You're listening to Comedy Central. Hello friends, Hispanic Heritage months just wrapped up. But before we go, I want to talk about reggaeton. And if you don't know what it is, you've probably heard the unmistakable beat of reggaeton before, especially if you have upstairs neighbors. Can you keep it down up there? I will not like this song. The rest of this music go back as far as the seventies and as far as south as Panama. It could have started further south, but the beats are so big they
don't fit to the canal. It was here in the nineteen eighties when music artists started putting Spanish lyrics over Jamaican dance hall songs, creating a new sound of reggae. And that's Spanio. And honestly, I'm glad I wasn't there, because watching Spanish words and dance hall music timing together for the first time, not even two sexty to handle, there's no way you didn't leave that dance floor too pregnant.
It's like being the Jelly and the Diego Lunar and add Bunny Sandwich, Oh Delicious, two of reggaeton's earliest pioneers, were Leonardo and Gotta func Franco would later be known as El Hannad and even looked like if the Fresh Prince got sent to military school instead of bel Air. These two and other artists grew their news sounds like giving tapes to bus drivers who would bump their music.
It's basically the way rappers in Atlanta give their singles the strip club DJ's, except in this case, you hope people jam out to your music while running late for work. El hand to New York City, where he began spreading early reggaetone in the club. It almostn't happen, though, because while he was in New York, El Hanad I also pursued a degree in business administration in an effort to get a real job. You have to wonder what if that path had worked out. He'd beat an office going Ernstein,
y'all speaking, how might I direct your call? Thankfully, he was sucked back into music, hosting parties and performing. In nine he put out the song through Boom Boom, a tribute to the power of the person Doom Boom Boom and l Handado's cover Blew Up. It was a hit in mainland America in Puerto Rico and spread to Central and South America. The music was spreading so fast it would have made COVID jokes. Not too far from Brooklyn on Long Island, the defining beat of reggaeton the demn
bot rhythm, popularized by Panamanian rapper Nandel Boom. The sound was originally created by Jamaican dance hall musician Chap Rank, who looks like a blade, became a DJ instead of fighting vampires. From there, the sound moved to a different Long Island, Puerto Rico. And here is where all the Panamanian and New York ingredients finally mixed together to make something special like Sofrito for your ears. It took over at the club called The Noise, founded by the Quincy
Jones of reggaeton DJ Negro. He had been selling hot dogs on the street to get by and then had an idea to start a club. It was there that the genre became known as l underground and created a whole new generation of artists like E. D. Queen. They also popularized reggaetones more famous and that ail oh I know this dance, this is just me and two thousand five this is the dance you do when you don't
want to pay for drinks. At one point, Puerto Rico's government crackdown on ill underground and tried to regulate the lyrics and Betty ol dance move, but all that did was make l underground more popular. This was like when your parents tell you how to date somebody, but then that person gets asked, I'm sorry, mama, you made some
good points, but I can watch clothes off his stomach. Later, the genre exploded all of the mainstream with the release of the Hits of Gasolina by Daddy Yankee in two thousand four, and Daddy Yankee was everywhere MTV, Time Magazine, even the campaign trip. I just want to say thank you, Daddy.
Ain't kid. That's right. You know a genre is big when the old white Republicans started calling for a little while, reggaetone was huge, but then the record companies moved on and it disappeared in much of America, which basically means most American side. It didn't exist anymore. We're like a baby who falls topekaboo but was latin Us. But even as America forgot about it, reggaeton went through a rebirth in Mena and Colombia, the city you recognized from Narcos.
Colombian artists like Jay Balvin, Raykhon, and Carol g gave reggaeton a new, more mainstream sound with lyrics that focus less on violence and more on sex and romance. Like if Neo became Neo. It grew and grew in popularity until America caught on again with That's Right. Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee took over the globe with Death by Cito. It was number one for sixteen weeks. This song was so popular even the racist we're learning in Spanish como
say d s go back to your own country. And since Death Basito, reggaetne has kept its hold in America, which is great because this is a genre that is still evolving and becoming more inclusive. You know, it grew out of a rich Hispanic heritage of Oh seriously that neighbor again? Hey, sorry about before? Can you actually turn it up? Everyone downstairs started dancing and I just want to keep the party going. Okay, I don't know how
you got in here, but sure we signed it up. Please, thank you, no, thank you, you can get out now, what's the Daily Show weeknights eleven Central on Comedy Central. In stream full episodes anytime on Paramount Plus. This has been a Comedy Central podcast