Our music today is a celebration of Latinx culture. From the streets of the island to worldwide dominance, reggaeton burst through the English-speaking Western market, and now we are all living in a post-"Despacito" world. Typical of Caribbean culture, it was done with a great dance beat. This new wave of music, created by underground youth culture in the clubs of Puerto Rico, was a creative outlet during inner-city sufferings. In the 1990s, Latin music in Puerto Rico fused with reggae and American hip-hop to create reggaeton. The themes in Latin music are largely the same throughout the generations - love, loss, hardship - only with different mouthpieces using forms of expression that reflect their audience. The lyrical, heartfelt singers of my uncle's childhood provided a way for those same men to connect with and express the deeper romantic sentiments in the clean music.
There was dignity in the unity of marriage, and cursing was seen as inappropriate or low-class. He rocked back and forth proclaiming, "He is a poet." I had to admit, Bunny to Guerra was a stark contrast, but then again so were we.įor Latin Baby Boomers like my uncle, the archetype of a man was the head of the household who rarely showed his vulnerable emotions.
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Next up, "Desde el Corazón," a love letter to Puerto Rico dedicated to his neighborhood and the local artists who inspired him to write music.Īs a rebuttal, my uncle put on "Burbujas de Amor" by Juan Luis Guerra, a melodic, classic love song full of imagery. First, I played "Estamos Bien," an uplifting anthem released nearly a year after Hurricane Maria. On a mission to change his mind, I chose to play to him Bad Bunny songs with underlying depth. Upset by the lewdness of the lyrics of "Sensualidad," my uncle picked apart each sexual innuendo and remarked on the raunchiness of today's reggaeton culture. Millennials have embraced him, but many old-school Boricuas are turned off by the Bunny explosion. With sold-out stadium tours and features from top American artists like Drake on his records, Bad Bunny has graduated from Puerto Rican grocery store clerk to international sensation in the last three years. My uncle, a conservative lawyer in his 60s, rolled his eyes when he heard "Bad Bunny, baby."
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We sat poolside in Dorado, Puerto Rico, with a small Bluetooth speaker beside us.
I switched off my uncle's playlist of classic salsa tunes and turned up Bad Bunny.