Reggaeton
- Editor: Marshall, W
- Editor: Pacini Hernandez, Deborah
- Editor: Rivera, Raquel
Derek Walmsley
Reggaeton
- Editor: Marshall, W
- Editor: Pacini Hernandez, Deborah
- Editor: Rivera, Raquel
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Derek Walmsley
About
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
Contents
- List of 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 Pacini Hernandez 1
- Part I. Mapping Reggaeton
- From Musica 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 77
- Reggae in Panama: Bien Tough / Christoph Twickel 81
- The Panamanian Origins of Reggae in Espanol: Seeing History through "Los Ojos Cafe" of Renato / Interview by Ifeoma C. K. Nwankwo 89
- Muevelo (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 Morality, Mano Dura Stylee: The Case of Underground Rap and Reggae in Puerto Rico in the Mid-1990s / Raquel Z. Rivera 111
- Dominicans in the Mix: Reflections on Dominican Identity, Race, and Reggaeton / Deborah Pacini Hernandezq 135
- The Politics of Dancing: Reggaeton and Rap in Havana / Geoff Baker 165
- You Got Your Reggaeton 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 Lopez 222
- Part V. Gendering Reggaeton
- (W)rapped in Foil: Glory at Twelve Words a Minute / Felix Jimenez 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 (Jose Raul Gonzalez) 297
- Salon Philosophers: Ivy Queen and Surprise Guests Take Reggaeton Aside / Alexandra T. Vazquez 300
- From Hip-Hop to Reggaeton: Is There Only a Step? / Welmo Romero Joseph 312
- Black Pride / Tego Calderon 324
- Poetry of Filth: The (Post) Reggaetonic Lyrics of Calle 13 / Frances Negron-Muntaner 327
- Bibliography: Selected Sources for Reading Reggaeton 341
- Index 345
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Derek Walmsley
