State Champ Radio Reggaeton
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This week, Billboard is publishing a series of lists and articles celebrating the music of 20 years ago. Our 2004 Week continues here with an oral history of one of the year’s most impactful hits: “Oye Mi Canto,” from an all-star cast led by New York rapper N.O.R.E., which crossed cultures and genres and brought reggaetón to new stateside heights.
At the beginning of 2004, the reggaetón and hip-hop scenes stood at the precipice of a musical revolution. Reggaetón, a genre now famously recognized for its roots in Puerto Rico, was about to explode into a transnational phenomenon.
N.O.R.E., the seasoned hip-hop luminary known for his raw lyricism, unapologetic demeanor and turn-of-the-century hits like “Superthug” and “Nothin,” found himself captivated by the infectious dembow-driven rhythm that was commanding the streets of the Island.
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Impelled by a yearning to bridge cultures and pay homage to his newfound infatuation, the New York rapper set out on an audacious quest to etch reggaetón into the heart of American hip-hop. Fueling his self-proclaimed obsession with Tego Calderón’s music, N.O.R.E. envisioned a collaboration that would pay homage to his newfound muse, as well as his own Puerto Rican roots.
Within the creative cauldron of The Hoodlab (N.O.R.E.’s studio in midtown Manhattan) — and alongside his Lefrak, Queens comrades, producer SPK and rapper Big Mato, as well as Astoria, Queens duo Nina Sky, made up of twin singers Natalie and Nicole Albino, and rapper Gemstar — he embarked upon a mission to create a track that would shatter conventions and cross musical borders. The result was “Oye Mi Canto,” released on Def Jam.
The impact was nothing short of revolutionary. “Oye Mi Canto” burst onto the American and Latin airwaves, dismantling linguistic and cultural barriers. “It’s the bilingual elements of the song,” explains producer SPK of the song’s groundbreaking nature. “From a legendary platinum hip-hop artist like N.O.R.E., who [risked] his credibility as one of the most hardcore NY hip-hop artists — when no hip-hop artist would dare to take the chance to do anything out of the genre of hip-hop — N.O.R.E. did that. He bridged the gap between American Radio stations and Latin music.”
The song soared on multiple multiple Billboard charts, including the all-genre Billboard Hot 100, where it peaked at No. 12. It made impressive inroads on a wide variety of radio formats, including Pop Airplay (reaching No. 19), Latin Airplay (No. 22), Latin Pop Airplay (No. 25), Tropical Airplay (No. 2) and Rap Airplay (No. 8).
20 years later, the legacy of “Oye Mi Canto” stands as a testament to the unifying power of collaboration, while also having a tremendous impact on promoting bilingualism in hip-hop and American pop music, paving the way for cultural exchange and artistic innovation between different musical worlds. Even J Balvin will occasionally open up his live set with the song.
Below N.O.R.E., Nina Sky, Big Mato, and SPK share with Billboard Español in their own words about how “Oye Mi Canto” evolved into a hit, and how it became the first ever “American commercial reggaetón” crossover smash.
The Origins
N.O.R.E.: I kept having shows in Puerto Rico, and we kept hearing this music. I didn’t know what it was called, but I called it Spanish reggae. I kept seeing people dance to this music. What is this?! I would go back to New York, and I’d be like, “Yo, play that Spanish reggae stuff.” Nobody knew what the hell I was talking about. I would ask every Black DJ in New York to play it, they said no. I asked every white DJ, they said no. Then I asked the Latino DJs, and they said no too! I [approached] Latino DJs last, because I thought it was an easy win, but boy was I wrong.
One of the first records I fell in love with personally, besides, “Tu pum pum mami mami” [El General’s “Tu Pum Pum”] was Tego Calderón’s “Guasa Guasa.” I was just in love with this beat. It was like “tu tururururu” [hums the beat]. I was like “What the F–K?!” I was obsessed with his music. I asked the DJs to play that. “Play this guy right here, play Tego.” I remember them DJs still not playing it! They said, “You don’t want to jump on a little verse somewhere?” The fact that y’all [DJs] don’t want to play the Tegos, the Wisin & Yandels, the Zion & Lenoxs… So I jumped on “Guasa Guasa,” and gave it to a couple of DJs, just so they could play it to the American audiences to adapt to it, because it had an American artist on it.
That didn’t work. Then I said, “You know what, let’s do a full fledged song, a real song. It’s gonna be our version.” Almost like the American version of what’s happening in Puerto Rico. That’s how much I was sacrificing for reggaetón, and to be a part of that culture.
“Oye Mi Canto”
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SPK: N.O.R.E. came up with the idea of making the song for the Puerto Rican Day Parade in NYC. Everything started with a verse from Tego Calderón, who recorded a verse for one of DJ Kool Kid’s mixtapes. DJ Kool Kid offered it to N.O.R.E., so that we could use it for the promotional mixtape to be given away for free at the Puerto Rican Day Parade. Once N.O.R.E. got the Tego a cappella, he then gave it to me and told me to take it home and make a reggaetón beat around Tego’s verse, and bring it back to him the next day. Took it home and made the beat that same night at my home studio.
Mind you, I did not consider myself a reggaetón producer at that time, and I also mentioned that to N.O.R.E. His reply to me was, “SP, I know you can do this.” He was so confident that I can pull this off with no problem. N.O.R.E. has that gift, in seeing the potential in people before they can realize it themselves.
Big Mato: I was already making music with SPK. He was doing hip-hop, and I was more into reggaetón. N.O.R.E. came back from Puerto Rico with that fever, and told us, “Listen, I wanna put something together.” We was already recording other [hip-hop] songs with N.O.R.E. in the studio. We first recorded “Toma Reggaetón,” and “Oye Mi Canto” was the continuation of that.
N.O.R.E.: What I was trying to do was mimic [the Puerto Rican] style, but still being us. It’s the reason why I didn’t want Ivy Queen [or La Sista] I wanted to get somebody from America, and then add an artist that’s up there culturally.
When [I thought of the verse] “Boricua, morena” I just knew it had to be Nina Sky. I had no one else in mind. I had to beg Jamal Landlord and Cipha Sounds, who was [Nina Sky’s] manager at the time. They were like, “Yo, they don’t speak Spanish. They know the culture, but they’re not of that culture.” I’m like, “We’re all of that culture. You Latino, you have it in you. Don’t worry, just let them come into the studio.”
Nina Sky (Natalie): We were at a show in Connecticut at the time. We had just gotten off stage. It was past midnight, and we got a call that N.O.R.E. wanted us to come to the studio to record this song. We hadn’t recorded anything in Spanish yet. So it felt like the right thing to do, like it was meant to be. We were really proud to be a part of it, representing for the Puerto Ricans, for the Boricuas in New York City. We’re all from Queens, and it just felt like a really big moment for all of us.
Nina Sky (Nicole): When we heard the song, we thought it was a really cool concept, remaking the Big Pun record [“Still Not a Player,” which has the “Boricua, morena” hook] into this reggaetón record. Also repping the culture and connecting with our roots was really cool. N.O.R.E.’s idea to create a reggaetón record as a hip-hop artist was really cool. it just felt like it was an incredible opportunity to be a part of it from all angles.
“Oye Mi Canto”
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The Making of a Hit
Big Mato: That beat wasn’t done the same way as other reggaetón beats. It wasn’t done with Fruity Loops. It was a beat that was done so differently, and it was accepted.
SPK: I used Reason. I believe I was the first one to do a reggaetón beat on that software. I made the entire beat from scratch. Even though I wasn’t a reggaeton producer, I was a big fan of reggaetón, dancehall and reggae music. All that played a big part in inspiring me to fuse those sounds with the knowledge I already had as a hip-hop producer.
Other tools that contributed to my production was the first official reggaetón drums library that was given to me by the legendary DJ Blass, who was the creator of that library. Using Reason with original reggaetón drum kits and Reason stock instrument sounds gave it that unique sound. Very different from what you would hear coming out from the island of Puerto Rico.
N.O.R.E.: That was my instructions to SPK. It was, “We need to sound reggaetón, but from America.” To sound dembow, but we still hip-hop, we still we America. We want to honor [Puerto Rico] because it’s still reggaetón. But at the same token, we want to be who we are. That’s the reason why most of the artists on that record are from America, with the exception of one.
SPK: N.O.R.E. had a studio right on Madison Ave in midtown Manhattan. The name of the studio was The Hoodlab, it’s where most of the vocals for “Oye Mi Canto” were recorded, except for Daddy Yankee’s and Tego’s. I remember when [manager and producer] Cipha Sounds brought Nina Sky to The Hoodlab to record the hook, nothing but good vibes. N.O.R.E. quickly told them he wanted to pay homage to Big Pun and incorporate a line from “Still Not A Player.”
Nina Sky (Nicole): I remember how excited N.O.R.E. was to be recording this reggaetón song and putting this energy into the universe. If you’ve ever been around N.O.R.E., anything he does is dynamic and big. He’s really involved. Passion definitely filled the studio that night, and he knew that this was gonna be a hit song.
When we first got into the studio, Daddy Yankee wasn’t on the record. It was N.O.R.E., Big Mato, and Gemstar. There was a Tego Calderón verse. It was great collaborating with everyone. The original version only had the Big Pun part, “Boricua, morena…”
Big Mato: Recording wise, that was one of the greatest moments. When we would get together. Everybody would go in [the studio] and we were like superfriends. One recording, the other one is preparing his part writing, while the other one was probably making the dance to the song. It was like a real life situation. I was late and I almost didn’t come out on that song. I had just come out of work at the Marriott Hotel one block away from the World Trade Center, that’s why I believe I was the last one in the song.
N.O.R.E.: We realized, damn, in the Puerto Rican Day Parade, there are Colombians, Dominican, Mexicans. We can’t just leave it “Boricua, morena.” We went back in and added all the Latino countries [“Boricua, morena, Dominicano, Colombiano/ Boricua, morena, Cubano, Mexicano”].
SPK: Nina Sky laid the hook, and gave the record such a good vibe that when DJ Camilo came by and heard the record at The Hoodlab, his expression was priceless. He quickly told us we had a monster record, and that he couldn’t wait to break it on Hot 97. This was the Tego version DJ Camilo debuted, and the record quickly took off organically and was soon on regular rotation across radio stations in the U.S.
Now Def Jam gets behind the record — they tried to handle business with Tego’s team to clear his verse on the record, but they couldn’t reach an agreement, so we were forced to remove Tego from the record. N.O.R.E. asked us who would be the perfect artist to replace Tego’s spot. Me and Big Mato said Daddy Yankee. We reached out, and Daddy Yankee said yes, and the rest is history.
The Video
Nina Sky (Nicole): The music video was shot in Miami. I remember the energy. This song is all about that pride and that energy, and that existed all the way through. The shoot was fun, you had all the flags on the beach, all the dancers.
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N.O.R.E.: That was our first encounter with Daddy Yankee. We had been speaking to each other. The flags, having the visual look tropical. That was all my idea to make it look tropical, beachy, sexy, island vibes. One of the illest moments of that video I can tell you… was Daddy Yankee’s performance. I hadn’t even seen him perform at that time, I had just talked to him, and that [shoot] was our first time seeing him perform. I was like, “Yo, this dude is explosive. He performs like Busta Rhymes, but his lyrics are like Jay Z’s, but his look was like Nas.” It was crazy to me. I was like, “Oh s–t.”
I knew he was a star, but from that moment on, when he just lifted his arm up, I was like, “He has got to be a superstar.” I think I made the right choice by having this guy on the record, and that was one of the most memorable [moments]. [Ed. Note: Daddy Yankee declined to be interviewed for this piece.]
Big Mato: I wish I could repeat the video again. It was one of the greatest moments of my life. If you see that video, you see that it starts at the beach with the flags. But then when my part comes in at the end, it turns into a party. That moment right there, I felt like I was bringing the party to everybody. Fat Joe was there, Pitbull was there; there were many artists there.
N.O.R.E.: It’s the first reggaetón record ever played on MTV and BET, that’s a fact, Google it. It’s the first reggaetón record ever added to our regular rotation on HOT 97 and Power 105.1, it’s a fact, Google it. I’m not talking about La Mega, or other [Spanish] radio. We busted iHeart Radio’s ass with that record… It bursts stars. I’m not saying I invented reggaetón, at all. I’m saying that in commercial American reggaetón, I am the head of that s–t.
The Impact
Big Mato: It impacted a lot. As soon as the song came out, you see Fabolous coming out, [saying] “I’m Dominican,” right away. We knew he was Dominican but he never mentioned it. It kind of opened people’s minds about being Latino and showing it. Even R. Kelly [recruited] Wisin y Yandel for “Burn It Up” [in 2005]. That was inspired by “Oye Mi Canto.” A lot of Americans started doing reggaetón, and we inspired that.
Nina Sky (Nicole): There were a lot of different reasons for us that it felt extra special. One being that we’re from Queens, N.O.R.E. is from Queens, and we grew up listening to Capone-N-Noreaga. So to be in the studio, creating this record about being proud of our heritage was amazing. To be here 20 years later performing that record still feels as amazing. It’s really cool that an artist, who up until that point, was not necessarily known for creating in that genre, was able to have such an impactful record. The reason that I feel like that is it’s because N.O.R.E. is an authentic, passionate, and talented artist, and he really believed in presenting that. That will always transcend time in music. That’s why today, we still hear the song — because it came from that place of authenticity and passion.
Nina Sky (Natalie): In a way, it opened up the doors for others to feel more comfortable collaborating and also experimenting; Drake and Bad Bunny, or “Despacito,” the more obvious one. There are just so many more collaborations in that style now. It opened the door for other people to collaborate. He was definitely an innovator.
SPK: The hook is contagious with the beautiful voices of Nina Sky, us paying homage to Big Pun on the hook, and N.O.R.E. adding different Latin nationalities to it played a big part in its popularity. The melodies made it more appealing to any generation from any nationality. Also, the voices of super legends like N.O.R.E., Daddy Yankee and Tego Calderon helped it go even further. But at the end of the day, none of that would have been possible without the mastermind behind it all N.O.R.E. P. Diddy said we created a never-die anthem.
“Oye Mi Canto”
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N.O.R.E.: My close friends Fat Joe and [DJ] EFN both pulled me to the side [in 2004] and told me I shouldn’t be doing reggaetón. They weren’t saying that to try to hurt you. They said it to try to help you. They thought it was a phase. I had to look at my friends in their faces and say, “Nah, man, I believe in this genre of music. I’m gonna go against your advice and blessings.” I had to do this for my heart. And I stuck to what I know. To this day, whenever Fat Joe sees me and we bring up reggaetón, he says, “Look, I was wrong.” Whenever [EFN and I] bring up reggaetón on or off the show [Drink Champs], EFN says he was wrong.
Nina Sky (Natalie): In the song, there’s a line where N.O.R.E. says “No matter your race, because today you Latino.” And I think that line resonates because anyone who hears the song, anyone who sees the video, you feel that sense of pride. You sing along — you don’t have to be Latino, Boricua, Dominican or whatever. You feel that pride and you sing along because it doesn’t matter where you’re from.
N.O.R.E.: When I see young artists coming from Washington Heights, Hialeah, or East Los Angeles [doing American reggaetón], it’s like, damn, okay, we’re sharing this shit. It’s the same way hip-hop had to share with the West Coast, or drill music over there in London. Reggaetón happened to share with America. Then we realized that this is the reggaetón [Americans] needed to hear in order for y’all to get into what the essence of reggaetón is. The birthplace is Panama, the mother of reggaetón lives in Puerto Rico, but its children can now live all over the world, no matter where, and that is a beautiful thing.
We listen to it full blast, we sing the lyrics at the top of our lungs, and even relate to the song, but perhaps there are times we are unsure of what we’re actually singing — and that’s OK, because Billboard has curated the ultimate Latin urban dictionary of reggaetón and trap music.
In this edition, we specifically focus on Puerto Rican slang, decoding the meaning of words such as “puñeta,” “chavos,” and “la movie,” to name a few, found in the most popular lyrics.
“Puerto Rico is the epicenter of everything that happens with urban music in the entire world,” Siggy Vázquez, Puerto Rican hitmaker who’s worked with Myke Towers, Shakira, and more, tells Billboard. “There are many countries that have contributed to our music, we owe a lot to Panama, Jamaica, and the United States, but Puerto Rico maintained that essence and knew how to globalize the movement. I think that the slang that we Boricuas use is unique. It dates back to the neighborhood, from the experiences we go through every day, and I think that connection is marked and reflected with the slang that we use in reggaetón lyrics. Currently, it’s one of the important characteristics by which our music is influencing and reaching larger markets.”
Evidently, Puerto Rican slang has transcended the Caribbean island and expanded into other countries. Colombian star Karol G released the empowering “Bichota” deriving from the Puerto Rican term “bichote” that describes someone who’s powerful; Dominican artist Natti Natasha dropped the provocative “Algarete”; and “Bellakeo” finds Brazilian sensation Anitta and Mexican phenomenon Peso Pluma singing about being turned on.
“I think it’s great that other countries use our vocabulary,” reggaetón and trap artist Brytiago says to Billboard. “In this way we maintain our culture and vocabulary, and it’s a way to represent our flag and roots to other diverse cultures in music. Music is a universal language, it belongs to all of us. If our vocabulary inspires others, that’s a great thing because it helps us continue to represent the beginnings of our movement.”
“I think that was the main goal: to let the world know about our slang and have other countries be nurtured and help us diversify,” adds Vázquez. “I think the most important thing about this is that when you listen to the music and there’s a word that you don’t understand, you search its meaning and its origin. At the same time, we are talking about education and we are doing proactive things so that people can be oriented about our movement and culture.”
From “al garete” to “corillo” to “tiraera,” check out the list below.
Acho
The first time Don Omar went on tour in Spain, nearly 25 years ago, he had to sing his breakout hits two and three times every time he got onstage.
“I had no repertoire!” he admits to Billboard News with a laugh. Back then, Don Omar, real name William Omar Landrón, was a 22-year-old who was hustling. “I came from such a Puerto Rican genre, such a street genre, and then, those songs started to play everywhere.”
What a difference a quarter-century makes. On March 7, Don Omar kicks off his Back to Reggaetón Tour at the Santander Arena in Reading, Pennsylvania, and will go on to play 25 major U.S. cities, ending April 21 at the Kaseya Center in Miami, before heading to Europe and Central America.
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This time, there will be no need for repeat performances.
“I’ve never had the opportunity to sing my entire repertoire because I never have enough time onstage. But this tour demands two full hours of music,” Don Omar told Billboard‘s Leila Cobo during an exclusive interview prior to his tour. Back to Reggaetón, incredibly, is Don Omar’s first major headlining tour in a decade and his first since the Kingdom Tour with Daddy Yankee in 2015.
This time around, there’s also friends knocking at the door.
“Many are demanding, ‘Don’t leave me out of this!’” he says. “And I’m treating that like a privilege. If, after 25 years of career, your colleagues still feel love, happiness and the desire to share with you, you’ve done something right.”
While the specifics still need to be ironed out, expect to see the likes of Tito El Bambino, Zion y Lennox and Wisin and Yandel somewhere on the tour.
For Don Omar, it’s not a comeback; he’s been releasing a steady supply of music for the past two years. But, he says, it’s gratifying to see so many artists who he literally saw grow up to his music as established and still close.
The first one to believe fully in him, he recalls, was Ñengo Flow, who early in his career asked him to “present” him on his debut album. “It was the first time I realized, ‘They’re looking up at me.’ Ñengo was just getting started. But I was just getting started too.”
All these years later, “I have songs Jhay Cortez wrote for me 10 years ago. And those things make me see, I do have a responsibility. To see people like Jhay and Farruko, and everyone I have great respect and admiration for, say they wanted to be like me back in the day […] it’s one of the things I love most.”
Don Omar is also testing new ground. His new EP, Back to Reggaetón, is out on his own label, and he plans to print CD copies to sell as merch on tour, as part of a broader effort to bring his music and himself even closer to fans.
“Independence allows you to put your own ideas into practice,” he says. “I’m the product of a bunch of bad experiences that made me take action and learn the business. Today, I can be independent. Today I have the economic and intellectual capacity to do so.”
Watch the full interview above.
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And just like that, the OG King of Reggaeton is calling it a career.
After bursting onto the music scene with his smash hit “Gasolina” in 2004 and setting the stage for the reggaeton music genre to take over the Latin community, Daddy Yankee let his fans know that he would be hanging up the mic once and for all in order to dedicate his life to Christianity. This music game sure knows how to make people religious after a while.
Variety is reporting that Daddy Yankee made the announcement during the last show of his farewell tour in Puerto Rico. During his farewell speech, Yankee told his fans that he felt he had a higher calling after music and that Jesus Christ was on line one waiting on him.
Variety reports:
“Tonight, I recognize, and I am not ashamed to tell the whole world that Jesus lives in me and that I will live for him,” he told the crowd in his homeland of Puerto Rico. “For many years I’ve tried filling a hole in my life that no one could fill. I tried finding a purpose, on many occasions, it seemed as if I was happy but something was missing for me to feel complete.”
He continued, stating that even though he had traveled the world with his music, he still felt empty. “I took note of something the Bible says,” Yankee continued in Spanish before reciting: “‘What good will it be for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul?’”
Well, the man just banked an estimated $125 million with his final tour, so he gained a little something, something this past year.
Still, we’re not mad that Daddy Yankee is looking to find spiritual fulfillment in his life after so many years of making music and being rewarded handsomely for his work. Just don’t be surprised if at some point he drops a reggaeton gospel album or something as artists who find religion in their music careers tend to do. Just ask Kanye West. We just hope Daddy Yankee doesn’t become a Nazi sympathizer in the process like the aforementioned artist though. Just sayin’.
Check out Daddy Yankee give his farewell speech below, and let us know your thoughts on the man calling it a wrap two decades into the music game.
As a fresh generation of artists elevates música urbana to new heights, two influential genre legends — Latin hip-hop’s “Rap Godfather” Vico C, and reggaetón hitmaker Chencho Corleone — are reasserting their dominance.
After more than a decade away, the Latin hip-hop legend returned with new music — but the same strong ethos.
To a casual fan, it may have looked like Latin hip-hop legend Vico C completely fell off the map for the past 14 years. But he never stopped writing songs during that time, even if he couldn’t release new music due to business-related legal issues.
“Having faith that those issues would soon resolve, I just kept writing so that I would be prepared for when I could finally release something again,” says the 52-year-old artist, known as the Rap Philosopher. “I couldn’t visualize what that ‘comeback’ would be like, but I just knew that I couldn’t die without releasing new music ever again.”
The socially conscious lyricist, born Luis Armando Lozada Cruz in Brooklyn, gained fame in the 1990s thanks to his vivid, thought-provoking storytelling that addressed topics such as faith and societal values. His sound, a melodic take on rap that fused reggaetón and hip-hop, was similarly bold.
Vico C returned in May with Pánico, a 13-track set released by his new label, Nain Music (a subdivision of Rimas Entertainment), and his first album since 2009’s Babilla. But he’s still reluctant to describe this stage in his career as a comeback. “It’s hard for people to follow a weird career like mine that isn’t super consistent. There have been controversies,” he explains, nodding to a turbulent past — which includes a near-fatal motorcycle accident in 1990 that led to drug addiction and six months in jail for drug possession — that precipitated a spiritual journey to recovery. “But I never stopped creating music or performing. It was just not being able to release a new album, and for many, no new albums means no career, period.”
His resurgence comes as música urbana has taken over the global charts thanks to a new generation of acts — many of whom have credited the wordsmith as a foundational influence. In the crowded field of urbano artists, Vico C has stuck to his values, sharply criticizing oversexualized, violent and materialistic lyrics.
That industry outlier status drew Nain Music to sign him earlier this year. “He’s fresh air to the genre,” says Nain CEO Fidel Hernández, calling Vico C the label’s “flagship” artist. “From an audience perspective, he represents that option to hear deep lyrics that transcend simple entertainment, with impeccable interpretation paired with contagious and creatively unlimited urban rhythms.”
And as Vico C sees it, his unique perspective explains his staying power. “My lyrics aren’t the type that typically sell in my genre. And I don’t want people to think that because I don’t have that sexual element in my music means that it will be out of place. That’s why I’m working hard to polish my lyrics, make them shine thanks to all I’ve learned as a producer. I feel calm and prepared. I’m not reinventing myself here. It’s a matter of just commercializing what I want to give to people.”
On the heels of mega collabs, the Puerto Rican hit-maker arrives as ‘a new artist.’
After nearly 20 years as half of the reggaetón duo Plan B, Chencho Corleone will release his first solo album through his new label, Sony Music Latin, by the end of 2023. The highly anticipated set — Chencho’s first since going solo in 2018 — follows several big collaborations for the Puerto Rican hit-maker, including the blockbuster “Me Porto Bonito” with Bad Bunny, which peaked at No. 6 on the Billboard Hot 100.
“Once I started collaborating with all these artists, I saw that people wanted more from me,” says Chencho, 44. “There came a moment, after teaming up with Bad Bunny, Rauw Alejandro and they were all becoming hits, when I said, ‘OK, it’s time to give fans a more complete project.’ God’s timing is always perfect, and I’m ready to give it my all.”
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Chencho laid the foundation for his solo career with Plan B. Alongside partner Maldy, the iconic two-piece rose to fame in the 2000s with reggaetón anthems such as “Mi Vecinita,” “Frikitona” and “Fanática Sensual,” ultimately placing 11 songs on Billboard’s Latin Airplay chart and 10 on Hot Latin Songs. Plan B’s highest-peaking album was also its last: 2014’s Love and Sex, which landed at No. 3 on Top Latin Albums.
But Chencho prefers to enter this new era with a clean slate. “When I started this journey alone, I didn’t want to live in the past. I never want to enter a space and say, ‘I’m Chencho, and this is everything I was able to do with Plan B,’ ” he explains. “I have no ego when I go into a studio with someone else. I consider myself a new artist, and I’m here to prove that just how I was there before, I am here today.”
Since going solo, he has scored two No. 1s on Latin Airplay: “Desesperados,” with Rauw, and “Me Porto Bonito,” which ruled Hot Latin Songs for 20 weeks. But Chencho’s collaborations hint at what fans can expect from his new album, which he promises will stay true to his reggaetón roots. “It’s what my fans know me for,” he says. “My style is singing songs that people can identify with but still dance along to and be transported to a specific time in their lives. The album is everything Chencho Corleone is known for, but amplified.”
Vico C and Chencho Corleone will speak at Billboard Latin Music Week, taking place Oct. 2 – Oct. 6. To register, click here.
This story will appear in the Sept. 23, 2023, issue of Billboard.
Even if you don’t know the name or the backstory, you probably know the sound: Boom-ch-boom-chick, boom-ch-boom-chick, boom-ch-boom-chick. Listen to pretty much any reggaetón song, and you’ll hear that infectious percussion — dubbed the dembow rhythm — playing underneath. That single key element, a historian of the genre once wrote, “underpins the vast majority of reggaetón tracks as an almost required sonic signpost.”
There was nothing controversial about that fact until 2021, when lawyers for the Jamaican duo Steely & Clevie — Cleveland “Clevie” Browne and the estate of the late Wycliffe “Steely” Johnson — filed a copyright lawsuit over the origins of dembow. In it, they argued that the rhythm was ultimately derived from a single song, called “Fish Market,” that the pair wrote in 1989.
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When it was first filed, the lawsuit targeted only two tracks and a few artists. But the implication was clear: if their argument was valid, hundreds of artists across reggaetón — a genre that has risen from an underground fusion of rap, dancehall and reggae in the clubs of San Juan, Puerto, Rico, to the very apex of the music industry in the past decade — would also have infringed Steely & Clevie’s intellectual property.
Now, two years later, those stakes are no longer theoretical. The duo’s lawyers are suing more than 150 different artists, including Bad Bunny, Karol G, Pitbull, Drake, Daddy Yankee, Luis Fonsi and Justin Bieber, plus units of all three major music companies. They claim that over 1,800 reggaetón songs featuring iterations of the dembow rhythm were, at root, illegally copied from “Fish Market” — and that their clients deserve monetary compensation for them.
If that sounds both unusual and potentially disruptive to you, music law experts would agree.
“This case is jaw-dropping — the plaintiffs are suing over a hundred artists for over a thousand songs, 30 years after the release of their song,” says Jennifer Jenkins, a professor at Duke University School of Law who has written a history of musical borrowing and regulation. “If they win, this would confer a monopoly over an entire genre, something unprecedented in music copyright litigation.”
Musical pioneers
Legal claims aside, nobody really disputes that the genealogy of dembow leads back to Steely & Clevie, a legendary duo who are widely credited with playing an influential role in the evolution of Jamaican music. When Steely died in 2009, The New York Times said he had perhaps “participated in more sessions than anyone else in the history of reggae.”
According to most experts, the story goes like this: Aspects of Steely & Clevie’s “Fish Market” were incorporated into a 1990 song called “Dem Bow” by the artist Shabba Ranks, which itself was then re-used by producer Dennis “The Menace” Thompson in another 1990 song called “Dub Mix II.” It was this track that was then heavily sampled and interpolated in the early days of reggaetón, providing an essential rhythmic element to the nascent genre. According to an article by Wayne Marshall, a historian of Caribbean music and a professor at Berklee College of Music, that portion from “Dub Mix II” has since “provided the basis for hundreds if not thousands of other tracks.”
Over the decades that followed, reggaetón blossomed into a global sensation. With roots in the Panamanian “reggae en espanol” movement and then evolving with Puerto Rican trailblazers like Ivy Queen and DJ Nelson, reggaetón exploded onto the world stage with Daddy Yankee’s 2004 breakout single, “Gasolina,” which spent 20 weeks on the Hot 100. The genre then rose to new heights in 2017 with Luis Fonsi’s mega-hit “Despacito,” which topped the Hot 100 for a record-tying 16 weeks. And last year, Bad Bunny’s Un Verano Sin Ti became the first Latin album to finish as the No. 1 Billboard 200 album of the year after ruling the chart for 13 nonconsecutive weeks. According to Billboard Boxscore, he also grossed a record-setting $435 million across two tours — El Último Tour del Mundo and World’s Hottest Tour — cementing his place as one of pop’s biggest stars.
All of it, according to Steely & Clevie’s lawsuit, on the backs of their intellectual property.
A growing case
The duo first headed to federal court April 2021, accusing Panamanian reggaetón artist and producer El Chombo of infringing “Fish Market” with his “Dame tu Cosita,” a 2018 hit that reached No. 36 on the Hot 100. The suit also named Karol G and Pitbull, who later released a remix of the track.
In their complaint, the lawyers for Steely & Clevie said the “primary rhythm and drum sections” of “Dame tu Cosita” were pulled directly from the earlier song: “At no point did defendants seek or obtain authorization from plaintiffs to use ‘Fish Market’ in connection with the infringing works.”
When the case was first filed, few people took notice. But the lawsuit quickly grew. In October 2021, Steely & Clevie added 10 more songs to the case, including Fonsi’s “Despacito.” In May 2022, they alleged that an additional 44 songs had infringed “Fish Market,” including Daddy Yankee’s “Gasolina.” By September 2022, the lawsuit had ballooned: More than 150 total defendant-artists, including Bad Bunny, accused of releasing a staggering 1,800 infringing songs.
The newer versions of the lawsuit also claimed broader intellectual property rights. In the original, Steely & Clevie claimed only to own a copyright to “Fish Market” itself; as the case evolved, they claimed they also owned rights to “Dem Bow” and “Dub Mix II,” the later songs that utilized “Fish Market.”
In the most recent version of the complaint, filed in April, it takes a full 25 pages to list out all of the defendants, which also include units of Universal Music Group, Warner Music Group and Sony Music Entertainment. Other notable defendants include Anitta, Becky G, Maluma, Tainy, Rauw Alejandro, and Enrique Iglesias, as well as companies BMG Rights Management, Hipgnosis and Kobalt.
Over a whopping 228 pages, the document lays out how each song, like “Despacito,” allegedly infringed what it calls “groundbreaking” drum and bass patterns in the earlier songs.
“The rhythm section of ‘Despacito’ and the ‘Despacito Remix’ copies original elements of the ‘Fish Market’ rhythm section,” Steely & Clevie’s lawyers wrote. “The musical backbones of ‘Despacito’ and the ‘Despacito Remix’ are substantially similar, if not virtually identical, to ‘Fish Market.’”
“Monopolistic”? Or “sensationalist”?
A trial on all those allegations is still years away, even in the fastest scenario. But this past summer, the attorneys representing the artists and labels have been trying to make sure it never gets there.
In a motion filed in June, Bad Bunny’s lawyer Kenneth D. Freundlich demanded that the case be dismissed immediately, calling it a “transparent” attempt by Steely & Clevie to “stake monopolistic control over the reggaetón genre.”
“Plaintiffs’ [lawsuit] impermissibly seeks to monopolize practically the entire reggaetón musical genre for themselves by claiming copyright ownership of certain legally irrelevant and/or unprotectable, purported musical composition elements,” Freundlich wrote for his superstar client.
When the lawsuit’s allegations are “defrocked” of their “façade,” Bad Bunny’s lawyer wrote, all that is left is a simple rhythm itself — and “courts have been consistent in finding rhythm to be unprotectable.”
The majority of the other defendants named in Steely & Clevie’s lawsuit (including Anitta, Pitbull, Karol G, Ricky Martin, Daddy Yankee, Fonsi, Bieber, units of all three majors and more than 70 other defendants) are represented by a single team of lawyers from the law firm Pryor Cashman. That’s the same firm, and some of the same lawyers, that won Ed Sheeran’s big copyright trial in May.
In their motion, the Pryor lawyers echoed Bad Bunny’s genre-monopoly arguments, but they also claimed that the size of the case had turned it into a procedural disaster — a confusing mess in which nobody knows exactly what they’re accused of doing wrong. They said Steely & Clevie had failed to satisfy “the fundamental elements of a copyright infringement claim.”
“The [complaint] is a ‘shotgun pleading’ filled with conclusory allegations that lump defendants together, making it impossible for defendants to determine what each is alleged to have done, what works are at issue and what in those works is allegedly infringing,” the attorneys wrote.
In their own response filings, Steely & Clevie remained undeterred. In an August filing, they argued that the gripes about the size and complexity of the case were unfounded — and that the scale of the lawsuit actually underscored the central point of their allegations.
“While the copyists are legion here, they certainly did copy, and the sheer amount of copying proves the creative and original nature of plaintiffs’ work,” wrote the duo’s lawyers from the Los Angeles-based law firm Doniger/Burroughs. “Defendants want to exploit plaintiffs’ creativity to build careers and reap financial success while denying plaintiffs their just credit and compensation.”
And in a separate response to Bad Bunny’s filing, Steely & Clevie’s attorneys blasted the accusation that they were aiming to own an entire genre of music.
“In the end, Bad Bunny’s motion boils down to a sensationalist, unsupported suggestion that this case somehow ties up the reggaetón genre. Not so,” the duo’s lawyers wrote. “To be sure, the unauthorized copying of the Fish Market pattern now is widespread — copying that necessitated this case. But Bad Bunny cites no authority for the proposition that widespread copying of an original work somehow renders that work unprotectable.”
A hearing before a federal judge, where those arguments will be tested in open court, is set for Friday. Attorneys for both sides declined to comment.
“A pretty wild claim”
With just about every artist in one of the industry’s hottest genres now facing the possibility of copyright liability over a core part of their music, Steely & Clevie’s case could pose something of an existential problem for reggaetón. Artists who want to make songs in the future featuring a similar rhythm would need to ask (and pay for) permission to do so for decades to come — that is, if the case is ultimately successful.
Some copyright experts are skeptical. “This is a case that zeros in on a particular beat that characterizes an entire genre, and they’re basically saying, you can trace it all back to our song, and a piece of everything that flows from that belongs to us,” says Peter DiCola, a professor at Northwestern Pritzker School of Law who has written extensively about music sampling. “I think that’s a pretty wild claim.”
Part of what makes the “Fish Market” case unusual is the long delay. Steely & Clevie waited 30 years to sue, as an entire world of music built up around a rhythm that they now claim to own — no doubt leading some reggaetón artists to think, perhaps reasonably, that dembow was fair game.
But even if that delay seems vaguely unfair, it’s probably not a great defense. In a 2014 case over the movie Raging Bull, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that there are essentially no time limits to bringing a copyright suit. That decision directly sparked a battle over Led Zeppelin’s “Stairway to Heaven” decades after it was released, as well as many other lawsuits over years-old allegations of infringement.
Instead, the harder questions posed by Steely & Clevie’s case concern the dividing line between historical acknowledgment and exclusive legal ownership. Music historians don’t doubt that Steely & Clevie played a key role in reggaetón’s evolution, but does that entitle them, decades later, to control a crucial part of an entire genre? Put another way, the real question — and it’s potentially a multi-billion-dollar question — is whether they can claim a copyright on the dembow rhythm.
In the abstract, sure. Rhythms are just collections of sounds arranged creatively, like the melodies and lyrics that are clearly covered by copyrights. But in reality, U.S. courts have been hesitant to extend protection to musical elements like rhythms, chord progressions and song structures. Earlier cases have declared them either simply too unoriginal for copyright coverage, or ruled they are “scènes à faire” — a copyright law term for stock elements of a given genre that anyone is entitled to use.
Recent legal battles over music have been dismissed with rulings that the accuser could not claim a monopoly on basic “building blocks” of songs. Led Zeppelin won a case involving “Stairway to Heaven” in 2020, followed by a similar decision in 2022 on Katy Perry’s “Dark Horse.” In May, a federal judge dismissed a lawsuit that accused Ed Sheeran’s “Thinking Out Loud” of infringing Marvin Gaye’s “Let’s Get It On” saying the case — over a chord progression and harmonic rhythm – was seeking an “impermissible monopoly over a basic musical building block.”
Legal experts wonder if the claims about dembow may face similar limitations.
“All credit to them for being really talented musicians,” DiCola says. “But this thing that they’ve created, this common element that runs through as kind of the DNA of these reggaetón tracks — is that really something anyone can own? To me, it seems very much like a basic building block.”
It’s quite special that Premios Juventud is celebrating its 20 year anniversary at the iconic Coliseo José Miguel Agrelot de San Juan in Puerto Rico, a right-of-passage venue for Latin pop stardom and the birthplace of reggaeton. And no perfect reggaetón royal to open up the ceremony than the Big Boss, Daddy Yankee. But it’s even more memorable that the award ceremony is honoring a formative kind of group of el género, los duos.
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Opening up with the dance floor banger, “Ven Báilalo” by Angel & Khriz, reggaeton duos presumed to dominate the stage back to back. R.K.M & Ken-Y followed up singing their classic “Down”; and Zion & Lennox piggybacked with “Yo Voy” and Alexis & Fido” with “El Tiburón”.
The later half of their segment saw more reggaeatón fixtures, with some showcasing their solo side to maximum effects. Wisin (who started performing with Yandel two decades) began to wail out “Saoco” while De La Ghetto (who also began with Arcángel) also shouted out some bars, thus further invigorated the scene.
These OGs testified their global appeal as reggaeton trailblazers, who’ve inspired legions of artists while solidifying their status as reggaetón royalty.
Premios Juventud celebrates its 20th anniversary from the Coliseo José Miguel Agrelot in San Juan, Puerto Rico, with the theme of “Exprésate a tu Manera” (Express Yourself Authentically). Co-hosted by Alejandra Espinoza and Angela Aguilar, this year’s PJs debuts 15 new categories that “reflect the latest trends” in Latin music, such as best song for my ex, best urban track and best urban mix, among others. The ceremony is televised by Univision.
This year, Shakira and Camila Cabello will receive the special “Agent of Change” award, joining past honorees that include Jesse & Joy, Maluma, Daddy Yankee, J Balvin, Kany Garcia, Jenni Rivera Foundation, Ricky Martin, Becky G, Pitbull, Juanpa Zurita, and Wisin y Yandel.
Did you know Karol G’s album ‘Mañana Será Mas Bonito’ became the first all-Spanish language album by a female artist to reach No. 1 on the Billboard 200 album charts? And it’s a reggaeton album? Reggaetón has grown in popularity over the years. But what is reggaetón and why is it considered a male-dominated space? Which female artist broke barriers in the genre? And who are the women taking over? This is Billboard Explains: Women in Reggaetón.
