Reggaetón's death greatly exaggerated

Ah. the fickle finger of the music industry. Only two years after the mainstream "found" reggaeton and elevated it to a mythical role as the Pied Piper of young bicultural Latinos (witness that gag-worthy acronym "Hurban"), it's dropping it quicker than a 40 full of backwash.

Billboard editor Bill Werde said about a week ago on Soundcheck that "reggaetón was supposed to be the next hot sound, and that didn't develop the way some people thought it might." There's also a Miami Herald piece posted in PopMatters which has industry folks saying that the "bandwagon effect" led to too many soundalikes getting signed on. I think a lot of folks figured out early on that changing radio stations to a "Hurban" format a year or two ago was a bit premature.

But for some, it's a plateau, not an end. Pio Ferro, vice-president of programming radio chain Spanish Broadcasting Systems says “Reggaeton is a style of music like salsa and merengue, which have gone through their ups and downs.” That seems about right.

While reggaetón is not my favorite genre -- I basically stick to Tego Calderón, Ivy Queen and Calle 13 (who cross genres) -- it's definitely a phenomenon, deeply rooted in 80s Spanish-language hip hop, dancehall and "la guagua aérea," back-and-forth movement between Borinquen and the mainland. And even if it drops off the mainstream's radar, it will go on.

Besides, there is something about these pronouncements that strike me as premature, if not borderline racist.

Over Memorial Day weekend, had a discussion with my friend Mare about this. She made the excellent observation that reggaetón is, at heart (at least so far), dance music, and that dance music is always accused of being repetitive, uncreative. She's right. This happened to disco, to house. Heck, I know folks who say that about merengue, because to their ears, the rhythm sounds always the same.

And the fact that these genres come out of and are patronized by, primarily brown and black people, gives these dismissive pronouncements a racist tinge. It goes back to what Kelefah Sanneh called the "rap against rockism" in this article, the idea that music critics align excellence with rock, that musical genres are judged positively insofar as they resemble rock (valuing "originality," authenticity, individualism).

I mean, look at freestyle. (Again, not my favorite genre.) I hear the same songs I remember hearing the first time around, in the 80s, yet there is a public for this. There's not a whole lotta new freestyle coming out now, but if someone did it, there is a public who'd buy it. It doesn't seem to me a subculture any less significant than, say, goth.

Will reggaetón survive the slump and the pull-out of mainstream investment? Sure. You get some new producers pulling it in different directions and everything'll be all right.

And one other important point. Commenting on the Miami Herald piece, la "reggaetonica" Raquel Rivera brings us back to earth, pointing out that no matter what happens on the market end, the conditions out of which reggaeton (like hip hop) has risen don't move:

""Will gentrification spoil the birthplace of hip-hop?"

"Taking that headline as a mirror for the future of reggaeton we can safely predict that a few corporations and a tiny number of artists will keep making juicy profit$ from a music packaged and marketed as ghetto or "barrio" raw material. Meanwhile, the barrio (whether we're talking Santurce, Piñones, East Harlem, Bushwick, or the South Bronx) will be plagued by the usual problems: gentrification, displacement, police brutality, high dropout rates...

"That would be reggaeton's true "unrealized dream.""

Amen.

Comments

[El Pueblo]

Many people have connected reggeaton to Freestyle, and I somewhat agree, however a better connection, and perhaps a better hint as to what I think is going to happen to reggeaton is to look at Jamaican dancehall. It had its big boom in the 90's, EVERYONE was dancing Dancehall, and while its not as big as before it still is there. I think that that is what is going to happen to reggeaton. Basically the people that are good (and already popular) will still be there (Tego, calle 13, Daddy Yankee, wisin&Yandel) Just like with Dancehall (Buju, Sizzla, Anthony B, Capleton, Garnett Silk deceased though he's still very popular).
Basically, I dont think is going away, but it's not going to be as present as before.
Another reason I dont compare it to freestyle is that while freestyle was VERY popular it still never had a heavyweight such as Daddy Yankee or a Don Omar (who i seriously think my mom is in love with).
George Lammond & TKA were big, but not THAT big, popularity wise or money wise.

[caro]

I agree, Pueblo. The dancehall comparison is more accurate, on several counts. I guess I brought in freestyle because I was thinking of an underground genre that gets dismissed critically but hangs on and on like the EverReady bunny.

Dunno what to tell you about your mom's crush.

[Kiko Jones]

Time will tell. Perhaps Teri DeSario and both Stevies B and V can shed light on the subject.

[Jorge]

I think what the white folks on WNYC meant was something closer to, "Hmm, As a white person, I find myself less interested in reggaeton right now. Therefore, because I universalize all my experiences, I think it's pretty clear that reggaeton is over. How sad. "

[caro]

Touché, Jorge. But let me make a wee distinction, and stand up for the producers and host at Soundcheck, who I think are some of the sharpest around. They ask the questions, the guests give the pronouncements. And having an editor at Billboard say that gets to what you just said. The industry doesn't see more obscene profit, so throw it back to the little people.