A hybrid of reggae and rap, reggaeton is a music with Spanish-language lyrics and Caribbean aesthetics that has taken Latin America, the United States, and the world by storm. Superstars—including Daddy Yankee, Don Omar, and Ivy Queen—garner international attention, while aspiring performers use digital technologies to create and circulate their own tracks. Reggaeton brings together critical assessments of this wildly popular genre. Journalists, scholars, and artists delve into reggaeton’s local roots and its transnational dissemination; they parse the genre’s aesthetics, particularly in relation to those of hip-hop; and they explore the debates about race, nation, gender, and sexuality generated by the music and its associated cultural practices, from dance to fashion.
The collection opens with an in-depth exploration of the social and sonic currents that coalesced into reggaeton in Puerto Rico during the 1990s. Contributors consider reggaeton in relation to that island, Panama, Jamaica, and New York; Cuban society, Miami’s hip-hop scene, and Dominican identity; and other genres including reggae en español, underground, and dancehall reggae. The reggaeton artist Tego Calderón provides a powerful indictment of racism in Latin America, while the hip-hop artist Welmo Romero Joseph discusses the development of reggaeton in Puerto Rico and his refusal to embrace the upstart genre. The collection features interviews with the DJ/rapper El General and the reggae performer Renato, as well as a translation of “Chamaco’s Corner,” the poem that served as the introduction to Daddy Yankee’s debut album. Among the volume’s striking images are photographs from Miguel Luciano’s series Pure Plantainum, a meditation on identity politics in the bling-bling era, and photos taken by the reggaeton videographer Kacho López during the making of the documentary Bling’d: Blood, Diamonds, and Hip-Hop.
Contributors. Geoff Baker, Tego Calderón, Carolina Caycedo, Jose Davila, Jan Fairley, Juan Flores, Gallego (José Raúl González), Félix Jiménez, Kacho López, Miguel Luciano, Wayne Marshall, Frances Negrón-Muntaner, Alfredo Nieves Moreno, Ifeoma C. K. Nwankwo, Deborah Pacini Hernandez, Raquel Z. Rivera, Welmo Romero Joseph, Christoph Twickel, Alexandra T. Vazquez
Reggaeton
Raquel Z. Rivera, Wayne Marshall, and Deborah Pacini Hernandez
With a foreword by Juan Flores
392 pages (February 2009)
36 illustrations
Raquel Z. Rivera, Wayne Marshall, and Deborah Pacini Hernandez
With a foreword by Juan Flores
392 pages (February 2009)
36 illustrations
Cloth - $89.95 | 0-8223-4360-6 |
| [ISBN13 978-0-8223-4360-8] | |
Paperback - $24.95 | 0-8223-4383-5 |
| [ISBN13 978-0-8223-4383-7] | |
“It’s about time academia dared to include reggaeton. This might mean that we’re finally understanding that all of us are los de atrás (the ones behind): our country, Puerto Rico, and the whole Caribbean. I hope people support this book so it can be translated into Spanish, and kids in Puerto Rico and Latin America can read it. Because we Caribbean people, even if we don’t want to, even if we don’t like it, even if it hurts, we come from behind, . . . and there’s a value to that. There’s a beauty to being los de atrás.”—Residente, frontman of the Grammy and Latin Grammy award-winning duo Calle 13“This anthology opens a chapter in hip-hop history that brings it all back home, back to our transnational Afro-Spanish-speaking countries and diasporas and ’hoods where young people are going through their hip-hop ecstasies and traumas, but in their own language, and in their own unique and hitherto-unknown style.”—Juan Flores, author of From Bomba to Hip-Hop: Puerto Rican Culture and Latino Identity, from the foreword to Reggaeton“The kinetic contributions in Reggaeton melt false borders—ones wrapped like straitjackets around peoples, knowledges, and cultures—and move the crowd. More than an exciting, exhaustive treatment of this vital musical culture, this anthology is a fine blueprint for engaged cultural scholarship right now.”—Jeff Chang, author of Can’t Stop Won’t Stop: A History of the Hip-Hop Generation
“I cannot overstate how critically important this volume is. It captures the synergies of a musical and cultural movement that few have seriously grappled with, even as the sounds and styles of reggaeton have dominated the air space of so many urban locales.”—Mark Anthony Neal, author of Soul Babies: Black Popular Culture and the Post-Soul Aesthetic
Raquel Z. Rivera is a Researcher at the Center for Puerto Rican Studies at Hunter College, City University of New York. She is the author of New York Ricans from the Hip Hop Zone and many articles for magazines and newspapers including Vibe, Urban Latino, El Diario/La Prensa, El Nuevo Día, and Claridad. She blogs at reggaetonica.blogspot.com. Wayne Marshall is the Florence Levy Kay Fellow in Ethnomusicology at Brandeis University. He blogs at wayneandwax.com, from which a post on reggaeton was selected for the Da Capo Best Music Writing 2006 anthology. Deborah Pacini Hernandez is Associate Professor of Anthropology at Tufts University. The author of Bachata: A Social History of a Dominican Popular Music and a co-editor of Rockin’ Las Americas: The Global Politics of Rock in Latin/o America, she has written many articles on Spanish Caribbean and U.S. Latino popular music. Juan Flores is Professor of Social and Cultural Analysis at New York University. His books include The Diaspora Strikes Back: Caribbean Latino Tales of Learning and Turning and From Bomba to Hip-Hop: Puerto Rican Culture and Latino Identity.
Table of Contents
Illustrations vii
Foreword: What’s All the Noise About? / Juan Flores ix
Acknowledgments xiii
Introduction: Reggaeton’s Socio-Sonic Circuitry / Wayne Marshall, Raquel Z. Rivera, and Deborah Panini Hernandez 1
Part I. Mapping Reggaeton
From Música Negra to Reggaeton Latino: The Cultural Politics of Nation, Migration, and Commercialization / Wayne Marshall 19
Part II. The Panamanian Connection
Placing Panama in the Reggaeton Narrative: Editor’s Notes / Wayne Marshall
Reggae in Panama: Bien Tough / Christoph Twickel 81
The Panamanian Origins of Reggae en Español: Seeing History through “Los Ojos Café” of Renato / Interview by Ifeoma C. K. Nwankwo 89
Muévelo (Move It!): From Panama to New York and Back Again, the Story of El General / Interview by Christoph Twickel 99
Part III. (Trans)Local Studies and Ethnographies
Policing Mortality, Mano Dura Stylee: The Case of Underground Rap and Reggae in Puerto Rico in the Mid-1990s / Raquel Z. Rivera
Dominicans in the Mix: Reflections on Dominican Identity, Race, and Reggaeton / Deborah Pacini Hernandez 135
The Politics of Dancing: Reggaetón and Rap in Havana, Cuba / Geoff Baker
You Got Your Reggaetón in my Hip-Hop: Crunkiao and “Spanish Music” in the Miami Urban Scene / Jose Davila 200
Part IV. Visualizing Reggaeton
Visualizing Reggaeton: Editors’ Notes / Wayne Marshall and Raquel Z. Rivera 215
Images by Miguel Luciano 218
Images by Carolina Caycedo 221
Images by Kacho López 222
Part V. Gendering Reggaeton
(W)rapped in Foil: Glory at Twelve Words a Minute / Félix Jiménez 229
A Man Lives Here: Reggaeton’s Hypermasculine Resident / Alfredo Nieves Moreno 252
How to Make Love with Your Clothes On: Dancing Regeton, Gender, and Sexuality in Cuba / Jan Fairley 280
Part VI. Reggaeton’s Poetics, Politics, and Aesthetics
Chamaco’s Corner / Gallego (José Raúl González) 297
Salon Philosophers: Ivy Queen and Surprise Guests Take Reggaetón Aside / Alexandra T. Vazquez 300
From Hip-Hop to Reggaeton: Is There Only a Step? / Welmo E. Romero Joseph 312
Black Pride / Tego Calderón 324
Poetry of Filth: The (Post) Reggaetonic Lyrics of Calle 13 / Frances Negrón-Muntaner 327
Bibliography: Selected Sources for Reading Reggaeton 341
Contributors 345
Index 349
Illustrations vii
Foreword: What’s All the Noise About? / Juan Flores ix
Acknowledgments xiii
Introduction: Reggaeton’s Socio-Sonic Circuitry / Wayne Marshall, Raquel Z. Rivera, and Deborah Panini Hernandez 1
Part I. Mapping Reggaeton
From Música Negra to Reggaeton Latino: The Cultural Politics of Nation, Migration, and Commercialization / Wayne Marshall 19
Part II. The Panamanian Connection
Placing Panama in the Reggaeton Narrative: Editor’s Notes / Wayne Marshall
Reggae in Panama: Bien Tough / Christoph Twickel 81
The Panamanian Origins of Reggae en Español: Seeing History through “Los Ojos Café” of Renato / Interview by Ifeoma C. K. Nwankwo 89
Muévelo (Move It!): From Panama to New York and Back Again, the Story of El General / Interview by Christoph Twickel 99
Part III. (Trans)Local Studies and Ethnographies
Policing Mortality, Mano Dura Stylee: The Case of Underground Rap and Reggae in Puerto Rico in the Mid-1990s / Raquel Z. Rivera
Dominicans in the Mix: Reflections on Dominican Identity, Race, and Reggaeton / Deborah Pacini Hernandez 135
The Politics of Dancing: Reggaetón and Rap in Havana, Cuba / Geoff Baker
You Got Your Reggaetón in my Hip-Hop: Crunkiao and “Spanish Music” in the Miami Urban Scene / Jose Davila 200
Part IV. Visualizing Reggaeton
Visualizing Reggaeton: Editors’ Notes / Wayne Marshall and Raquel Z. Rivera 215
Images by Miguel Luciano 218
Images by Carolina Caycedo 221
Images by Kacho López 222
Part V. Gendering Reggaeton
(W)rapped in Foil: Glory at Twelve Words a Minute / Félix Jiménez 229
A Man Lives Here: Reggaeton’s Hypermasculine Resident / Alfredo Nieves Moreno 252
How to Make Love with Your Clothes On: Dancing Regeton, Gender, and Sexuality in Cuba / Jan Fairley 280
Part VI. Reggaeton’s Poetics, Politics, and Aesthetics
Chamaco’s Corner / Gallego (José Raúl González) 297
Salon Philosophers: Ivy Queen and Surprise Guests Take Reggaetón Aside / Alexandra T. Vazquez 300
From Hip-Hop to Reggaeton: Is There Only a Step? / Welmo E. Romero Joseph 312
Black Pride / Tego Calderón 324
Poetry of Filth: The (Post) Reggaetonic Lyrics of Calle 13 / Frances Negrón-Muntaner 327
Bibliography: Selected Sources for Reading Reggaeton 341
Contributors 345
Index 349
Related subjects:
Caribbean Studies
Music
Cultural Studies