(THIS ARTICLE IS MACHINE TRANSLATED by Google from Norwegian)
The Spanish-speaking world is being invaded by reggae and hip-hop in Spanish, and the ripple effects of the reggaeton phenomenon are now also washing over Norway. In Northern Europe, Caribbean pop music is usually given the role of a short-lived summer trend: the music occupies the dance floors, while in the record stores there is only room for one artist at a time. Sean Paul gave dancehall from Jamaica a face with the hit song "Get Busy" in 2003, while Kevin Lyttle from St. Vincent gave us an insight into soca with "Turn Me On" in 2004. This summer it's about Daddy Yankee from Puerto Rico and hit song "Gasolina". With a little luck and further commitment from the record company, Daddy Yankees can rich content album Barrio Fino (Machete Music / Universal) will also be a success, but reggaeton will probably take the trip down to the underground again soon – to club nights in Oslo and the influence of Norwegian musicians. Norwegians DJ Soulshock, Cam and F'EM One have already recorded the first ever Norwegian reggaeton song, "Toma Reggaeton".
Where reggaeton is just a small ripple on the trend barometer in Norway, the music form is about to turn the Spanish-speaking world on its head – from Latin America via Miami, Los Angeles and New York in the USA to Spain. Not bad for a form of music that came into the world under cramped conditions in Panama in the late 1980s.
compilations
Reggaeton is not a distinct album genre, but a form of music characterized by intense competition for attention on the dance floor. Daddy Yankees Barrio Fino is a nice introduction, but the alternative is two fresh collection plates released on the Norwegian market. Gasolina !! 100% Reggaeton (EMI) is a decent affair with hits from old and new artists like Daddy Yankee, Vico C, 3-2 Funky and Zion y Lennox, but the best investment is undoubtedly Chosen Few – The Documentary (Chosen Few Emerald Entertainment / EMI). It not only offers music from stars like Don Omar, LDA, Tempo and Vico C, but the Raisin in the Sausage is a DVD with an educational documentary about reggaeton.
Here we meet the genre's biggest stars, major pioneers, backers and American rappers who have turned on the carousel, as Fat Joe and NORE Reggaeton appear in several ways as Latin Americans' sweet revenge on African Americans who almost capped hip-hop culture in the 1980 century. Latinos in New York, not least Puerto Ricans, were especially important in the birth of hip-hop, but when hip-hop became big business, Latin Americans struggled to come to terms.
It is here, in the Latin American vacuum between African American hip hop and reggae from Jamaica, that we find the seeds of reggaeton. The adventure began as "Spanish reggae" in Panama in the late 1980s, with artists such as El General, Nando Boom and Maliante at the helm. In the documentary, Edgardo "El General" Franco tells how he started singing and rapping in Spanish over reggae instruments played at double speed. The Spanish-language reggae scene gained more fans in Puerto Rico, but since they did not know how to get in touch with the stars from Panama, the clubs instead hired local heroes to sing and rap over the records they received from Panama. The "Spanish reggae" scene in Panama stagnated in the 1990s, at the same time as it loosened in Puerto Rico. Reggaeton was born, or "hip hop with a Caribbean flavor", as reggaeton pioneer Vico C puts it in the documentary.
Sexfokus
The Puerto Rican artists were as strongly influenced by American rappers as the reggae stars from Jamaica, and reggaeton has developed into a hefty mix of hip hop, dancehall, r & b and Caribbean and Latin American pop and dance music. Not least, Latin American rappers based in the US stood out as great role models, people like Mellow Man Ace, Cypress Hill, Kid Frost, Big Punisher, NORE and Fat Joe. Therefore, it will be extra fun when the latter two are now at the forefront of the American embrace of reggaeton – where both have made their own reggaeton songs with the help of Puerto Rico's biggest pop stars. Russell Simmons, the man behind the influential record company Def Jam, sees reggaeton as a new branch of hip-hop culture, and predicts that reggaeton will quickly become the most important form of music among Latinos in the United States. Where reggaeton records sold 50 copies five or six years ago, stars such as Daddy Yankee and Don Omar are now rapidly selling half a million of their albums.
The documentary also goes into the conflict between reggaeton and "hip hop latino", where some rappers dismiss reggaeton as far more commercial, sex-focused and monotonous. And reggaeton is mostly about sex and love. "Reggaeton makes you horny," as artist Don Chezma so easily puts it. Several artists also point out that the sex focus and the provocative dancing were also an important reason for the success of Latin music such as lambada, merengue, bomba and bachata.
Like hip hop and dancehall, reggaeton is also extremely macho and male-dominated, and the documentary devotes a lot of time to the women of the genre – both those who play consciously on sex and those who stand for a rebellion against the women's lightly dressed role in the genre. Where artists such as Glory and Jessy like to perform on the boys' terms, New York-based La Bruja calls for more justice in the industry.
- There are no lightly dressed men in the videos, just butts and tits everywhere. It's as balanced as in porn movies. In my next video, I will therefore have penises everywhere. I'm going to have a penis microphone. Then maybe the picture will be a little fairer, she says.
