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Inspiration for the project

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PP: Totally. And I think that when we consider whenever a superstar comes in and says, "Here is my tribute," it's often very far removed from what the thing actually is. Or it's like an adaptation from a local movement or a local scene or something that has existed for a very long time.

I think that one of the questions that we will definitely keep returning to in this conversation is, what is Afrobeats? Like, what is it exactly? I think it would be helpful if you guys could help define that. Where does that term come from originally, both geographically and culturally?

MC: The lore of the term Afrobeats is that around 2010 there are African immigrant communities in the UK that are just turning up to a lot of music from Nigeria and Ghana and other parts of West Africa in the clubs and at parties. DJs and promoters then need a way to package and sell these events that are going to feature this popular West African music. And so the term Afrobeats is coined as a catchall for the sound.

PP: Right. What about Joey, from your perspective?

Joey Akan: Afrobeats, not to be confused with Afrobeat. It's a play on Afrobeat but not confused with it. Put an S to Afrobeat and then it becomes Afrobeats.

Originally, Afrobeat is the music from Fela [Kuti]. Fela was a huge pioneer of a new sound in Nigeria that spread from Nigeria to a lot of places. It was the basic template that a lot of people worked with in creating their own sounds. Fela got horns from jazz, got sounds from soul, he got some certain traditional African chants. And they also included a lot of instruments, multilayered instrumentation, to create something called Afrobeat. A great example of it is the song "Trouble Sleep Yanga Wake Am." It was released in 1972 off the album Roforofo Fight by Fela Kuti.

You know, much of Fela's music back then was very pragmatic. A lot of it was militant, a lot of it was activist. Fela was a politician who also fought for the rights of his people and was a nemesis to the Nigerian dictators during the dictators' military regime. His work and his actions inspired a generation. Even down to this point in time, a lot of the music that we call Afrobeats now, they still collect from Fela's compositions and utilize it in the music. Fela has been sampled across the board.

So when he died, after a while, we began the local music industry back in Nigeria. With a lot of progress happening, the world opening up and people becoming aware of our music, the people in the UK decided that, "Music from Nigeria is getting so much love. How about we just try to give it form, give it a name, and put it through the market and through the systems?" So they decided to name it Afrobeats, and that's how it came to be. All the pop music coming in from Nigeria, Ghana, sub-Saharan Africa, they just named it Afrobeats to give it a marketable entity.

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PP: Totally. And I think that when we consider whenever a superstar comes in and says, "Here is my tribute," it's often very far removed from what the thing actually is. Or it's like an adaptation from a local movement or a local scene or something that has existed for a very long time.

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Recent years have seen the popularity of Afrobeats soar across the world. This week sees the launch of the first ever Official Afrobeats Chart, a weekly Top 40 initiated by Afro Nation that will shine a spotlight on Afrobeats artists enjoying success in the UK, where the scene has been thriving for the best part of a decade.

The Sound

Broadly speaking, Afrobeats is a fusion of West African pop music with western rap, bashment, dancehall, R&B and EDM. It's the sound of Nigeria and Ghana, with a focus on creating upbeat, fun and energetic melodies designed to make you move.

Crucially, Afrobeats is different to Afrobeat, a music style pioneered by Fela Kuti and developed in the 1960s. Afrobeat is big band, afro-funk, jazz-influenced and often highly political.

Early 2000s beginnings

In 2005 Afrobeats breaks into the mainstream with the launch of MTV Base Africa. The first wave of artists featured include MI Abaga, Naeto C and Sarkodie. It's the first major platform for Afrobeats artists, though language barriers and a lack of major label funding mean their success was limited.

2011

Several Afrobeats artists begin to find success across the continent. One of the most established acts are sibling duo P-Square, who sign a deal with Akon's Konvict Muzik label and release their fifth album Invasion, featuring guest appearances from Akon, Rick Ross and Tiwa Savage.

After signing a record deal in 2009 with Empire Mates Entertainment, rising star Wizkid releases his debut album Superstar to critical acclaim.
Key tracks: P-Square - Beautiful Onyinye ft. Rick Ross
WizKid - Don't Dull
2012

Oliver Twist by Nigerian artist D'Banj reaches Number 9 on the Official Singles Chart, marking the first Afrobeats artist to score a UK Top 10. The music video is jam-packed with famous faces, including his GOOD Music label founder Kanye West and label mates Big Sean, Pusha T, and producer Hit-Boy, plus Sugababes' Keisha Buchanan, Mike Dean, Bricka Bricka, comedian Eddie Kadi and Sneakbo.

Ghanaian artist Sarkodie wins Best International Act Africa at the MOBO Awards. His song U Go Kill Me is a huge hit in Ghana and helps popularise the Azonto, a Ghanaian dance craze and music genre.

Key tracks
D'banj - Oliver Twist
P-Square ft. Akon & May D - Chop My Money (Remix)
Mista Silva ft Skob, Kwamz & Flava - Boom Boom Tah
Burna Boy - Like To Party

2013
Key tracks
London rapper and singer Fuse ODG brings Afrobeats to mainstream UK radio with Top 10 singles Antenna, Million Pound Girl (Badder Than Bad) and Azonto, a track based on the African dance phenomenon. Fuse also wins Best African Act at the MOBO Awards.

Other British Afrobeats artists begin to emerge in the mainstream, including Mista Silva, Vibe Squad and Naira Marley.

2014

WizKid's Ojuelegba is the big Afrobeats track of the year, boosted in the UK by a remix featuring Drake and Skepta.
Key tracks WizKid - Ojuelegba (Remix)
Naira Marley ft. Max Twigz - Marry Juana
Key tracks Afro B - Baba God
Michelle Williams - Say Yes
US artists including French Montana, Kanye West, Destiny's Child's Michelle Williams and Rick Ross begin dabbling in the genre or collaborating with Afrobeats artists.

An offshoot of Afrobeats called Afroswing emerges - a fusion of rap, grime, dancehall, trap and R&B led by British rapper J Hus.
Key tracks J Hus - Friendly 2017
Eugy & Mr Eazi - Dance For Me
Key tracks 2018 Maleek Berry - Kontrol
2019 Kwamz & Takeover - Takeover
Yxng Bane ft Kojo Funds - Fine Wine Key tracks
Kojo Funds & Abra Cadabra - Dun Talkin
Mr Eazi - Leg Over
2015

Wizkid signs to RCA Records and lands the biggest record deal an African musician has ever received.

East London collective NSG land their breakthrough viral hit as a guest feature on Jaij Hollands' Pinga.

Tion Wayne ft Afro B - Can't Go Broke
Burna Boy - Soke
Sarkodie ft Castro - Adonai (Remix)
Belly Squad - Banana
Jaij Hollands & NSG - Pinga

2016

Drake releases One Dance with Wizkid and Kyla. The track becomes Spotify's most-streamed song ever, with over 1 billion streams, and is Number 1 on the UK's Official Singles Chart for 15 weeks - the longest-running Number 1 single of the millennium. Although One Dance borrows more from dancehall than Afrobeats, WizKid's feature helps push Afrobeats into the mainstream globally.

Beat FM launches in the UK, the first British radio stations dedicated to Afrobeats.

Ghanian rapper Sarkodie speaks to a group of Harvard Business School students. His speech, themed around 'The Art of the Hustle', was about the challenges associated with being an African musician.

Wizkid becomes the first African artist to headline a sold-out headline show at the Royal Albert Hall (5,272 capacity).

J Hus lands his first Top 10 on the Official UK Singles Chart with Did You See. His debut album Common Sense also reaches the Top 10, peaking at Number 6 and ranking prominently among the numerous influential album of the year lists.

Another dance craze, Shaku Shaku, takes off. Though the origins are not known, the dance move first appeared in Olamide's Wo music video.

Afrobeats continues to grow in its mainstream appeal. Swae Lee and Drake release Won't Be Late, produced by Nigerian artist Tekno, and Aya Nakamura releases European smash Djadja. Other key tracks from the year include:

Burna Boy - Ye
Afro B - Drogba (Joanna)
Wizkid, Ceeza Milli , Spotless & Terri - Soco
Skepta & WizKid - Bad Energy
NSG ft Tion Wayne - Options

GoldLink and Beyoncé both release albums with Afrobeats influence. GoldLink's Diaspora features an afrobeats song as the lead single, called Zulu Screams, and production from P2J. Beyonce's The Gift - an accompanying album to The Lion King remake - is heavily inspired by afrobeats and features WizKid, Burna Boy, Mr Eazi, Tekno, and Yemi Alade among others.

Universal launches Def Jam Africa, a new label division within the continent dedicated to representing the best hip-hop, Afrobeats and trap talent in Africa. Their roster includes Boity, Cassper Nyovest, Larry Gaaga, Nadia Nakai, Nasty C, Tshego, Tellaman, Ricky Tyler and Vector.

In the UK, six-piece NSG and Ziezie land multiple Top 40 hits, including NSG's Options ft. Tion Wayne and OT Bop.

Zlatan & Burna Boy - Killin Dem
Naira Marley - Soapy
Darkoo ft One Acen - Gangsta
Young T & Bugsey ft Headie One - Don't Rush

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The rise and rise of Afrobeats: a timeline

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Recent years have seen the popularity of Afrobeats soar across the world. This week sees the launch of the first ever Official Afrobeats Chart, a weekly Top 40 initiated by Afro Nation that will shine a spotlight on Afrobeats artists enjoying success in the UK, where the scene has been thriving for the best part of a decade.

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Gloria "Goyo" Martínez, of the genre-bending hip-hop trio ChocQuibTown. (David Micolta)

When artists across the music industry began speaking out against racial injustice following George Floyd's death at the hands of Minneapolis police, "King of Reggaeton" Daddy Yankee and Calle 13 rapper Residente were among them. But many of reggaeton's biggest stars stayed conspicuously silent.

There was nothing from Bad Bunny, the charismatic Puerto Rican rapper and outspoken LGBTQ ally who was a visible ( and audible) figure in the protests that led to the resignation of Puerto Rico's governor. Fans called out others for tone-deaf posts: Colombian breakout Karol G tweeted a photo of a dog with black and white spots, tweeting in Spanish that it was "the perfect example" of how beautiful white and black looks together. J Balvin included the Black Lives Matter hashtag alongside a video of himself dancing with a Black woman.

Those messages highlighted the growing dissonance between reggaeton's origins in poor, marginalized communities in Puerto Rico and Panama and the genre's contemporary and increasingly global image. Reggaeton and its offshoots - including Latin trap - grew out of Black music genres including reggae, dancehall and rap. Reggaeton is inherently Black and inherently political: poverty, racism, police violence and the genre's own criminalization were persistent themes in the genre's early days, anchored by Afro-Latino pioneers including Tego Calderón, Ivy Queen and reggae en Español legend El General.

The clumsy platitudes from some of reggaeton's chart-topping stars failed to honor that legacy and overlooked the systemic racism experienced by Afro-Latinos. And it wasn't just fans who took note of the erasure: Gloria "Goyo" Martinez, lead singer of the Afro-Colombian hip-hop trio ChocQuibTown, shared an emotional open letter via Billboard, lamenting some of the uninformed statements she had seen on social media.

"[Saying] that we are all equal negates racism and discrimination," Goyo wrote in Spanish. "I read superficial messages that allow people to keep saying something that is not true." Her letter also referenced Anderson Arboleda, a 24-year-old Afro-Colombian man who died in May after a Colombian police officer allegedly struck him on the head with a baton.

The discourse reflected issues that extend beyond the music industry: namely racial politics in Latin America and the Caribbean, where the notion of a national, multiracial identity - mestizaje - has long been emphasized over individual race. Fans and critics have for years urged reggaeton, now overwhelmingly dominated by White or light-skinned Latinos, to acknowledge and honor its Black roots. The backlash to the reggaeton community's uneven response amid a heightened movement around racial justice brought that desire into renewed focus. It marks a pivotal moment for the once-underground genre, which has become a force in contemporary pop music.

Amid the scrutiny in early June, J Balvin and Karol G apologized for their posts and pledged to educate themselves. Bad Bunny emerged from a social media hiatus to share a "lyrical statement" with Time Magazine and later commissioned "Black Lives Matter" to be painted on murals across Puerto Rico. Reflecting on the criticism in a recent New York Times Magazine profile, the rapper admitted he had only recently begun to grasp the disparities that Afro-Latinos - including icons like Calderón - have faced in the music industry.

That's largely because the industry is structured in a way that allows White artists to thrive, says Katelina Eccleston, a reggaeton scholar who explores the genre's history on her website, Reggaeton con la Gata.

"If you look at the hiring and the talent in all levels in the industry, it's just lacking diversity," Eccleston says. "And that translates into the decision-making."

Take this year's Super Bowl halftime show, for example. For all the gains made by putting Latin music at the center of the marquee event where Bad Bunny and J Balvin performed alongside headliners Jennifer Lopez and Shakira, the show did little to reflect the full diversity of Latin culture.

And while Afro-Latino artists are gaining visibility in the industry, Eccleston says it's limited: " When we look at the artists who are singing this very Black music, Black women are missing completely."

In early June, Eccleston, an Afro-Panamanian Boston native, penned an op-ed for the Latin culture site Remezcla, arguing that as purveyors of "one of the genres most indebted to Black music and culture," more reggaeton stars should have been ready and wiling to speak out about systemic racism. She soon found herself on a group chat with artists, publicists and other tastemakers from the Latin hip-hop community, a brainstorm that helped yield the Conciencia Collective, an alliance of industry insiders and executives hoping to raise awareness around racial injustice and other issues.

The collective has united the community in responding to an important moment in history, says Goyo, one of the artists spearheading the effort. As its first initiative, the collective paired with We Are Mitú to host a series of YouTube conversations called Conciencia Talk, covering such topics as mental health, police brutality and White privilege.

Goyo knows these discussions can be fraught. She made headlines back in June for her pointed response to Karol G, using the "Tusa" singer as an example of an artist profiting off Black culture while understanding little about racial disparities.

Amid the raw emotions surrounding Floyd's killing, "a lot of people took it as me trying to make her feel bad," Goyo says in Spanish, noting her intention was simply to educate. "Sometimes we make a mistake and we don't have anyone to say 'listen, you're wrong on this.' Human beings are always growing."

ChocQuibTown has long celebrated both parts of their Afro-Latin identity. In 2010, four years after their indie debut, the group won a Latin Grammy for " De Donde Vengo Yo, " a joyful homage to their native Chocó, a predominantly Black department on the Colombia-Panama border. "We have problems but we are happy," they chant in the song, which name-checks the area's rich biodiversity and culture but also notes that racism and internalized self-hatred are prevalent.

"Before [Floyd's death], we were always wanting to have these conversations and there was almost never space for that," says Goyo. "It's not talked about."

This year, some of the most poignant statements against systemic racism and police violence have come from Afro-Latinos who are charting innovative paths in reggaeton and Latin trap - and are perhaps more visible than ever in the genre's pop era.

Just weeks after Floyd's death, emerging Puerto Rican rapper Rafa Pabón released "Sin Aire" ("Without Air"), a piercing freestyle that references Floyd and other victims of police killings. In the music video, Pabón lies on the ground with an officer's knee against his neck. His eyes remain fixed on the camera as he raps: "Le temo más a un policía que a un criminal / No me llega aire pa' respirar señor oficial" (I fear a cop more than a criminal / I can't breathe, Mr. Officer).

In July, Myke Towers released "Michael X," in which he channels Malcolm X. "Orgulloso de ser negro, la gente sabe como soy," Towers raps. "Que en paz descanse George Floyd" (I'm proud to be Black, the people know how I am / Rest in peace, George Floyd). The Puerto Rico native (born Michael Torres) told Grammy.com he felt a responsibility to speak out "as a Latin artist who has been heavily influenced by Black culture."

Sech wears his support for "Black Lives Matter" - literally, with a hoodie featuring the phrase - in the music video for the "Porfa" remix, a star-studded collab featuring J Balvin, Maluma and Nicky Jam, among others, released in July. In an interview with The Post, Sech said the hoodie was a subtle but enduring way to show support. "It's a little thing but, everybody, when they see the video now, tomorrow - in one year - they can remember: Black Lives Matter."

Before he attracted the attention of producer (and fellow Panamanian) Dimelo Flow a few years ago, Sech worked in the construction and food service industries. Seeing Floyd and other victims of police violence, Sech says, "I feel like that's me. Or that could be my brother."

Along with his sometime collaborator Ozuna, Sech has become one of the most visible Afro-Latinos in reggaeton - and critics say his Panamanian roots evoke reggaeton's early influences. He burst onto the scene last year with the post-breakup ballad "Otro Trago," an R&B-tinged track that topped the Hot Latin Songs chart, and has teamed up with heavyweights including Daddy Yankee, Bad Bunny and Nando Boom, a pioneering reggae en Español singer.

Lito MC Cassidy, an Afro-Puerto Rican rapper who rose to fame as one half of the '90s duo Lito y Polaco, said he's particularly encouraged by Sech's ascent. He recalls going to TV appearances where makeup artists would try to alter his appearance and that of other Black musicians. To see an artists with similar features climbing the charts, Lito says, "I was clapping, like ... 'you made it!' "

The rapper credits fans and social media, in part, for helping to move the genre forward, beyond an implicitly White image. "People are talking and choosing what they like," Lito says. "So, I think this is the best opportunity to make a change. But it has to be consistent."

Eccleston, of Reggaeton con la Gata, sees potential progress in the discussions and initiatives that have happened this year. But "there needs to be more diversity in the talent, period," she says. "I don't feel great always having to mention Sech every time we're talking about diversity."

Daddy Yankee's 2004 hit "Gasolina" became the first reggaeton song to be nominated for a Latin Grammy award, making way for the genre's evolution on the pop charts. But the annual awards show has had a tenuous relationship with the reggaeton community.

Latin Grammys 2020: 5 things you missed, from Bad Bunny's performance to Pitbull honoring front-line workers

A number of artists, including Yankee and J Balvin, skipped the Latin Grammys in 2019 in protest of the annual award's show perpetual snubbing of reggaeton, particularly in the top categories. "Si no hay reggaeton, no hay Latin Grammy" (Without reggaeton, there is no Latin Grammy), artists shared on their platforms.

The social media campaign, which prompted the Latin Recording Academy to add a reggaeton category, echoed criticism that Black U.S. artists have also directed at the Recording Academy, but seemed to ignore the unsettling racial subtext of relegating reggaeton to the ceremony's few urban categories.

That isolation played out in a debate-provoking way last year when Spanish phenom Rosalía cleaned up at the awards show, winning album of the year (the first woman to do so in 13 years) and best contemporary pop vocal album for her acclaimed pop-flamenco fusion debut "El Mal Querer," and urban song of the year for her reggaeton duet with J Balvin, "Con Altura." The collab beat Sech's "Otro Trago" in the latter category, leading many fans to bemoan the Latin Recording Academy's missed opportunity to honor - as Mic put it - "one of reggaeton's brightest stars."

How Rosalía brought flamenco to the VMAs - and into the genre-bending world of modern pop

For some, her success highlighted the ease with which White artists can experiment with so-called urban genres and be celebrated for it. Similar criticism revolved around "Despacito," a Yankee-featured track that took Luis Fonsi, a decidedly Latin pop star, to the top of the Billboard 100 for a record-setting 16 weeks.

When the Latin Grammy nominations were announced in September, with Bad Bunny, Ozuna and Balvin dominating the top categories, the Associated Press dubbed it a reggaeton redemption. None of them triumphed in top categories at last week's ceremony, though they were honored in various urban categories.

Residente won song of the year for "René," a stirring, nearly eight-minute reflection on his mental health struggles. A favorite of the Latin Recording Academy, the socially conscious Calle 13 frontman started his career in reggaeton and still collaborates in the space.

"Art wasn't created to 'make history' or set records," the rapper said in his acceptance speech from Puerto Rico. "Art is created for us to reflect on everything that affects us, it's created to make us feel free and to say what we feel without fear."

"Tonight, I see a lot of talent, but I also see a lot of fear," he added.

Six months after the conversations prompted by this year's protests, there are small strides to celebrate. Bad Bunny recently hosted Ivy Queen - a feminist icon - on the remix for "Yo Perreo Sola," about a woman who finds freedom in dancing alone. "He made space for me and gave me my flowers while I'm still alive to enjoy them," she told Entertainment Weekly before the ceremony, where she performed as part of a tribute to salsa legend Héctor Lavoe. " I'm still overwhelmed by it all."

And ahead of the telecast, Goyo became the first Afro-Latina to be honored as one of the Latin Grammy's leading ladies of entertainment alongside Selena Gomez, lawyer Angela N. Martinez and journalist Maria Elena Salinas - visibility she knows will mean a lot to her fans of all backgrounds.

Conversations this year have opened a dialogue and given the industry "the opportunity to listen and to become familiar with some areas that Latin music maybe hasn't explored, always trying to show or sell one idea of being Latino," Goyo says. "But we are all Latino, and we are diverse."

It's time SNL books a musical act who performs exclusively in Spanish. Bad Bunny would be a good start.

Today's Headlines The most important news stories of the day, curated by Post editors and delivered every morning.

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Reggaeton needed a racial reckoning. Afro-Latinos are leading it.

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When artists across the music industry began speaking out against racial injustice following George Floyd's death at the hands of Minneapolis police, "King of Reggaeton" Daddy Yankee and Calle 13 rapper Residente were among them. But many of reggaeton's biggest stars stayed conspicuously silent.

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The song that birthed a genre

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The Icon

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Inspiration for drum fills and vocals layering

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Seyi Shay - Pempe ft. Yemi Alade (Official Audio)

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Reggaeton has its roots in Latin and Caribbean music. Its sound derives from the Reggae en Espanol from Panama. This genre was invented, shaped and made known in Puerto Rico where it got its name; most of its current artistes are also from Puerto Rico. After its mainstream exposure in 2004, it spread to North American, European, Asian and African audiences. Reggaeton blends musical influences of Jamaican Dancehall and Trinidadian Soca 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.

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. The origin of the word reggaeton comes from combining the English term reggae with the suffix -on, used in the Spanish language to describe something big.

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. 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. Today, the music flourishes throughout Latin America.

For more information on Reggaeton click here!

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Origins of Reggaeton - Jamaicansmusic.com

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Reggaeton has its roots in Latin and Caribbean music. Its sound derives from the Reggae en Espanol from Panama. This genre was invented, shaped and made known in Puerto Rico where it got its name; most of its current artistes are also from Puerto Rico.

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You won't find Capezzio Disco Bar in reggaeton history books - rarely do traditional timelines stop off in the Mexican port town Veracruz - but in 1990, it became the national epicenter of the explicit party music when it changed its soundtrack from salsa to reggaeton.
Capezzio was among the first Mexican venues for touring reggaeton A-listers like Vico C, and Hector y Tito - not to mention, a crucial stage for Mexican MCs that made ever-growing crowds dale hasta abajo. In this church of perreo, Twista-speed motormouth rapper Big Metra thrilled early crowds with his evergreen hit 'Desnúdate'. MCs Magaña and Baby King of Veracruz duo La Dinastia dropped references to cowboys and TV star Niurka in equal measure. Krysstal la Mas Perra got her start at Capezzio in 1999, winning one of the club's notorious talent searches as a 17-year-old with capable flow and ample, butch lesbian jarocha swag. (She's continued to confound those who've dubbed the genre as hopelessly homophobic with her decades-long career as a queer reggaetonera.)

But that's not where the story starts. Where that is differs on who you ask, but most would say it begins with the toasting traditions of Jamaican dancehall, a melodic braggadocio that took places over the island's legendary party beats. When Jamaicans immigrated to other lands, they took these lyrical lineages with them and dancehall vocals encountered new languages and scenes in which to integrate. Some of these offshoots would become known as reggaeton, cementing the genre's crucial hybridity. Reggaeton refuses to stay in one place and is as close to a Pan Latinx sound as one can get. Today, it's so prevalent in almost every corner of the Americas, enough to qualify it as the reigning form of Latin pop. As another global industry-confirmed "boom" brings urban Latin genres into speakers across the world, it seems ever more imperative to hype reggaeton history.

This story goes back well before Bieber fatefully heard a Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee track in a Colombian club and insisted on jumping on the remix, decades prior to the mid-aughts libido spike brought on by 'Gasolina'.
Renato y la 4 Estrellas - 'La Chica de los Ojos Café'
The crew boards an intricately painted Diablo Rojo bus. They hand a Jamaican reggae B-side cassette to the driver to pump over the vehicle's sound system (its speakers a rarity in 1970s and '80s Panama City.) The rasta MCs deliver a patois flow with dancehall flair to the riders. Renato y la 4 Estrellas, led by quinceañera choreographer Leonardo "Renato" Aulder, are making history.

In 1979, Panama's West Indian-populated Canal Zone transitioned from a US territory to become an official part of Panama, the country that had surrounded the area since its delineation in 1903. In this swirl of pan-American identity - black and Latinx with Barbadian, Jamaican and US roots - and in the absence of record presses or any national music industry to speak of, English-speaking Renato and other vocalists found a way to graduate plena, as their new sound came to be called, from bus performances to clubs to the studio. Renato's first recorded hit, 1985's 'El D.E.N.I.', was a warning against Panama's brutal undercover police force by the same name. Delivered in Spanish to be more widely accessible, his lyrics reflected the issues roiling its creator's black, urban experience.

Another member of Renato y las 4 Estrellas found himself in New York. Business administration student and ace freestyler Edgardo "El General" Franco synthesized the golden age of hip hop swirling around him, endowing his first Spanish language release 'Tu Pum Pum' with beatboxing and a bassline that skipped over dread roots for a rap beat. The fusion of several recognizable elements made El General reggae en español's first international star. Spanish language versioning of Jamaican dancehall hits became popular. Perhaps most significantly, a version of the Bobby "Digital" Dixon-produced, Steely and Clevie-performed Shabba Ranks' 1990 dancehall classic - Panamanian Nando Boom's 'Ellos Benia' - would travel to Puerto Rico and become the heavily sampled audio backbone of the genre we'd come to know as reggaeton.
DJ Playero - Playero 38
Throughout the Caribbean, innovators in the mid-'80s built off of Panama's experiments in musical hybridity. Jamaican dancehall artists like Shabba Ranks and Super Cat found popularity in mainstream outlets like Yo! MTV Raps; waves of Dominican immigration, as well as the circular migratory patterns through which Puerto Ricans brought mainland US hip-hop back to their island, gave birth to a sound that would eventually overshadow Panamanian plena in popular culture.

During this "underground" era, multiple schools of creativity built out what would eventually lead to the reggaeton sound. Jamaican production duo Steely and Clevie revolutionized dancehall with drum machines and synthesizers. Puerto Rican promoter and producer Jorge Oquendo spliced Dominican merengue with hip hop to form meren-rap. Eschewing melodic dancehall vocals, hip-hop en español heavy Vico C led the charge in laying verbose, US hip-hop-style verses over Caribbean beats, helping to establish underground's characteristically harder sound. DJ Negro was the first in Puerto Rico to popularize reggae en español at The Noise nightclub, headquarters for his seminal in-house crew featuring Ivy Queen, Baby Ranks, DJ Nelson and Baby Rasta y Gringo. These artists would come to define reggaeton, even decades later - and none more so than Ivy Queen, who is still the genre's undisputed queen. Their movement was also referred to as "melaza" or "música negra," words that reflected the racial makeup of its audience and artists, who often produced their work at home in the island's caseríos, or housing projects.

Another formational figure was DJ Playero, whose self-titled early '90s mixtape series began as a tightly-woven tapestry of reggae and hip-hop references. Eventually, his mission expanded to include local artists; the Playero series introduced talents like Nicky Jam, Tempo and Master Joe to the world. Playero 38 provides an excellent document of the era's affinity for the newly ubiquitous 'Dem Bow' beat.
Wiso G's Sin Parar
In February 1995, cops pillaged six Puerto Rican record stores, confiscating reggaeton cassettes and CDs and delivering court citations to employees (which were later dismissed by San Juan's Superior Court.) The excuse was violence in underground's lyrics, pegged as the impetus for supposed youth crime waves. Like gangster rap - not to mention 1960s and '70s Nuyorican salsa - underground songs often featured explicit narratives of life and crime in resource-deprived neighborhoods. But historians have questioned whether Puerto Rican authorities hadn't also bridled at underground's blackness; over the fact that its embrace of diasporic African musical traditions privileged narratives within Puerto Rico's own ethnic heritage that did not square with the notion of racial democracy by the island's powers-that-be.

Concurrent to the raids was Puerto Rican governor Pedro Rosselló's Mano Dura Contra el Crimen campaign, which saw the National Guard occupying caseríos in a purported attempt to lower crime rates. Political motivation could be linked to efforts by conservative watchdog group Morality in Media (now known as the National Center on Sexual Exploitation; coincidentally the primary lobbyists responsible for the United States' recently passed, calamitous anti-sex worker legislation.) MIM claimed that reggaeton reflected a youth subculture where "violence, drug use, sexual libertines, and a lack of respect for others" was norm. Notably, the government only took action when underground started making overground money. At the time of the raids, Wiso G's Sin Parar had become the genre's first album to be sold in mainstream record stores.

The genre survived and thrived but censorship took its toll: reggaeton wouldn't have a dedicated radio station until San Juan's Mix 107.7 FM popped off in 1999 with DJs Nelson and Coyote. The prejudices behind the raids were replicated in ensuing moral panics. In 2002, Puerto Rican senator Velda González launched a governmental crusade against perceived exploitation in reggaeton's well-sexed music videos despite the exemplar, socially-conscious release that year of Tego Calderón's Afro-centric debut El Abayarde.
DJ Blass - Reggaeton Sex
There is no doubt that the Reggaeton Sex series from Guayama, PR-born DJ Blass, aka Vladimir Felix, falls into the category of broadly explicit releases loathed by Senator González. But the influential producer's work signified seismic auditory and technological shifts in reggaeton and not just because Blass claims to have played a major role in popularizing use of the word "reggaeton" in the title of an early release. His oeuvre was no longer a version of hip-hop and reggae beats, but rather the foundations of a new, more refined sound that belonged to reggaeton and reggaeton alone.

Blass ratcheted down the previously high energy BPMs and introduced minor chords to make the music more aggressive, more street and much more discernible from the reggae beats that had come before. His Reggaeton Sex Vol. 2 was at the vanguard when it came to digital technology, utilizing Fruity Loops presets originally created for techno producers, European synthesizers and sequencers to expand the genre's sonic palette. To dodge copyright violations and become more commercially viable, hard-partying sanduguero beatmakers had begun to move away from the samples that had texturized earlier underground releases. Instead, songs employed cartoonish audio effects, from explosions to sirens, to pull in listeners. Like DJ Nelson before him, Blass was a fan of implementing divergent genres like house to build out his productions - even trance and techno moments found their way into his work. The radio-ready version of reggaeton had finally broke, though few could have predicted the mainstream moment that lay ahead.
Daddy Yankee - 'Gasolina'
Like many of the most lauded arbiters of reggaeton, Luny (aka Francisco Saldana) and Tunes (aka Victor Saldana) grew up far from the genre's epicenters. The duo were born in the Dominican Republic and moved to Massachusetts as teenagers. Plucked from jobs at a Harvard University cafeteria by DJ Nelson to fill out his Flow Music roster, the two hit the ground running with 2003's Mas Flow, 2004's The Kings of the Beats, and 2005's Mas Flow 2. Technologically fluent in VST plug-ins and Fruity Loops' Pluck! synthesizer, the pair wove pop-friendly tracks utilizing the R&B-inspired blin-blineo sound, with the now-familiar dembow boom-ch-boom-chick never far away.

It all came to a head when Luny Tunes got together with Daddy Yankee, a star who had been a force on the Puerto Rican scene since he began rapping at 14, for a little track named 'Gasolina'. The song's mega-success provided the moment in which gringos perked up their ears and formed a haphazard opinion on a music that had been coursing through Latin America for decades - for many, that it was "repetitive," perhaps a direct result of Luny Tunes' airwaves ubiquity at the time. Even in the year that 'Gasolina' shook windows in their frames in neighborhoods across the world, it was the only reggaeton song to win (or even score a nomination) at the Latin Grammys.

Lack of critical acclaim aside, the success of 'Gasolina' spurred a number of urban music labels to open Latin divisions in 2005: Universal's Machete Music, Wu Tang Latino, Bad Boy Latino, and Roc La Familia, who released N.O.R.E.'s seminal Pan-Latino anthem 'Oye Mi Canto'. All quickly folded except for Universal's and Wu's projects, which continue highlighting Latinx artists to this day. 2005 also saw the launch of Univision's reggaeton-heavy La Kalle, New York's 105.9/92.7 FM radio station.
J. Balvin - 'Ay Vamos'
As reggaeton birthed romántico stars like the diminutive, nasal-voiced talent Arcángel and 'Sensación del Bloque' heartthrob De La Ghetto, and made way for the darker trap en español, an entirely different feel started hitting from an unexpected corner of the Americas. The Medellín sound is typified by J. Balvin and the billion YouTube view-plus tale of a bickering couple that is 2013's 'Ay Vamos' produced by Sky Rompiendo El Bajo. You can also hear it in the work of producers like Mosty and Bull Nene, as well as in the more explicit end of pop star Maluma's "pretty boy/dirty boy" continuum, site of the controversial, but pablum, odes to polyamory 'Cuatro Babys' and 'Felices los 4'. The strain is a more melodic version of a genre previously characterized by its raunch and street smarts. Balvin and Mosty have implied that their softer brand of reggaeton can be attributed to fatigue over the violence that rocked Colombia during its civil war with the FARC.

As the standard bearer of this new wave, Balvin was pitch perfect: handsome and relentlessly positive, with middle class roots. He is also a white Latinx and a beneficiary of the well-established Colombian star system that gave birth to icons like Juanes and Shakira. Despite the important roles currently played by vocalists like Bryant Myers, Ozuna and Ñengo Flow, the preponderance of white artists in a genre originally masterminded for and by black people figures as one of the problematic aspects of rise of reggaeton's global profile.

There is no mistaking the 'We Are The World' vibes on Balvin's 2017 hit 'Mi Gente' with French singer-producer Willy William. The track, run through with klezmer clarinets and moombahton vibes, scored a Beyoncé remix and reflects its album Vibras' expansive ambiance. "There's reggaeton sounds, but Vibras is a world record," Balvin recently told Rolling Stone. "It's a proposition to the people: 'Do you like this? Would you accept us?'"
Tomasa del Real x Chico Sonido - 'Tamos Redy'
Over the last decade, a notable diasporic wave of Latinx producers and artists have been incorporating perreo and dancehall as recognizable notes in their complex electronic pastiche. Songs were mined for Spanish language vocals, which were subsequently threaded through cyborg track creations. Club warlocks like the Mexico City-based N.A.A.F.I. collective, Chile's Paul Marmota, Terror Negro Records co-founder Deltatron, Buenos aires collective Hiedrah, King Doudou and Bala Club's Kamixlo spliced the dembow beat with house, hip-hop, kuduro and industrial. In Spain, trap collective Pxxr Gvng's reggaeton project Mafia del Amor provided romantic dysphoria with dark, catchy perreo love. As often as not, this generation eschews traditional industry traps that had mired previous generations of Latin artists in contract woes and opt to self-distribute through their own labels.

Their beats were one jump-off for a new generation of female vocalists and label bosses who have rejected the traditional hetero-masculinity of reggaeton to center their own narratives and open the door to the inclusion of people who identify as queer. Argentinian vocalist Ms. Nina first attracted international attention with her Chico Sonido-produced underground hit 'Chupa Chupa' and featured queer Spanish internet personality King Jedet on last year's . Chilean Tomasa del Real's racecar internet glam aesthetic and lascivious lyrics put her in the role of dance floor hunter. Her writhing, camo-clad rooftop video pachanga in the video for 'Tamos Redy' is as queer-friendly as you get. Occasional Perreo Pesado vocalist DJ Rosa Pistola breaks from any kind of electronic vibes to put the spotlight on classic Mexico-based reggaeton talent like El Habano and Big Metra in her own Línea del Sexxx mixtape but got her start playing queer parties. Songs by these women have kept dance floors full at a rising rainbow tide of LGBTQ+ reggaeton nightlife hotspots like Mexico City's Mami Slut, NYC's Papi Juice and Los Angeles' Noche de Travesuras.
Luis Fonsi - 'Despacito' Feat. Daddy Yankee
In early 2017, Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee released 'Despacito', a cumbia-influenced reggaeton pop tale of lust so well-fed with Puerto Rican cuatros guitars, timbales and guache percussion, even the Spanish language-impaired were compelled to bop. It had been hard to imagine a bigger crossover moment than 'Gasolina' but here it was. A Justin Bieber remix provided no shortage of ham-handed gringo moments, and the track reigned at the no. 1 spot on the Billboard Hot 100 chart for a solid 16 weeks. 'Despacito' went on to rack up four Latin Grammys, become the first Latin single to be certified diamond by the Recording Industry Association of America and is currently the most-streamed Youtube video of all time.

The media was crowing about another Latin "boom" and accordingly, 'Despacito' inspired a hunt for bilingual urban music crossover opportunities. A wave of photogenic yung reggaeton-Latin trap artists led by Puerto Rican pretty boy Bad Bunny were happy to oblige. In short order, Bad Bunny and Puerto Rican trapero Farruko had Nicki Minaj and Travis Scott on a remix of stoner anthem 'Krippy Kush', cherubic-voiced reggaeton artist Ozuna was fielding Cardi B hooks on his dancehall pop banger 'El Modelo', and Orlando producer Spiff TV's linking hip-hop and Latin stars was looking more relevant than ever as he teamed Future with Anuel AA and Bad Bunny for a lush anime video.

Those familiar with Snoop Dogg's feature on Daddy Yankee's 2005 album Barrio Fino en Directo are aware that these "crossovers" are less of an evolution within Latin urban music, but rather an expression of hybrid that's been contained within - and perhaps defined - the genres since their earliest days. Still, some look for signs of progress. Will this be the era that convinces Anglo industry that "Latin" is not antithetical to "mainstream," or that Latin urban music and its traditional audience should not be catered to depending on facile perceptions of boom and bust?
Many thanks to reggaeton historians Raquel Z. Rivera, Wayne Marshall, Isabelia Herrera and Eddie Cepeda, without whose previous work this article would not have been possible. Caitlin Donohue is a freelance writer who lives in Mexico City. Find her on Twitter. Read next: The futuristic reggaeton of Chico Sonido is ready to blow

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You won't find Capezzio Disco Bar in reggaeton history books - rarely do traditional timelines stop off in the Mexican port town Veracruz - but in 1990, it became the national epicenter of the explicit party music when it changed its soundtrack from salsa to reggaeton.

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The song that birthed a genre

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Request Your Old Favourite Dancehall/Reggae Tunes. Subscribe, Comment, Rate & Add to Favourite. Thank You. For All The Latest Dancehall/Reggae Tracks Check Out http://www.youtube.com/user/kez876

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The beat

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" Dem Bow" is a song performed by Jamaican reggae artist Shabba Ranks, produced by Bobby Digital. This song uses the "Kukunkun"/"Poco Man Jam" riddim (based on the title of the 1990 Gregory Peck and Red Dragon song) created by Jamaican producers Steely & Clevie in the late 1980s.

Elements of the song's riddim have been incorporated into over 80% of all reggaeton productions. Evidently, "Dem Bow" has shaped and informed transnational flows and shifts within the genre over time. Reggaeton articulates a particular "audible thread" that weaves together various flows (and waves) of music, people, and ideologies. In examining this musical evolution, aspects of race, class, and culture are inextricably linked to sociocultural elements surrounding the genre. In harnessing "Dem Bow" as a point of centrality, this song speaks to various patterns of migration, commercialization, branding, and reforming within the context of reggaeton.

After its release, "Dem Bow" was then transnationally remixed and covered, and it is in these slight sonic alterations that the pan-Latin cultural metamorphosis is revealed. In 1991, Nando Boom and El General released their covers of "Dem Bow", "Ellos Benia" and "Son Bow", which translated Shabba's original lyrics from English to Spanish. Additionally, the word "bow" was transformed from a verb describing illicit sexuality to a noun used to label a gay person as a social pariah. Other "Dem Bow" remixes of the mid-'90s originated from Puerto Rico and New York in the form of long, 30-minute mixtapes that fused digital samples of hip-hop, dancehall and the riddim of reggaeton hits. These chopped up mixes of reggaeton and hip-hop created a new intercultural space of blackness within the urban diaspora of New York and San Juan. Additionally, while the introduction of accessible digital production tools widened the intra-diasporic neo-sonic conversation across genres, it also provided a conta-mechanism for the widespread subcommercialization of reggaeton into what we may term as reggaeton popular. As seen in Wisin & Yandel's 2003 version of "Dem Bow", while there is a definite remnant of the original riddim, Ranks' of rabid homophobia is erased and transformed into a sweet song about sensuality. Although there is no explicit retention of these political messages, there is a retention of the implicit "ultramacho pose" of Shabba Ranks. Instead of expressing this machismo through homophobia, "Dem Bow" expresses it through the more traditional song form of objectifying women.

In considering these transnational exchanges, there were a variety of factors that fed into the shaping and popularization of reggaeton. The 1990s to early 2000s marked a key shift within the genre. There was an evident erasure of black diasporic roots. For example, in the mid-1990s, the genre was often referred to as "musica negra" or just hip-hop/reggae; however, as the genre grew and popularized, it became more widely known as reggaeton de Puerto Rico.

There are various influences that produce this genre as they extend across Jamaican, Panamanian, Puerto Rican, and US culture. While there is existing controversy over which artists/groups can claim ownership over reggaeton, "Dem Bow" embodied the base culture that centered and informed the shaping of reggaeton. The history of this musical evolution starts with transnational exchanges between Jamaica and Panama. Many were influenced by Anglo-Caribbean migrant workers who resided in Panama in the late 1970s, and in turn Panamanian artists were the first to perform reggae in Spanish. Often earlier covers of "Dem Bow" were lyrically very exact in meaning and translation. However, during these translations there was a significant change of the use of the word "bow" from a verb to a noun. In the original "Dem Bow" song by Shabba Ranks, bow was used as a verb trying to persuade listeners to not bow to foreign influence. In El General's song entitled "Son Bow", "bow" is used as a noun and not a verb. Evidently, there was a clear audible engagement with Jamaican riddims, narratives, and socio-political life. These translations and connections were further complicated by expressions of anti-colonial resistance and anti-gay sentiment in the genre. In turn, this speaks to persisting assertions and disidentifications of cultural narratives and histories surrounding black sexual and gender identities. In looking beyond Panama, Puerto Rico is often recognized as the place where reggaeton was "crystallized". Puerto Rican artists in New York specifically reformed the genre as a hybrid site of hip-hop and reggae--grounding the music in "reference" rather than "reverence" to "Dem Bow". This soundscape cultivated a musical fusion that recontextualized reggaeton in the space of the Bronx/El Barrio.

All in all, the "mezcla" of reggaeton is produced by a fusion that is rooted in black diasporic musical exchange. As evidenced by the transnational flow and influence stemming from "Dem Bow", reggaeton provides a unique soundscape that amalgamates a multitude of identities, histories, and cultures.

In 2020, a revamped version of Wisin & Yandel's " Dembow" was released by Yandel, one half of the duo, featuring Rauw Alejandro, which appears on Yandel's sixth album, Quien Contra Mí 2.

Marshall, Wayne. "Dem Bow, Dembow, Dembo: Translation and Transnation in Reggaeton" Lied und populäre Kultur/Song and Popular Culture 53 (2008): 131-51.

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" Dem Bow" is a song performed by Jamaican reggae artist Shabba Ranks, produced by Bobby Digital. This song uses the "Kukunkun"/"Poco Man Jam" riddim (based on the title of the 1990 Gregory Peck and Red Dragon song) created by Jamaican producers Steely & Clevie in the late 1980s.

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Direct Inspiration

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(Official Instrumental) J. Balvin, Dua Lipa, Bad Bunny, Tainy - UN DIA (ONE DAY)

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Direct Inspiration - REGGAE GUITAR

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A tu Merced - Bad Bunny | Instrumental - (ISA BeatZ)

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Haitian Vodou

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A veve (also spelled vèvè or vevè) is a religious symbol commonly used in different branches of Vodun throughout the African diaspora, such as Haitian Vodou. Veves should not be confused with the patipembas used in Palo, nor the pontos riscados used in Umbanda and Quimbanda since these are separate African religions. The veve acts as a "beacon" for the Loa, and will serve as a loa's representation during rituals.[citation needed ]

It is commonly believed to have possibly originated from the cosmogram of the Kongo people, or originated as the Nsibidi system of writing for the Igboid and Ekoid languages from West and Central Africa.

According to Milo Rigaud "The veves represent figures of the astral forces... In the course of Vodou ceremonies, the reproduction of the astral forces represented by the veves obliges the loas... to descend to earth."

Every loa has his or her own unique veve, although regional differences have led to different veves for the same loa in some cases. Sacrifices and offerings are usually placed upon them, with food and drink being most commonly used.

In ritual and other formalities, veve is usually drawn on the floor by strewing a powder-like substance, commonly cornmeal, wheat flour, bark, red brick powder, or gunpowder, though the material depends entirely upon the ritual. In Haitian Vodou, a mixture of cornmeal and wood ash is used.[citation needed ]

Veve can be made into screenprint, painting, patchwork etc., as wall hangings, artworks, and banners.

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A veve (also spelled vèvè or vevè) is a religious symbol commonly used in different branches of Vodun throughout the African diaspora, such as Haitian Vodou. Veves should not be confused with the patipembas used in Palo, nor the pontos riscados used in Umbanda and Quimbanda since these are separate African religions.

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Exampels of Veve

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Chants (Pontos)

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Ponto de Iemanjá -Sonhei que estava na beira da praia

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Dia de Yemanja- Bahia, Brazil

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ODOYÁ YEMANJÁ! 2 de fevereiro, dia de Festa no Mar com Mariene de Castro e Carlinhos Brown