reggaeton, genre of music largely shaped by the African diaspora, blending such styles as dancehall from Jamaica, reggae en español from Panama, el underground from Puerto Rico, and hip-hop from the United States. Reggaeton’s signature characteristics include a beat called “dem bow” and lyrics sung primarily in Spanish. Although the beginnings of reggaeton are disputed, many historians point to Panama City, where the descendants of West Indian workers, many of whom had emigrated from Jamaica and Barbados to help build the Panama Canal, created a new type of music called reggae en español. It arose in the early 1980s when
reggaeton, genre of music largely shaped by the African diaspora, blending such styles as dancehall from Jamaica, reggae en español from Panama, el underground from Puerto Rico, and hip-hop from the United States. Reggaeton’s signature characteristics include a beat called “dem bow” and lyrics sung primarily in Spanish. Although the beginnings of reggaeton are disputed, many historians point to Panama City, where the descendants of West Indian workers, many of whom had emigrated from Jamaica and Barbados to help build the Panama Canal, created a new type of music called reggae en español. It arose in the early 1980s when