Jamaica → Panama → Puerto Rico → the world
Reggaetón is Puerto Rico's global sound — but its roots run through Jamaica and Panama first. Here's how it happened.
Everything starts with the dembow rhythm — lifted from Shabba Ranks' 1990 dancehall track "Dem Bow." That boom-ch-boom-ch pattern became the backbone of the entire genre.
In the 1980s, Jamaican-descended artists in Panama — El General foremost — started voicing reggae en español over dancehall rhythms. Panama planted the seed.
In the 1990s, San Juan's underground took it and ran. Vico C — "the philosopher of rap" — pioneered Spanish-language hip-hop on the island. Daddy Yankee, Don Omar, Tego Calderón built reggaetón into a movement, with Tego weaving bomba and plena roots into the sound.
From Bad Bunny selling out stadiums worldwide to the underground still bubbling in the caseríos — reggaetón is Puerto Rico's biggest musical export, and it never left its roots behind.