October 11, 2021 • 12 mins
Every movement has an origin story, a myth about how it all started. Reggaeton’s origin story is built on race, war, drugs, censorship, sex, of course, perreo, and hell, even U.S. imperialism and the CIA.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
The first time I heard this beat, it was nineteen
ninety six in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Picture this, I'm
twelve years old wearing knee highs inspired by the movie Clueless,
glad skirt, crop top. You had to be there. Actually,
it's exactly what teens are wearing again today. I'm at
(00:23):
a friend's marcuessina. That's the garage. In Puerto Rico, il pario. Marcasina,
or garage parties, are an adolescent rite of passage. Too
young to go to nightclubs but too old for birthday
parties with clowns and pinatas, teens used to hang out
in backyards and garages to begin their foray into flirting, dancing,
(00:45):
drinking and sets. Sounds crazy saying it today, but hey,
it was the nineties, So there I was, with all
my pent up preadolescent drama when the DJ played a
beat that would end up being the soundtrack to all
of Puerto Rico and beyond. I can still smell the
(01:09):
cool water cologne in the air as the base sent
our bodies into overdrive. A voice wrapping explicitly in Spanish
about sex left our jaws and our butts on the floor.
We usually form a circle, each of us waiting our
turn right in the center of it. Outside that circle,
(01:30):
the world had changed. Over the next two decades, this
beat would crystallize into reed, a musical genre mixing Jamaican
dance hall, Panamanian reggae, hip hop, and Puerto Rican. On
the ground, it would take the world by storm. Every
(01:54):
movement has an origin story, a myth about how it
all started. We tell and retell that story until it
becomes legend. This is true of revolutions, countries, startups, celebrities,
and musical genres. Regeton's origin story is all this and more.
It's a story built on race, war, drugs, censorship, sex,
(02:19):
of course, pereo, and how even US imperialism and the CIA.
In this podcast, we're going to tell you the real
story about how Regeton went from underground to dominating the mainstream,
with all the conflict and drama along the way. But
(02:43):
there's one part of the story that doesn't sit well
with me. It kind of aggravates me because in this
version of the story, my grandmother is the conservative crusader
who tried to censor Reeton. Stop at Dernts tracks write
as Raydon was breaking onto the global stage. There are
(03:04):
articles about her, books written about her, even songs about
her like this one. But growing up in Puerto Rico,
I was told a different story about my grandma, A
story about a progressive firebrand fighting for women's rights and
(03:28):
a dedicated advocate of Puerto Rican nationhood. I wondered, was
the origin story about my family's larger than life matriarch
just that a story. Had she in fact embarked on
a crusade to kill or did she throw the movement
a lifeline at a pivotal tipping point? Was there another
(03:50):
truth altogether? I had to find out. This is a flow,
a journey to the roots of Reyedon. My name is
Lila Luciano. I'm a CBS News correspondent, and Alborrico are
born and raised in Puerto Rico, the cradle of Reyedon.
(04:15):
You could start the story of Rayedon in Puerto Rico
in the nineteen nineties, when the genre as we know
it today got its start, or you could rewind a
decade earlier in Panama with Reydon's predecessor, reggae and espan.
(04:38):
But to really understand the roots of Reyedon, we have
to go back in time, way back to July first,
eighteen ninety eight. The United States in Spain are at
war on the island of Cuba. It is there that
another argent story gets its mythological powers, a story it
(05:00):
will affect much of the Caribbean and Latin America for
decades to come. Among the regiments in Cuba was a
ragtag volunteer unit led by the charismatic Theodore Roosevelt. Roosevelt
believed that, and I'm quoting now, that all great nations
are warring nations. Who was thinking, asay, ancient Rome or
(05:21):
Napoleon's France? And he said, all great men have a
little of the wolf in them. That's Clay Jenkinson, an
author and presidential historian. And Roosevelt felt that this streak
of violence was not only characteristic of the American experiment,
but that it was an important part of America's greatness.
Before the start of the war, Roosevelt had served as
a second in command in the Navy. He quit that
(05:44):
job to fulfill his romanticized war fantasy, leading the volunteer
regiment known as the rough Riders. There were cowboys from
Dakota and Wyoming and the American West bonafid cowboys and sharpshooters,
native Americans Indians as he would have called them. But
then he also had to bring in some of his
(06:05):
pals from the Eastern Establishment, Harvard tennis players and Yale
yachtsmen and so on. Roosevelt, the American Don Quixote, and
the Eclectic rough Riders joined the battle for the city
of Santiago on July first, eighteen ninety eight. The Spaniards
holed up in the city prepared to make one last
(06:26):
stand on the surrounding hills. Their defenses dug in on
the high ground of San Juan Hill and Kettle Hill.
As eight thousand American soldiers advanced from above, the Spanish
fired on the Americans, hitting them down. But Roosevelt was
sporting for this fight, and so, as he tells it,
(06:46):
he came up to the base of what is San
Juan or Kettle Hill, and the regular army was just
kind of standing around. So he barked out, who's in
charge here, and why haven't you charged up this hill?
And he was told we're just we're no, no, we're
waiting for orders. And so then he said he said, well,
then get out of the way, as the legend goes,
the thirty nine year old Roosevelt charged up the hill
(07:09):
on a horseback. The rough riders took heavy casualties, but
were able to reach the summit. Outflanked, the Spanish retreated.
Sixteen days later, Spain surrendered Cuba and with it the
remains of their colonial empire. Now you may be wondering,
why are we talking about Teddy Roosevelt on a podcast
(07:31):
about Raydon Well, I promise you this will make sense
because you can't understand Breydon without understanding the effects of
US imperialism in the Caribbean and the Spanish American War
of eighteen ninety eight was the official birth of the
American Empire, and tr was America's first imperialist. You see,
(07:54):
after the war, Cuba gained its independence, the Philippines were
acquired for twenty million dollars in Puerto Rico became a
United States colony. That is important hold on to that. Overall.
Roosevelt left Cuba dismayed and somewhat underwhelmed, but that changed
(08:14):
when he finally came home. What he discovers when he
gets home after what is a fairly heroic little skirmish
that was unnecessary for the winning of the war, and
that his achievement, however interesting it is, was relatively modest,
even minor. He discovers on getting home, that he's a
(08:35):
national hero. Roosevelt was everywhere. There were rough Rider themed
board games for kids, cigars for adults, even rough Rider
baking powder. A year later, in eighteen ninety, President William
McKinley selected Roosevelt to be his running mate for his
reelection campaign. The McKinley Roosevelt ticket one in a landslide.
(09:00):
And here's a major plot twist. Six months into his
second term, President McKinley was shot and killed by an assassin.
Just three years after conquering Kettle Hill, Roosevelt was now
President of the United States. So how did the birth
(09:26):
of the US Empire lead to Redon? Why does it matter?
The answer lies within the music itself. Raydon is essentially
a fusion of rhythms and cultures. This fusion didn't just
magically happen on its own. People from different backgrounds had
to come together in the same place at the same time.
(09:48):
The way those different people came together was a direct
result of American imperialism, and as we will see it,
all started in Panama belt as a social Darwinist. He
knew as darwin of course, there's a dark side to
social Darwinism. Roosevelt felt that the Anglo Saxon people were
at the top of the world's hierarchy as the doers,
(10:10):
and he made wild statements about the righteousness of overwhelming
indigenous peoples and bringing light into darkness and forcing them
to get on board with the progress of civilization. So
he belongs to that school. If Roosevelt played a minor
yet highly publicized role in securing the independence of Cuba
and the acquisition of Puerto Rico as a US colony,
(10:34):
his shadow looms large over Panama because Panama just happens
to be an isthmus I eat a narrow tract of
land flanked by two large bodies of water, the perfect
place to build a canal, and that's exactly what Roosevelt
wanted to do. On the next episode of A Flow,
(10:55):
we look at how a racist rage and a monumental
engineering feet and Panama sowed the seeds for the musical
movement that gave rise to Reedon. We grew up in
an American style of American way of living. We did
everything we had Thanksgiving, we had Halloween, Father's Day celebration.
(11:17):
You know, we did everything like it was the United States.
That's why my upbringing was so different than in Panamas.
A Flow is a production of Exile Content in partnership
with iHeart Radios Michael Dura podcast Network. The show is
hosted by me Lelia Luciano, a CBS News correspondent, and
(11:38):
was created and produced by Dennis de Julius. Production and
sound designed by Dixo. Additional production by David Nioni's original
music by Truco Production supervision by Alvaro Cespedes. Executive producers
for Exile Content Studio are Nandobela, Isaac Lee, and Alejandro Ri.
Executive producers for iHeartMedia are Conald Byrne and and Bonces
(12:01):
Special thanks to CBS News. For more podcasts from iHeart,
visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen
to your favorite shows.
The first time I heard this beat, it was nineteen
ninety six in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Picture this, I'm
twelve years old wearing knee highs inspired by the movie Clueless,
glad skirt, crop top. You had to be there. Actually,
it's exactly what teens are wearing again today. I'm at
(00:23):
a friend's marcuessina. That's the garage. In Puerto Rico, il pario. Marcasina,
or garage parties, are an adolescent rite of passage. Too
young to go to nightclubs but too old for birthday
parties with clowns and pinatas, teens used to hang out
in backyards and garages to begin their foray into flirting, dancing,
(00:45):
drinking and sets. Sounds crazy saying it today, but hey,
it was the nineties, So there I was, with all
my pent up preadolescent drama when the DJ played a
beat that would end up being the soundtrack to all
of Puerto Rico and beyond. I can still smell the
(01:09):
cool water cologne in the air as the base sent
our bodies into overdrive. A voice wrapping explicitly in Spanish
about sex left our jaws and our butts on the floor.
We usually form a circle, each of us waiting our
turn right in the center of it. Outside that circle,
(01:30):
the world had changed. Over the next two decades, this
beat would crystallize into reed, a musical genre mixing Jamaican
dance hall, Panamanian reggae, hip hop, and Puerto Rican. On
the ground, it would take the world by storm. Every
(01:54):
movement has an origin story, a myth about how it
all started. We tell and retell that story until it
becomes legend. This is true of revolutions, countries, startups, celebrities,
and musical genres. Regeton's origin story is all this and more.
It's a story built on race, war, drugs, censorship, sex,
(02:19):
of course, pereo, and how even US imperialism and the CIA.
In this podcast, we're going to tell you the real
story about how Regeton went from underground to dominating the mainstream,
with all the conflict and drama along the way. But
(02:43):
there's one part of the story that doesn't sit well
with me. It kind of aggravates me because in this
version of the story, my grandmother is the conservative crusader
who tried to censor Reeton. Stop at Dernts tracks write
as Raydon was breaking onto the global stage. There are
(03:04):
articles about her, books written about her, even songs about
her like this one. But growing up in Puerto Rico,
I was told a different story about my grandma, A
story about a progressive firebrand fighting for women's rights and
(03:28):
a dedicated advocate of Puerto Rican nationhood. I wondered, was
the origin story about my family's larger than life matriarch
just that a story. Had she in fact embarked on
a crusade to kill or did she throw the movement
a lifeline at a pivotal tipping point? Was there another
(03:50):
truth altogether? I had to find out. This is a flow,
a journey to the roots of Reyedon. My name is
Lila Luciano. I'm a CBS News correspondent, and Alborrico are
born and raised in Puerto Rico, the cradle of Reyedon.
(04:15):
You could start the story of Rayedon in Puerto Rico
in the nineteen nineties, when the genre as we know
it today got its start, or you could rewind a
decade earlier in Panama with Reydon's predecessor, reggae and espan.
(04:38):
But to really understand the roots of Reyedon, we have
to go back in time, way back to July first,
eighteen ninety eight. The United States in Spain are at
war on the island of Cuba. It is there that
another argent story gets its mythological powers, a story it
(05:00):
will affect much of the Caribbean and Latin America for
decades to come. Among the regiments in Cuba was a
ragtag volunteer unit led by the charismatic Theodore Roosevelt. Roosevelt
believed that, and I'm quoting now, that all great nations
are warring nations. Who was thinking, asay, ancient Rome or
(05:21):
Napoleon's France? And he said, all great men have a
little of the wolf in them. That's Clay Jenkinson, an
author and presidential historian. And Roosevelt felt that this streak
of violence was not only characteristic of the American experiment,
but that it was an important part of America's greatness.
Before the start of the war, Roosevelt had served as
a second in command in the Navy. He quit that
(05:44):
job to fulfill his romanticized war fantasy, leading the volunteer
regiment known as the rough Riders. There were cowboys from
Dakota and Wyoming and the American West bonafid cowboys and sharpshooters,
native Americans Indians as he would have called them. But
then he also had to bring in some of his
(06:05):
pals from the Eastern Establishment, Harvard tennis players and Yale
yachtsmen and so on. Roosevelt, the American Don Quixote, and
the Eclectic rough Riders joined the battle for the city
of Santiago on July first, eighteen ninety eight. The Spaniards
holed up in the city prepared to make one last
(06:26):
stand on the surrounding hills. Their defenses dug in on
the high ground of San Juan Hill and Kettle Hill.
As eight thousand American soldiers advanced from above, the Spanish
fired on the Americans, hitting them down. But Roosevelt was
sporting for this fight, and so, as he tells it,
(06:46):
he came up to the base of what is San
Juan or Kettle Hill, and the regular army was just
kind of standing around. So he barked out, who's in
charge here, and why haven't you charged up this hill?
And he was told we're just we're no, no, we're
waiting for orders. And so then he said he said, well,
then get out of the way, as the legend goes,
the thirty nine year old Roosevelt charged up the hill
(07:09):
on a horseback. The rough riders took heavy casualties, but
were able to reach the summit. Outflanked, the Spanish retreated.
Sixteen days later, Spain surrendered Cuba and with it the
remains of their colonial empire. Now you may be wondering,
why are we talking about Teddy Roosevelt on a podcast
(07:31):
about Raydon Well, I promise you this will make sense
because you can't understand Breydon without understanding the effects of
US imperialism in the Caribbean and the Spanish American War
of eighteen ninety eight was the official birth of the
American Empire, and tr was America's first imperialist. You see,
(07:54):
after the war, Cuba gained its independence, the Philippines were
acquired for twenty million dollars in Puerto Rico became a
United States colony. That is important hold on to that. Overall.
Roosevelt left Cuba dismayed and somewhat underwhelmed, but that changed
(08:14):
when he finally came home. What he discovers when he
gets home after what is a fairly heroic little skirmish
that was unnecessary for the winning of the war, and
that his achievement, however interesting it is, was relatively modest,
even minor. He discovers on getting home, that he's a
(08:35):
national hero. Roosevelt was everywhere. There were rough Rider themed
board games for kids, cigars for adults, even rough Rider
baking powder. A year later, in eighteen ninety, President William
McKinley selected Roosevelt to be his running mate for his
reelection campaign. The McKinley Roosevelt ticket one in a landslide.
(09:00):
And here's a major plot twist. Six months into his
second term, President McKinley was shot and killed by an assassin.
Just three years after conquering Kettle Hill, Roosevelt was now
President of the United States. So how did the birth
(09:26):
of the US Empire lead to Redon? Why does it matter?
The answer lies within the music itself. Raydon is essentially
a fusion of rhythms and cultures. This fusion didn't just
magically happen on its own. People from different backgrounds had
to come together in the same place at the same time.
(09:48):
The way those different people came together was a direct
result of American imperialism, and as we will see it,
all started in Panama belt as a social Darwinist. He
knew as darwin of course, there's a dark side to
social Darwinism. Roosevelt felt that the Anglo Saxon people were
at the top of the world's hierarchy as the doers,
(10:10):
and he made wild statements about the righteousness of overwhelming
indigenous peoples and bringing light into darkness and forcing them
to get on board with the progress of civilization. So
he belongs to that school. If Roosevelt played a minor
yet highly publicized role in securing the independence of Cuba
and the acquisition of Puerto Rico as a US colony,
(10:34):
his shadow looms large over Panama because Panama just happens
to be an isthmus I eat a narrow tract of
land flanked by two large bodies of water, the perfect
place to build a canal, and that's exactly what Roosevelt
wanted to do. On the next episode of A Flow,
(10:55):
we look at how a racist rage and a monumental
engineering feet and Panama sowed the seeds for the musical
movement that gave rise to Reedon. We grew up in
an American style of American way of living. We did
everything we had Thanksgiving, we had Halloween, Father's Day celebration.
(11:17):
You know, we did everything like it was the United States.
That's why my upbringing was so different than in Panamas.
A Flow is a production of Exile Content in partnership
with iHeart Radios Michael Dura podcast Network. The show is
hosted by me Lelia Luciano, a CBS News correspondent, and
(11:38):
was created and produced by Dennis de Julius. Production and
sound designed by Dixo. Additional production by David Nioni's original
music by Truco Production supervision by Alvaro Cespedes. Executive producers
for Exile Content Studio are Nandobela, Isaac Lee, and Alejandro Ri.
Executive producers for iHeartMedia are Conald Byrne and and Bonces
(12:01):
Special thanks to CBS News. For more podcasts from iHeart,
visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen
to your favorite shows.
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