Reggaeton

[dominic]

i hear reggaeton on my street 24/7, somebody's always having a party or playing cards

and i simply cannot appreciate the music, such a monotonous racket

(i like reggaeton only insofar as i think it adds "character" to the neighborhood, which is pathetically tourist-y and middle-class on my part)

(lots of afro-carribeans make fun of reggaeton, which makes for a kind of politics of humor)

i'm a very very casual fan of 60s/70s latin sounds, i.e., casual as in i don't know a thing about the music, but generally enjoy hearing it out once in a while -- and i simply cannot grasp why reggaeton has spread like such wild fire through the latin communities of new york -- perhaps b/c they see it as "their" music, and so rally behind the reggaeton flag -- but why should reggaeton be any more "their" music than previous latin styles? -- so, again, i'm simply at a loss to explain its popularity

it might be interesting, however, to do a geneaology of reggaeton. obviously there's the whole latinized reggae dancehall angle. but i also think there's a freestyle ---> nyc tribal house ----> reggaeton line of development

 

[dominic]

and, as noted upthread, it's definitely a pan-latin phenomenon

not simply puerto ricans and dominicans

but also ecuadoreans, peruvians, mexicans, guatemaleans -- all crazy about reggaeton

but not jamaican or haitian or trinidad/tobago or guyana -- and therefore it surprises me that somebody upthread said it's big in east africa

 

[mistersloane]

and, as noted upthread, it's definitely a pan-latin phenomenon

not simply puerto ricans and dominicans

but also ecuadoreans, peruvians, mexicans, guatemaleans -- all crazy about reggaeton

but not jamaican or haitian or trinidad/tobago or guyana -- and therefore it surprises me that somebody upthread said it's big in east africa

driving round florida recently it really struck me how much the beat - dum di chum di di - was really like the kwaito beat, south africa. It's taken off I reckon cos that beat is pretty much an eqivalent to a house beat, and therefore you can put anything on top of it, and the beat pretty much becomes invisible after a while. It's my music for the summer, glad I finally heard into it at last, I didn't get it for a while neither, maybe just didn't have a 'hook' into it which I now found.

 

[Gavin]

it might be interesting, however, to do a geneaology of reggaeton. obviously there's the whole latinized reggae dancehall angle. but i also think there's a freestyle ---> nyc tribal house ----> reggaeton line of development

Definitely, there's LOTS of trance and house influenced reggaeton (some of my favorite stuff really)... There are some comps -- Reggaeton Sex is one with several volumes -- that have tracks that basically boil down to reggaeton-ghettotech ("pu-pu... ta-ta" repeated over the reggaeton beat for example). Good stuff. What's the policy for yousendit/etc. hosting on this board? I'd gladly post upload something.

Unfortunately the major label interest seems to be pushing it in a really played-out NYC hip hop direction, turning down the dancing and emphasizing the masculine posturing. Just a phase hopefully.

Also, was in a Mexican section of Chicago the other day and heard somebody BLASTING freestyle from their car! Good shit!

 

[ripley]

gavin, post post post

or send it to me anyway !

 

[mistersloane]

gavin, post post post

or send it to me anyway !

seconded pleeeeeeeeeease

 

[nomadologist]

never heard mexican reggaeton: who are the artists?

 

[Tactics]

that's because africans

but not jamaican or haitian or trinidad/tobago or guyana -- and therefore it surprises me that somebody upthread said it's big in east africa

are bloody mad...and that's coming from one lol

I actually can't stand this music but props if ppl are feeling it

when I was in the Dominican Republic it was getting POUNDED

 

[petergunn]

and i simply cannot grasp why reggaeton has spread like such wild fire through the latin communities of new york -- perhaps b/c they see it as "their" music, and so rally behind the reggaeton flag -- but why should reggaeton be any more "their" music than previous latin styles? -- so, again, i'm simply at a loss to explain its popularity
t

i still hear PLENTY of salsa and other old school latin stuff around NYC...

 

[dominic]

i still hear PLENTY of salsa and other old school latin stuff around NYC...

errr, yes, i'm hearing "old latin stuff" outside my window as i write

 

[Gavin]

Sorry, didn't mean to sleep on my promise! Let me know if these links break/get modded out of existence.

http://www.zshare.net/audio/26799127448ccf/

This one jacks the bhangra flavor from that Panjabi MC track. Just like everyone did a few years back:

http://www.zshare.net/audio/2679957968b2e6/

Here's the "pu-pu.. ta-ta..." one. Maybe not one of the best, but you get the picture.

http://www.zshare.net/audio/267997824a9f01/

I don't know if there's a distinct name for this style. There's something called champeta coming out of Cartagena, Colombia... I guess it was a kind of Caribbean Afrobeat music in the 1970s (I have one comp), but also refers to this hyper reggaeton + ragga + Eurodance + etc. hybrid there. Sort of how lots of stuff is just "funk" in the favelas maybe? Here's a track by champeta overlords La Factoria.

http://www.zshare.net/audio/26800289e4ffcc/

 

[Gavin]

driving round florida recently it really struck me how much the beat - dum di chum di di - was really like the kwaito beat, south africa. It's taken off I reckon cos that beat is pretty much an eqivalent to a house beat, and therefore you can put anything on top of it, and the beat pretty much becomes invisible after a while. It's my music for the summer, glad I finally heard into it at last, I didn't get it for a while neither, maybe just didn't have a 'hook' into it which I now found.

I have a S.African friend who gave me a bunch of "kwaito" mixes that just sound like funky house. There are some distinct ones, and I did notice the similarity in the rhythm to reggaeton. The timbres are very different though -- reggaeton has those loud clipped synth snares all in your face, kwaito's a bit more laid back, lighter snare with more balanced bass kick.

 

[zhao]

anyone "in the know" can recommend something on this page? i only know Tego, Yankee, Omar, Ivy, Calle... can't possibly download everything!

 

[drilla]

rakim y ken y - masterpiece
wisin y yandeal - p'al mundo
tito el bambino - top of the line
alexis & fido - los pitbulls
all of the luny tunes stuff. 'kings of the beats' is two discs of instrumentals, interesting to study from a production angle, and they work well on their own (my grandma used to dance to it)

 

[Blackdown]

This thread is awesome!

So glad Wayne's post got included, that man drops knowledge!

Ripley or anyone else, can you explain the political backdrop to the Calle 13 track "Querido FBI," it's millitant, totally different to the saccarine sex rap of Adassa "La Manera" (Ripley, do girls get much out of this video? lol).

The only reggaeton I've encountered is the "Chosen Few El Documental" which totally opened my eyes but i suspect is the equivalent of Run the Road rather than Lord of the Mics (to use grime terms). Anyone else rate this?

 

[Blackdown]

Ah looks the Wiki page on Filiberto Ojeda explains quite a bit.

 

[Gavin]

The only reggaeton I've encountered is the "Chosen Few El Documental" which totally opened my eyes but i suspect is the equivalent of Run the Road rather than Lord of the Mics (to use grime terms). Anyone else rate this?

I'm pretty lukewarm to Chosen Few. Luny Tunes Mas Flow albums are a better general introduction/crossover.

I know the general line is "It's a producer's medium, buy their albums not the MCs," but I go to the MC artist albums more often -- Tego's are all great, Daddy Yankee's Barrio Fino (new one is pretty eh), Ivy Queen (again, newest is mediocre, she backed away from her earlier ragga style into softer salsa romantica type ballads). Vico C has some really good stuff; not exclusively reggaeton though. His last album Desahogo has some nice "sophisticated" tracks... like Spanish hip hop for a more mature crowd (which makes it sound horrible, but it's pretty nice). Also, I got sick of Luny Tunes production style -- their string arrangements were all too samey (and I am generally not a fan of string arrangements), and the pop/R&B/reggaeton crossover began to strike me as a little watered down. Maybe I'm not the only one: Tego didn't use them at all for his last album.

Oh yeah, DJ Kassanova, a NYC DJ, makes generally great remixes of popular tunes!

 

[baboon2004]

http://salvajesiempre.blogspot.com/

Brilliant, brilliant stuff on here (loads of audio samples too, and who knew Youtube was so full of reggaeton videos?).

Really like the latest Calle 13 record, but I guess that's super-mainstream?

On a pan-Latin American note, also heard Argentinian reggae artist Alika & Nueva Allianza courtesy of the Blogariddims series - the combination of Spanish and old-school reggae beats really works.

 

[baboon2004]

Also, because I'm curious (and not always too good at hearing the beat structures of tracks): the allegations that 'reggaeton all sounds the same' are presumably due to the supposed ubiquity of the dembow riddim, right? And is it really all that ubiquitous?

 

[zhao]

danke for the tips Drilla.