Reggaeton
Argentina has seen a modern surge in young artists inspired by the reggaetón style, fusing their music with Spanish rap verses, trapetón and R&B-style vocals (such as the "Los Del Espacio", including LIT killah, Tiago PZK, Duki, Emilia, and María Becerra, as well as Argentine pop star Tini).
Several established, world-famous performers—notably Puerto Rican-American Jennifer Lopez and Shakira from Colombia—have embraced the style, recording numerous duets and collaborations with top reggaetoneros.
Several other emerging international artists are seeing success in the genre as well, including Catalán-Spanish singer Bad Gyal (from Barcelona) and trilingual Brazilian star Anitta (from Rio de Janeiro).
Mexican-American singer Becky G (from Los Angeles, California) has experienced huge success in recent years, as a Latino American artist in the reggaetón genre.
"[15] Another version suggests that it appeared the following year when DJ Erick released the album titled "Reggaetón Live Vol.1," abbreviating the words reggae and maratón (marathon).
As Caribbean and African-American music gained momentum in Puerto Rico, reggae rap in Spanish marked the beginning of the Boricua underground and was a creative outlet for many young people.
Puerto Rican police raided six record stores in San Juan,[28] hundreds of cassettes were confiscated and fines imposed in accordance with Laws 112 and 117 against obscenity.
Although the effort did not seem to negatively affect public opinion about reggaeton, it reflected the unease of the government and the upper social classes with what the music represented.
Because of its often sexually-charged content and its roots in poor, urban communities, many middle- and upper-class Puerto Ricans found reggaeton threatening, "immoral, as well as artistically deficient, a threat to the social order, apolitical".
[29] Puerto Rican mainstream acceptance of reggaeton has grown and the genre has become part of popular culture, including a 2006 Pepsi commercial with Daddy Yankee[32] and PepsiCo's choice of Ivy Queen as musical spokesperson for Mountain Dew.
Luny Tunes and Noriega's Mas Flow, Yaga & Mackie's Sonando Diferente, Tego Calderón's El Abayarde, Ivy Queen's Diva, Zion & Lennox's Motivando a la Yal and the Desafío compilation were also well received.
That same year, Shakira's "Hips Don't Lie", featuring Wyclef Jean of the Fugees, became "the most popular song in the genre's history", with "the dembow beat in the background, the trumpet sample of Jerry Rivera's "Amores como el nuestro" in the chorus, the obvious salsa influence.
"[41] In June 2007, Daddy Yankee's El Cartel III: The Big Boss set a first-week sales record for a reggaeton album, with 88,000 copies sold.
[49] In June 2017, "Despacito" was cited by Billboard's Leila Cobo as the song that renewed interest in the Latin music market from recording labels in the United States.
[50] Julyssa Lopez of The Washington Post stated that the successes of "Despacito" and J Balvin's "Mi Gente" is "the beginning of a new Latin crossover era.
"[52] Ho also stated that "as 'Despacito' proves, fans don't need to understand the language in order to enjoy the music", referring to the worldwide success of the song, including various non-Spanish-speaking countries.
[52] In April 2018, "Te Boté" was released by Nio Garcia, Casper Magico, Darell, Ozuna, Bad Bunny and Nicky Jam.
[53] Many artists began to mark strong commercial trends in a market dominated by mixing Latin trap and reggaeton followed by a new minimalist dembow rhythm.
Snoop Dogg and Daddy Yankee filmed the video for "Gangsta Zone" in Torres Sabana housing projects in Carolina, Puerto Rico on January 27, 2006.
Reggaeton has also seen increased popularity in the wider Latin America region, including in Mexico, Honduras, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, Ecuador and Peru.
In March 2019, the government went a step further; they banned the "aggressive, sexually explicit and obscene messages of reggaeton" from radio and television, as well as performances by street musicians.
The New York–based rapper N.O.R.E., also known as Noreaga, produced Nina Sky's 2004 hit "Oye Mi Canto", which featured Tego Calderón and Daddy Yankee, and reggaeton became popular in the U.S.[73] Daddy Yankee then caught the attention of many hip-hop artists with his song "Gasolina",[73] and that year XM Radio introduced its reggaeton channel, Fuego (XM).
Reggaeton, which evolved from dancehall and reggae, and with influences from hip hop has helped Latin-Americans contribute to urban American culture and keep many aspects of their Hispanic heritage.
One example of a popular local reggaeton act is Zamboangueño duo Dos Fuertes, who had a dance hit in 2007 with "Tarat Tat", and who primarily uses the Chavacano language in their songs.
[81] New generation artists like Villano Antillano, Young Miko, La Cruz and others have been challenging the stereotypes and values traditionally associated with the genre.
In the same year, she was featured on Spanish rapper Bad Gyal's "Chulo Pt2", along with Tokischa, a queer Dembow singer; as of October 2023, the song has over 100 million views on YouTube.
[87][88] In the start of her career, Young Miko grew a local following in Puerto Rico releasing music independently on SoundCloud, but gained national visibility after Bad Bunny invited her on stage during his Un Verano Sin Ti tour.
[89] In June 2023, reggaeton artist, La Cruz, from Venezuela released a music video for his single "TE CONOCI BAILANDO", which featured several homoerotic images including several shirtless men, locker room interactions and guys twerking in front of urinals.
Mexican singer-songwriter Aleks Syntek made a public post on social media complaining that such music was played at Mexico City's airport in the morning with children present.
One notable example is singer Flex, who in 2009 committed himself to singing songs with romance messages, a subgenre he dubbed "romantic style".
