By Jonathan Anthony Burkett
Reggaeton is now one of the most popular styles in the world, filling stadiums and topping streaming charts in many countries. But its story did not start in a big studio. It started with Jamaican records, West Indian communities in Panama and young people in Puerto Rico making mixtapes on the margins. Knowing those roots makes the music richer, and it shows how far a rhythm can travel.
Jamaica and Panama: the foundation
Reggaeton's DNA begins with Jamaican dancehall. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, dancehall rhythms were spreading through the Caribbean and Latin America. One rhythm in particular, associated with Shabba Ranks' early-1990s song "Dem Bow," gave its name to the beat that sits at the heart of reggaeton.
That "dembow" pattern, with its steady kick and distinctive syncopated snare, is the rhythm most people recognize instantly as reggaeton. The genre took it, sped it up, stripped it down and made it its own.
Panama played a crucial early role. In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, many workers from Jamaica and other Caribbean islands came to Panama, including to work on the canal. Their descendants kept strong ties to Caribbean culture and music.
By the 1980s, Panamanian artists were translating and adapting Jamaican dancehall and reggae songs into Spanish, a style often called reggae en español. El General became one of its best-known figures, and his hits spread across Latin America and into Latin communities in the United States. This was a key bridge: Jamaican rhythms, now with Spanish vocals.
Puerto Rico: the underground
In the early 1990s, Puerto Rico took those ingredients and added hip hop. Young artists and DJs mixed Spanish-language rapping with dancehall rhythms and hip hop beats, building a scene known simply as "underground." DJs such as DJ Playero and the producers behind The Noise released mixtapes that circulated widely, often passed hand to hand. Many of these artists were teenagers and young adults recording cheaply, often over borrowed instrumentals, and the mixtape format let them reach listeners without radio support.
The music was raw and street-focused, and it was not always welcome. At times, authorities and critics pushed back against its explicit content. But the scene kept growing in neighborhoods, clubs and car stereos, and over the 1990s the name reggaeton came to describe the sound.
Going global
In the early 2000s, reggaeton broke out. Daddy Yankee's "Gasolina," released in 2004, became an international hit and one of the songs most associated with the genre's rise. Tego Calderón, Don Omar, Wisin & Yandel and Ivy Queen, often called the queen of reggaeton, helped define the era. Their success showed record labels that Spanish-language urban music could sell across borders, and radio formats and award categories gradually began to make room for it.
A second wave arrived in the 2010s, led by artists such as J Balvin from Colombia and Bad Bunny from Puerto Rico. Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee's "Despacito" became a massive worldwide hit in 2017, especially after its remix. Reggaeton artists began headlining major festivals and arenas around the world, often without changing their language for English-speaking audiences.
How to recognize reggaeton
A few features make reggaeton easy to spot:
- The dembow rhythm. That signature kick-and-snare pattern runs underneath most tracks.
- Spanish-language vocals. Artists rap, sing and chant, often mixing in slang from Puerto Rico, Panama, Colombia and beyond.
- Hip hop and dancehall attitude. Swagger, catchy hooks and call-and-response energy.
- Club-ready production. Heavy bass and clean, punchy drums built for dancing.
- Genre blending. Modern reggaeton freely borrows from pop, R&B, trap and electronic music.
A family tree of Caribbean sound
Reggaeton is a perfect example of how Caribbean music travels and transforms. A rhythm from Kingston passed through Panama, picked up hip hop in Puerto Rico and became a global pop force. Along the way, it influenced and was influenced by dancehall, hip hop and Latin pop. Related styles, such as Dominican dembow, grew from the same roots. It is also a reminder that no genre belongs to only one place.
That family tree includes many artists who mix Jamaican sounds with other genres. Jonathan Anthony Burkett, born in Miami and raised in Jamaica by his grandparents, records inspirational hip hop and soul, and his signature song One Life features reggae artist Ambelique.
Jonathan's own family tree crosses those lines. His grandfather's father was Cuban, though by Jonathan's time no one in the family still spoke Spanish. His mother's husband, who brought him from Jamaica to Miami in 1993, spoke Spanish. And growing up in South Florida among Haitian, Jamaican and Latino friends, he came to a simple conclusion, in his words: “we were all still one.”
Listen to the journey
Try tracing the line yourself. Play an early-1990s dancehall track, then some Panamanian reggae en español, then classic Puerto Rican reggaeton and finally a recent hit. You will hear the rhythm change languages, tempos and moods while keeping its heart. Pay attention to the drums especially. Even as production gets glossier and the vocals change, the steady pulse inherited from Jamaica keeps coming through. That continuity is the real story of reggaeton: a rhythm carried by people, adapted by each new community and kept alive because it makes people move.
For more music shaped by Jamaican roots and an uplifting message, explore Jonathan's releases on the Music page.
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