Reggaeton

Reggaeton is a form of dance music which has become popular with Latin American youth during the late 1990s and has spread to North American and European audiences during the first few years of the 21st century. Reggaeton - also spelled Reggaetón and hispanicised as Reguetón - blends Jamaican music influences of reggae and dancehall with those of Latin America, such as bomba and plena, as well as that of hip hop. The music is combined with rapping (generally) in Spanish. Reggaeton has allowed the Spanish Caribbean youth, specifically those of Puerto Rico, as well as the Latin American and United States Latino communities, to have a musical genre as a voice. Like hip hop, reggaeton has caused controversy due to its often explicit lyrics and alleged exploitation of women. Further controversy surrounds perreo, a dance with explicit sexual overtones which typically accompanies reggaeton music.

Reggaeton as it is known today is most commonly associated with Puerto Rico where it has really flourished and from where it has been spread around Latin America and the world. The Puerto Rican influence in reggaeton has involved the addition of hip hop to the Panamanian reggae style. Puerto Ricans have claimed reggaeton as their own partly because the movement was originally anti-establishment, with the government attempting to ban the "perreo" dance.

You may ask, “Andy, why the reggaeton diatribe?” Well, because I was shocked to find SEVERAL reggeaton compilations at a music store in Kolkata. As much as I consider reggeaton a guilty pleasure, I really cannot fathom how such an allegedly conservative country is going to dance to the beats of Daddy Yankee and Don Omar. Can you really imagine them “perreando”!? They can barely salsa without hurting themselves or those around them!