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ENTITY · PLACE / NEIGHBOURHOOD

San Juan, Puerto Rico

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Where the rhythm stopped travelling and became a genre. The dembow loop arrived in San Juan on record and on tape around 1990-91; within five years the city's caseríos and marquesinas had built an entire music on top of it, and within fifteen that music was the biggest Spanish-language pop format in the world.

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At a glance

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Sources
Wayne Marshall; Raquel Z. Rivera, "Reggaeton"; Remezcla.
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In stories

Story · Well supportedWho owns the riddim?

A rhythm built in a Kingston studio in 1989 travelled to Panama, through New York, into San Juan, and became the pulse of the biggest Spanish-language pop music on earth. A Los Angeles court is now preparing to put the question of who owns it to a jury.

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Compiled and researched by The Jamaica Music Atlas music desk. The sources that informed it are credited above.

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