Reggaeton vs Hip Hop?
An interesting post from Racialicious.
I see many collaborations between Reggaeton and HipHop artists and most Reggaeton fans I know are also HipHop fans. I didn’t realize there were tensions or a rivalry.
And in my corner of the world Reggaeton is popular with mostly Puerto Ricans and Panamanians and the occasional Dominican. There are few if any tensions between MOST African Americans and Panamanians, Dominicans and Puerto Ricans. The “black” community is comprised of all 3 groups, intermarriage is commonplace and not at all noteworthy and its just not a big deal. If you look like you fit you fit.
The rivalry here is the black vs the mestizo- the African Americans and Afro-Latinos who have been long established and the Mexicans and Hondurans who have recently arrived in large numbers.
10 years ago the latin clubs here played salsa, merengue, bachata, hip hop. They played maybe 10 minutes of regional Mexican music and 90% of the clientele would complain and pout and sulk until it went off.
When I returned a few years ago, the Mexicans had started some night clubs and the main club that played salsa had 2 rooms- a “Puerto Rican” room. (I call it that because it played salsa, merengue, and reggaeton by PR artists and some Dominican bachata and merengue.) and a hip-hop room. The same clientele frequented both rooms, drifting in and out.
The place I go to now has primarily Caribbean latinos, African Americans and visiting South Americans. There are a few Mexicans, but usually the Mexican immigrant clubgoers prefer to go to the clubs that play Mexican regional music and not “tropical” music.
Yeah, I wasn’t aware of the “racial tensions” between genres either. Weird way to frame an argument about music…reggaeton isn’t threatening hip hop. Lame artists are making hip hop stupid.
We have mostly PRs round these parts. I think I met a Cuban or two. I think we have some DRs…Reggaeton mostly gets bumped by folks who go between the island and here and by myself. You only really get mainstream stuff like Daddy Yankee or Don Omar or Wisin y Yandel on the radio sometimes. It’s tough to find resources in English about the music, but I will research the shit out of it to no end and I do manage to find awesome stuff. This blog is a great source of info too of course. Ah…time to get back to the Spanish lessons…
Well, now that I know I have an audience of at least 2 people who like reggaeton and don’t speak or read much Spanish, I feel inspired to finish my “opus”.
What sort of info is it that you look for?
Well, now that I know I have an audience of at least 2 people who like reggaeton and don’t speak or read much Spanish
Hola! You can add 2 more people to that list. My daughter and me. We’re African Americans from a city that has hardly any Spanish speaking people (Pittsburgh, PA) and I’m in my early 60s [not that age is that pertinent to the subject, but maybe it is]. I got my daughter interested in Reggae music (starting with roots Reggae and Bob Marley). Since she first discovered it about 3 years ago, she absolutely LOVES Reggaeton and I’ve developed a taste for it too. Unfortunately, this music is not on the radio in our city. BTW, my daughter doesn’t speak Spanish. I remember a few words from high school Spanish-but that’s eons ago. Yet, I love it when I can figure out some of the words to those songs.
The other type of music that my daughter loves and she introduced me to is [East] Indian/Reggae music. I’m not even sure this musical genre is called.[?]
FWIW, I learned about your blog through Racialicious.com Now that I’ve found you I’m gonna bookmark you.
Keep on keepin on!
Thank you. I will do a little more straight up reviewing of reggaeton and try to explain some of the lyrics, at least how I interpret them. I’m a rabid fan, but no expert at this!
I think the music you are referring to is “bhangraton”. Well, that’s “Indian” reggaeton, I’m not sure about straight up reggae mixed with Indian music.
“Bhangraton”. That’s it. I meant Indian music mixed with reggaeton-and not with reggae.
And some explanation of what the artists are singing on reggaeton songs would be appreciated, though if they’re saying something X rated, I’mma be conflicted ’cause I really like the music. ;o)
Azizi
I was going to point that out, but I wasn’t sure what your take on explicit music is. A LOT of it, especially older stuff is pretty sexual. Newer stuff tends to be less explicit but still very sexual in nature.
I’m conflicted too, but if the lyrics are graphic but do not (to me) feel oppressively so, I can deal with it.Often a song will be ok with me, but the video crosses the line. I try not to watch the videos, though I do see them when I use Youtube to post music here.
And there are songs that are about love or partying, though of course that does usually involve some sex as well.
I pretty much have the gist of reggaeton what with the sex and the dancing and loving and partying and such. I’ve been listening to it more and more lately because it just makes me want to move and also the flow styles are different. I’ve been looking for a little inspiration for my writing as of late and I found it in the dembow, the flow, the transition from word to word, the fact that I don’t understand everything they’re saying, the collaborations, the number of times I hear “piel” and “pelo,” etc… People ask me all the time how I could like something I don’t understand…shit I’m trying because I love it that much. I guess an Asian girl bumping reggaeton and singing along to it is kind of out of the ordinary…
De La Ghetto has been one of my favorites lately. I’ve got Masacre Musical on heavy rotation. Sometimes it sounds like he’s trying too hard, but other times I just sit there and appreciate his method of really incorporating and exploring other genres within his music.
I’ll take whatever info you can provide. I just enjoy reading this blog. I’m sure I’ll have more questions later. What’s your take on Marcy Place?
LOL
Its good to surprise people every once in a few.
“And there are songs that are about love or partying, though of course that does usually involve some sex as well.”
Well, “usually” might be too strong a word. But then again, maybe that’s just my age talkin.
LOL!
“it usually involves sex when you are a 23 year old man”
