Reggaeton: I am the one in control

If you don't like it, you won't be able to escape from it. 24 hours a day, on all radio and TV stations, in taxis, in bars, at homes, at parties, everywhere people listen to reggaeton. There are all kinds, from all regions, good and bad, romantic, disrespectful, mediocre, and excellent. It has motivated passions, studies and criticism but never, since its arrival to the island, indifference. What is this phenomenon that exceeds the invasion predicted by H. G. Wells in War of the Worlds? Why has it been able to displace well established genres such as salsa and become the preferred sound for Cuban youth?

First of all, the main characteristic of the latest music is the highlighting of popular experience and a language emerging from the streets, as rap did, bringing escapism and fantasy to its fan base.

Musically, according to the experts, it has simple and reiterative rhythmic patterns, slightly enriched by Cuban percussion. But it stops there. The key point of its success is that this rhythm is not exclusive of a certain elite; it is very basic and the world, with its increasingly broad mixture of cultures, is flooded with its authenticity.

What was a popular dance 60 years ago? How did you start a love affair in the middle of the past century? How were communications back then? If we just look at these aspects we realize the immensity of the change in our world. This is the time of irreverent responses, of youth suffering from their parents' and their grandparents' mistakes, and