Brief Intro
Peacock released a four-episode series exploring the evolution of reggaeton. The documentary, Reggaeton: The Sound That Conquered the World, premiered its first episode on October 9th, 2024. The documentary was intended to be a 90-minute show but it was extended to 4 episodes. The series explains reggaetón’s influences, from the hip-hop culture, and lifestyle of New York City. The series includes interviews with DJs and producers who played a pivotal role in elevating reggaetón to global exposure.
My History w/ Reggaeton as a youth
Watching the docu-series, Reggaetón: The Sound That Conquered the World, brought back many memories of my youth. When reggaetón started gaining traction in New York, I remember playing The Fugees’ album on repeat. One day, my neighbor comes over and invites me over his house to hear a new sound called ‘Underground.’ He plays ‘Mis Ojos Lloran Por Ti’ by Big Boy, then another guy called Vico C. This is my first time listening to the genre, and I remember enjoying the sound because it was new with a faster rhythm still having the hip-hop feel.
One day during the summer, I remember my stepfather listening to El General in his car. He explained that these topics are not inappropriate and can get me because its vulgarity. At that time, being 10 years old, listening to it to underground was hip and not understanding what the rappers were saying was the cherry on top. The CD I gravitated to liking reggaetón was Los Cuentos de la Cripta P3, released in 1999. The CD was famously known because of the song ‘El Gato Volador.’ (Translated to ‘The Flying Cat’). I remember copying the album onto my desktop and burning a copy for myself. When I played it, my mother would always yell because the song was so ridiculous and playing the music loud only added to its obnoxiousness. To be fair, around that time, all the beats did sound the same.
Reggaeton in my high school days
In high school, underground had changed to reggaetón. By this time, I was knowledgeable of the genre and watched all the music videos on Mun2. In this era, Daddy Yankee and Nicky Jam dominated the industry and DJ Blass got played in everyone’s car. You always knew a Dj Blass production because all the beats had a fat baseline. ElCangri.com was a highly demanded album in 2000s, and to get a copy of it was hard. Retail stores like Sam Goody or FYE weren’t selling reggaetón albums. I would find these CDs in small video stores along with the DVD collections. Watching the documentary reminded me of how hard it was buying the CDs due to its limited outlets. Kazaa, Napster and Limewire was still not available to anyone as these programs weren’t invented yet.
In my sophomore year of high school, every house party I went to was blasting these tracks! People would burn copies of their reggaetón CDs and bring them to parties. I was known as the ‘unnamed dj’ because I always had the newest reggaetón CDs. My secret was to hit record stores every Tuesday after school to buy the latest albums. When I had a hard copy of the Luney Tunes ‘Mas Flow Flow Vol 1‘ album, everyone wanted a copy. I had all the classics the documentary mentioned—Barrio Fino, The Last Don, Fatal Fantasy just to name a few.
Making its landmark!
I realized reggaetón’s impact was going to be huge when I was on vacation in Mexico. ‘Barrio Fino’ recently had just came out and I took it with me on vacation. During my vacation, I remember having ‘Gasolina’ playing in the living room stereo. After the song finished, my sister asked me, “What’s this music called? And what’s the name of this song?.” I told her the song is called ‘Gasolina’ and that reggaeton was popular in the NYC area. When she walked away singing ‘Gasolina.’ I said to myself “Oh man, this is the future,” I knew this made history.
In the following paragraphs, I’ve summarized each ‘Reggaeton: The Sound That Conquered the World ‘ episode for those who would not like to sit down and watch 3 hours of reggaeton history. At the end of this post, I will provide my takeaways on the docuseries.
Reggaeton: The Sound That Conquered the World (Break-Down)
Episode 1
Mentions the Puerto Rican population in NYC is larger than in Puerto Rico. The episode explains that reggaeton is a fusion of African music and salsa, providing a brief history of salsa and how salsa singers influenced the style and fashion of modern Puerto Rican rappers. It also highlights how house parties were the birthplace of the genre and introduces DJ Negro, who opened a club called The Noise on Calle Sebastian in Old San Juan. The documentary explores how reggaeton blends elements of hip-hop, freestyle, and dancehall, later introducing DJ Playero. Around the same time, Panama was developing ‘Reggae en Español,’ with El General shaping the culture. This eventually inspired DJ Playero to experiment and develop a new sound. The documentary credits DJ Nelson, DJ Eric, DJ Playero, and DJ Negro as the pioneers of reggaeton.
Episode 2
DJ Negro was viewed as a bully by local artists. Playero introduced Daddy Yankee to Negro as his artist and asked him to let Yankee perform at The Noise. The story goes that Yankee’s microphone was cut off because he exceeded his performance slot. The documentary delves into the growing tension between DJ Negro and Playero. DJ Playero built a home recording studio, inviting rappers from across the island to rap on his mixtape series, which aggravated DJ Negro. In response, Negro opened his own recording studio, making mixtapes and selling his mixtapes as well. The competition rivalry grew immensely until one of the rappers was shot. At that point, the government intervened, labeling reggaeton as violent and unsuitable for media outlets. However, the rappers fought back in court and won, arguing that their music was an expression of peace.
During this period, DJs began experimenting with hip-hop samples and slowed down the beats from 105 to 97 BPM, creating a ‘fatter’ bassline while still rapping with raw lyrics. Around the same time, Senator Velda opposed reggaeton, launching campaigns against the genre, hoping to control it. Ironically, her efforts only made reggaeton more popular. Towards the end of the episode, the documentary reveals that DJs and A&Rs were earning more than the rappers, prompting the rappers to unite and collaborate on projects—until Raphy Pina entered the scene.
Episode 3
The question, ‘Who coined the term reggaeton?’ was asked. Many names were mentioned, however, it’s confirmed that Daddy Yankee first used the term in Playero 34. However, the documentary credits all three as key influencers. ‘Reggaeton’ comes from combining ‘reggae’ and ‘marathon.’ The episode focuses on five artists who became the faces of reggaeton. DJ Nelson, falling behind in the competition, made him outsource new producers, Luny Tunes, who helped shape a new sound. At this time, Daddy Yankee was set to release his anticipated album Barrio Fino, until it was pirated. This left the artist vulnerable and shook trust in the industry. The problem arose because the genre operated on handshakes and verbal agreements. By 2009, Colombian reggaeton started rising, blending reggae chords with traditional reggaeton drum patterns. Nicky Jam returned to the scene with a ‘new style’ of singing, while J Balvin was on the path to stardom.
Episode 4
In Episode 4, the documentary highlights Despacito, the biggest song in reggaeton history. Composed by Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee, it became the most-streamed song of all time and marked a turning point for the genre, encouraging other Latin artists to join the wave and create their own reggaeton sound. Artists like Enrique Iglesias, Shakira, Anitta, and Rosalía have all contributed to the genre. Anuel and Rauw Alejandro were interviewed about their views on reggaeton and its influences. They mentioned that their inspiration came from their predecessors, tracing their roots back to the Playero era. Karol G and Rosalía expressed gratitude to the female rappers who paved the way, acknowledging the challenges women in the music industry encounter, particularly in reggaeton. The last segment of the episode, Bad Bunny is recognized for breaking into the American charts. Remaining true to himself and becoming a key figure in reggaeton.
My Outtake
Overall, I believe this docuseries served its purpose for anyone interested in reggaeton’s history. There was some information provided that I was not aware of such as Senator Valdes and her opposition to the music. The one thing I wish the documentary could have mentioned briefly was the hip-hop and reggaeton collaborations. N.O.R.E and 3 Six Mafia made some reggaeton songs too which also helped promote the brand. As a reggaeton fanatic, I enjoyed the series, would I watch it again…that’s a loaded question!
Check my last blog post: What it means to be a DJ!
