Reggaeton (also spelled Reggaetón, and known as Reguetón and Reggaetón in Spanish) is a form of urban music which became popular with Latin American (or Latino) youth during the early 1990s and spread over the course of 10 years to North American, European, Asian, and Australian audiences. Reggaeton blends Jamaican music influences of reggae and dancehall with those of Latin America, such as bomba, plena, merengue, and bachata as well as that of hip hop and Electronica. The music is also combined with rapping or singing in Spanish, English or ‘Spanglish’. Reggaeton has given the Hispanic youth, starting with those from Puerto Rico, a musical genre that they can consider their own. The influence of this genre has spread to the wider Latino communities in the United States, as well as the Latin American audience. While it takes influences from hip hop and Jamaican dancehall, it would be wrong to define reggaeton as the Hispanic or Latino version of either of these genres; Reggaeton has its own specific beat and rhythm, whereas Latino hip hop is simply hip hop recorded by artists of Latino descent. The specific rhythm that characterizes reggaeton is referred to as “Dem Bow.” The name is a reference to the title of the dancehall song by Shabba Ranks that first popularized the beat in the early 1990s.
Reggaeton’s origins represents a hybrid of many different musical genres and influences from various countries in the Caribbean, Latin America and the United States. The genre of reggaeton however is most closely associated with Puerto Rico, as this is where the musical style later popularized and became most famous, and where the vast majority of its current stars originate from.
Reggaeton lyrics tend to be more derived from hip hop than dancehall. Like hip hop, reggaeton has caused some controversy, albeit much less, due to a few of the songs’ explicit lyrics and alleged exploitation of women. Further controversy surrounds perreo, a dance with explicit sexual overtones which is associated with reggaeton music.
