The Relevance of Reggaeton
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
The rhythm that mixes hip-hop with Caribbean music was born in Puerto Rico in the 90s and became a continental phenomenon with irreverent songs about sex, race, and immigrants. Today, we talk to Raquel Rivera, editor and author of Reggaeton, about the genre's relevance and legacy.
Comments [22]
www.PerreoRadio.com
It pleases me to see that NPR is paying attention to reggaeton, thank you for having Raquel on. I have been a longtime fan of the music and it brings a smile to my face to see it being taken seriously as an art form.
Of course people in a free society can listen to whatever music they want. (The Taliban: no music at all!) My objection is to wnyc wasting airtime UNCRITICALLY airing stuff like this. Lead isn't gold, and pretending doesn't make it yellow and shiny. (Sorry, alchemists) Some of what people listen to may be musically and lyrically ignorant. Fine. But it doesn't belong on npr unless being analysed and discussed critically. Same thing for politicians or whoever from the establishment mainstream or any other ideological position, left, right, or center, who are interviewed by local wnyc hosts who often swallow whatever they say without analytic questioning.
Ok, I made fun of Reggaeton with the IO commercial. But wow, what a bunch of music snobs and PC thugs! You can find sexism in the roots of all modern music, from blues to RAP and so on. Over the last several decades Rock N’ Roll has been blamed for everything from teenage pregnancy to serial killers…. The only new mainstream music I can think of that has not come about with some kind of major controversy or pissing someone off is New Age music. But I guess that’s because Yannie is not a satanic womanizing drug addict pregnant serial killer. Or is he?
The true irony is for all music that PC thugs and music snots hate and try to repress and speak ill will of, it only makes the offensive music that much more popular. Like it or not, music is free speech. Like it or not, you can’t pick and choose what is free speech and what is not.
... yes, the blatant sexism is bad but the stupidity is worse!
Apparently the Politically Correct squad at NPR feels the need to treat anything from oppressed third world roots seriously and with a great deal of respect. Look guys, no need to restrict yourselves to classical, Grizzly Bear, and anything involving a Marsalis, but please take off the PC rose tinted glasses and stop wasting air time on stuff like this. Kind of like earlier today with the squatter people.....OK, come to think of it, Brian Lehrer and Leonard Lopate swallow a lot of stuff from the establishment side just as uncritically.
"Stripper" from Sista???
What is going on? I thought we were all suppose to be a bit more evolved!!!
As I mentioned before: YIKES!
the beats are almost pure Jamaican and not that much hip hop. enough credit is not given to jamaican music and dance, hip hop is and always has taken bits and pieces form jamaican music and dance style claiming it as their owm
Sexism DOES increase as vulgarity increases. It is physical violence against women doesn't necessarily increase as vulgarity increases. But where there's smoke there's got to be fire.
There is sexism in Reggaeton! Stop trying to avoid that fact or sugar coat it.
In the beginning, no. It was about the politics of the Projects in Puerto Rico and the plight of the poor.
Today it's gone to the dogs!
Yea, db from nyc...is anyone really interested in the fascinating ethnology of boring repetive garbage non-music like this? I'm thinking that 99.999% of its consumers aren't listening to NPR and don't care beyond figuring out what new crap will sound best when they park their Escalade with the $5,000 chrome rims spinning and the doors open and the superbass sound system cranked to 10. Maybe Soundcheck can spend the next program analysing the evolution of homophobic and misogynist lyrics in rap and reggae. Oh wait they're on it right now. Apparently sexism is fine if you are from a sexist culture. Appalling.
wasn't 92.7 Garden City only reggaton but no it's more conservative latino music
You're all crazy. The Io Digital Cable commercial is the greatest commercial of all time. None of you can appreciate it's genius.
Poor Bob!
How can your guest not mention Vico C! He truly opened the door for a lot of reggaeton artist.
Reggaeton??? Are you kidding, this stuff actually has a name? I always thought it was the noise that blared out of bad car stereos and my neighbors windows.
Wow, academia can elevate anything!
Yikes!
IO digital cable, get a lot of channels whenever your able...lol
It also has roots in Plena music- Puerto Rican folk music used as sort of a vocal newspaper dated back to the 1800's
That's the base of the 2/4 beat
Doesn't Panama play a big part in the creation of Reggaton with it's large Jamaican population?
Nevermind, she talking about it now...lol.
it seems like reggaeton was huge and almost mainstream a couple of years ago (2005-06) but seems to have receded from the mainstream spotlight...all we have now is that awful TWC commercial.
The IO digital cable TV commercial completely wrecked Reggaeton for me… When ever I hear it, I immediately think of the extremely annoying IO digital cable commercial that features Reggaeton and it just cuts right through me with a dull rusty knife….
It's pronounced rre-egg-ga-don
Leave a Comment
Register for your own account so you can vote on comments, save your favorites, and more. Learn more.
Please stay on topic, be civil, and be brief.
Email addresses are never displayed, but they are required to confirm your comments. Names are displayed with all comments. We reserve the right to edit any comments posted on this site. Please read the Comment Guidelines before posting. By leaving a comment, you agree to New York Public Radio's Privacy Policy and Terms Of Use.