Industry Insights: Why The Latin Grammys’ Treatment of Reggaetón Speaks to a Larger Problem

The controversy surrounding the nominations for this year’s Latin Grammys is just one link in a chain that spans continents and centuries.

Industry Insights explores the inner workings of the greater music industry, and what they mean for artists and fans alike.

Written and illustrated by Kameel Karim

The nominations for the 20th Annual Latin Grammy Awards sparked confusion that soon gave way to outrage. Glaring out from the extensive list of 50 categories was a particular absence that left a number of the industry’s most prolific artists and executives asking the same question: where is reggaetón?

After all, the genre is by and large the driving force behind Latin music’s esteemed place on the modern global stage. Many of the hits you’ve heard played to death on the radio in recent years — “Despacito,” “Mi Gente,” and “MIA,” among a bevy of others — bear prominent evidence of its influence. Pretty much every reggaetón track shares the same instantly recognizable beat, often paired with a talk-singing hook interspersed between choruses. This repetitious style is not without reason; the structure is a danceable, feel-good musical mainstay that has proven its popularity everywhere from the Billboard charts to the ambassadorships genre superstars have scored (Maluma with Adidas and J Balvin with New York Fashion Week, to name a couple). 

So if reggaetón really is that far-reaching, why will it be so underrepresented on Latin music’s biggest night of the year? Why is this not the first time it’s happened, either? The answer lies in the very same reasons that fueled its takeoff in the first place. 

From its inception in 1990s Puerto Rico, where its name was coined by reigning “King of Reggaetón” Daddy Yankee, reggaetón has always been about challenging the direction of the tide. The genealogy of its most defining characteristics can be traced to hip-hop and reggae’s predecessors, and it gained momentum in nightclubs as an “underground” art form illustrative of youth counterculture. The often explicit lyrical content, though rather mundane in the light of today’s popular tracks, added to the criticism from the Puerto Rican police and upper/middle class. Even as it slowly gained traction, and later, mainstream acceptance, it remained emblematic of the streets where it was born.

Moving forward, it didn’t take long for reggaetón to find its wings overseas. Daddy Yankee’s global smash hit “Gasolina” blazed a path for future reggaetoneros to access markets not only throughout Latin America, but in Europe and the U.S. as well. As of October 2019, Luis Fonsi’s “Despacito” still holds the record for the most-watched Youtube video of all time with over 6.4 billion views. Despite riding on unprecedented success, the genre still lacks recognition from an association as enormous and well-respected as The Latin Recording Academy.

It’s unsurprising that the success of these beats, pioneered by people living on the fringes of society and now celebrated across the world, remains a hard pill for the traditional elites of the music industry to swallow. Like its sibling, The Recording Academy of the U.S., the Latin incarnation of the institution is controlled primarily by wealthy white men. Afro-Latinx and native representation is scant despite their massive demographic presence across Spanish-speaking nations. It’s no coincidence that the first creators of reggaetón were ethnically Boricua and often under socioeconomic strain, or that the closely related (and often overlapping) rhythms of Latin trap have direct roots in the trap music made by black artists in the American South. 

As such, The Latin Recording Academy’s decision not to recognize the countless triumphs of reggaetón in the past several years is more than a simple slight. It’s a consequence of the power structure that has been entrenched in the Americas and the Caribbean since the age of European conquest — the system that bites the black and brown hands that work to feed it. 

Artists who have spoken out about the issue thus far include Daddy Yankee, J Balvin, and Nicky Jam, all three of whom have posted a graphic that reads “Sin Reggaeton NO Hay Latin Grammy” (“Without Reggaetón, there is no Latin Grammy”). Other chart-topping singers like Ozuna and Bad Bunny have also echoed this sentiment. 

Even the broad label of “urban” as the only official category that encompasses reggaetón and trap has come under fire, with some comparing it to the way the American Grammys routinely sideline hip-hop. All three genres originated with people of color and culturally symbolize their musical tradition. And all three continue to be glossed over by major recording institutions in favor of white or white-passing artists, whose craft is viewed as inherently superior by virtue of oppressive precepts regarding race, class, and identity.

The Latin Grammys are scheduled to take place on Thursday, Nov. 14. Hopefully, the few “urban” nominees attending will leave a lasting impression on both those who have been cheering them on and those connecting with them for the first time. Either way, it’s certain that they will continue to advance the frontier for Latinx creatives with or without validation from the Academy. They don’t need a pat on the back to know that their stories are worth telling.

This article was added to Industry Insights after its publication, upon the creation of the Industry Insights series.