When talking about the Latin urban musical genre here in the United States, the general consensus tends to identify Puerto Rican artist Benito Martinez, known as Bad Bunny, as the biggest exponent.
However, globally, Spotify seems to indicate that the king of urban music is from Medellin.
J Balvin surpasses the bad rabbit by approximately ten million followers, establishing that Colombian reggaeton is here to stay.
The new sound of Colombian reggaeton developed in the mid-90s in Medellin, having gradually evolved from versions that seemed to mimic the popular Puerto Rican reggaeton of the time, to a more dancehall-derived sound.
This change coincided with a musical movement named “Mode Up”, which was a Creole version of the Jamaican dancehall that emerged in the northern islands of Colombia around 2005.
Those islands were colonized by the British, so the relationship between places like San Andres and Isla de Providencia, with the English-speaking Caribbean music is strong.
Through “Mode Up,” artists like S.A. Finest, DJ Buxxi and El Freaky Colectivo de Bogotá rose quickly into the underground scene, and eventually leaked to mainstream radio.
Some of the most significant components of the local scene include the Infinity Music team, Saga WhiteBlack, Chez Tom, the Rude Boyz and Ovy on the Drums, among others.
At first, artists like Final and Shako, Reykon, Golpe a Golpe, then J Balvin and Karol G, promoted the scene in Medellin. One of the most important moments for the movement occurred in 2013, when J Balvin released his single “6 AM” with Farruko. The song peaked at number 3 on the Billboard Hot Latin charts and catapulted the singer to new international fame.
Artists like Karol G and Maluma soon found their own great success, and little by little a movement emerged from Colombia.
Conventional Colombian reggaeton transformed the “perreo” that had once dominated the genre into a more sophisticated one.
The new reggaeton brand also changed with better arranged rhythms and significantly toned down the lyrical content by focusing on romantic lyrics.
As J Balvin said in a 2017 interview with Billboard: “Our audience is so wide that we have to make videos where women are treated with respect, because the videos are watched by children and adults. Other ‘reggaetoneros’ who do what they do are targeting an audience. They do not have the same responsibility as us.” This was in contrast to the reggaeton of the early 1990s, which was often caught in negative attention from the general media and the Puerto Rican authorities.
While the genre’s early underground helped build its foundational base, lawmakers in Puerto Rico tried to hold it back. One of the main reasons used by the governmental authorities was that the lyrics associated with the then-new genre promoted violence, rampant sexuality and drug use.
The new generation of reggaeton in Colombia can be perceived as a more polished sound, aimed at a general public, and for some detractors, a shift distancing it from the street roots of the genre.
On the other hand, the Colombian urban movement has simultaneously helped diversify reggaeton through South and Central America, with emerging artists from other countries benefiting from collaborations with their artists, major record labels and music platforms.
