivy Queen Ivy Queen (Martha Ivelisse Pesante) was born on March 4th in 1972 in Añasco, Puerto Rico. She is a Puerto Rican reggaetón composer and singer. She is known by the reggaetón scene as “La Reina del Reggaetón.” There are not many female reggaetón artists that have made it to be famous, but she has surpassed even some of the men as far as record sales in both Latin America, and the United States. When she was very young she moved with her parents to New York City where she was raised. When she reached her early teen years they all moved back to her home town of Añasco. While she was there she worked on her skills as a young artist and spent a lot of time with the barber/rapper chu chu tren. When she turned the age of 18 she moved to San Juan where she was introduced to DJ Negro. DJ Negro was part of the group “The Noise.” She was invited to perform with the group and later performed her first single, “Somos Raperos Pero No Delincuentes.” In the year 2008 she went back to high school to conclude her time as a scholar. She said that she returned in order to “deliver a message to young people.” In her home town it was not a necessity to go all the way through college or sometimes even finish high school education. She wanted to show the young people of her country what she had learned during her years in the United States. She had seen the mass amount of homeless people while she was in New York and decided that she wanted to spread the message to her country that they deserve better than calling the sidewalk a home. Soon after she completed her high school career, DJ Negro convinced her to go solo and in 1997 she made her debut with the recording of the album En Mi Imperio for Song International Records. She won the title of “The Peoples Favorite Rap Singer” awarded by Artista magazine. media type="youtube" key="J48mJqM4gCM" height="288" width="353"

Daddy Yankee // "One of the factors was that I didn't have a major label backing me up. I didn't have anybody to say "Yo Yankee, we're going to put your video here and we're gonna put your music on this station." It just was not like that. At the same time, it was good because I have gotten to this point because of my music and not anything else. I just put the music out there in the street and that music got me to this point." // - Daddy Yankee

Ramón Luis Ayala Rodríquez was born on February third in 1977. He is known in the reggaetón world as Daddy Yankee. Ramón is a Latin Grammy Award winning Puerto Rican recording artist. Ramón was born in Río Piedras, the larges district of San Juan. He was interested in music starting at a very young age. When he was young he loved to play baseball and aspired to become a Major League Baseball player but injured his leg and was unable to continue playing. He then became a huge fan of the underground rap scene that was evolving in Puerto Rico. He was envolved with the early stages of what was later formed into reggaetón. He received some lessons from artists that were forming their career along with him and he later developed an independent career. Daddy Yankee began his career at the young age of thirteen. After producing his four most popular albums he became one of the many pioneers of the reggaetón genre. He was the first reggaetón artist to have a world tour in United States, Latin America and Europe with over 7 million albums being sold from the start of his career. He has been deemed ¨The most popular Latin American Artist of all times.¨ By many news magazines.

// "Yes, people see me as somebody that is bringing a new flavor to the table. Most people want to work with me because it's something new on the radio." // -Daddy Yankee

The hit //Gasolina// boosted his career and made him an International star.
 * Album sold over 2 million copies worldwide.
 * Most popular song by Daddy Yankee.
 * Was promoted in the United States and was responsible for making him famous.

media type="youtube" key="kF2McaeCHrw" height="288" width="353" Interview with Señora Colon Teacher at Sheldon High School Grew up in Puerto Rico Interview about reggaetón and Puerto Rico

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References:

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