In the last decade, reggaeton has emerged as a focal point for scholarly inquiry, generating discussions on its historical foundations, development, and intersections with critical race studies, gender, and resistance. (Pacheco-Muñoz 2023; Powell 2022; Bofill-Calero 2022; Rivera-Rideau 2015) These studies often focus on music videos, lyrical analysis, or the cultural impact of prominent artists. However, the producers -key architects of reggaeton’s sonic identity- remain largely absent from this discourse. This paper investigates the creative processes of reggaeton by producers from Puerto Rico to understand how their work shapes both the genre’s musical essence and its social meanings. Drawing on an analysis of production videos from the YouTube channel Insulation Producers and interviews with producers, this research examines the significance of sound and timbre in reggaeton music. I argue that sound design, particularly the manipulation of timbre, is not only a technical element but also a critical descriptor of reggaeton’s creative value. Nevertheless, producers’ interactions with artists during the production process reveal various social dynamics that are embedded within the music’s creation. By centering the lived experiences of producers, this research not only highlights the technical and cultural dimensions of sound design but also positions reggaeton production as a vital lens for understanding broader social and cultural narratives in contemporary music. Finally, this paper contributes to the broader conversation in timbre and sound studies that take into consideration how timbre and sonic values are always cultural (Dolan and Rehding, 2021) while placing them in Puerto Rico’s economic and political context.

In this paper, I discuss the emergence of reparto—a product of timba (a Cuban variant of salsa) and reggaetón—as revealing a complex story of cultural change in Havana during the 2010s. During this period, both timba and reggaetón represented alternate modes of representation for young residents of repartimiento districts (under-resourced areas located in the outskirts of Havana and primarily occupied by working-class, Afro-Cuban residents). Timba originated in repartimiento districts and closely represents its local culture and music traditions. Reggaetón, meanwhile, constitutes a transnationally popular musical style recognized by emerging artists as a potential avenue for financial gain, or at least of mitigating difficult economic conditions. To challenge their circumstances, artists in repartimiento communities creatively re-imagined the boundaries of both musical styles, the consequences of which were so controversial that artists relied on an underground trade of USB sticks to share their new musical practice. Instead of situating reparto’s growth as a musical hybrid, I instead position it as an aural response to tensions between local and global practices. What frictions arise when musical styles of local and global origin come together, and why, in the case of reparto music, did global practices ultimately subordinate to a local music tradition? I address these questions using theories of borders (Madrid), hybridity (Canclini), and friction (Tsing). Through ethnography, digital archaeology, and close readings of soundscapes in repartimiento neighborhoods (2000s–2010s) I ultimately position the musical style’s development as a sonic articulation of cultural frictions in the face of Cuba’s stunted engagement with global capitalism.

Reggaetón, as a sample-based art form, has been shaped by the creative process of borrowing materials from some of the genres that inspired it—dancehall and hip-hop (Marshall 2008). In post-2020 Santiago de Chile, practitioners understand sampling, manipulating, and replicating sound as the center of their creation, yet how do musicians conceive their localized practice of sampling beyond the borrowing act? Applying analytical frameworks of digital music production (Brøvig-Hanssen and Danielsen 2016; Zagorski-Thomas 2014), this paper analyzes the composition craft of Chilean reggaetón producers in tandem with their relationship and involvement with technology. Based on ethnographic work with local producers and DJs since 2019, I endeavor to explain how local musicians developed distinctive DIY art forms based on layers of listening to fulfill their creative needs while navigating the scarcity of resources and daily violence. I argue that by framing a compositional and pedagogical technique—what I call “reverse beat-making”—producers and DJs collectively reflect on their practice as a transnational phenomenon, centering music creation as the core of regional belonging ideals. By doing so, producers and DJs conceive and place themselves in a genealogy of reggaetón musical knowledge directly tied to an idealized root—la mata—in Puerto Rico. As a result, instead of explicitly articulating verbal local stories, they use creation and sonic performance to offer historical local narratives and connections. I place this paper in conversation with sensory ethnographic approaches (Pink 2023) and sound scholarship (Feld 2021; Fiol-Matta 2017) to provide a transnational understanding of music circulation in the Americas.

The rise of Latin American and Afro-Caribbean music in Japan during the 1970s-80s was led by groups such as the Tokyo Cuban Boys and Orquesta de la Luz, which created spaces where Japanese musicians and listeners may experience and interpret Latin American music. As De la Peza's (2006) and Hosokawa's (1999) research suggests, central themes centered on cultural authenticity and replication intersected broader discussions of Latin American aesthetics, language, and affect in the Japanese context. This paper investigates how Latin American reggaeton has been integrated into contemporary Japanese cultural spaces. Through fieldwork in Osaka and Tokyo, I identify three primary channels of music dissemination: cultural enclaves, spectacles, and community events. I examine how cultural intermediaries—primarily Latin American and Japanese-Latin American DJs, event organizers, and dance instructors—facilitate cross-cultural musical exchange while managing dual cultural identities. This research builds upon Pablo Borchi's analysis of Latin American music in Japanese pop culture, complemented by Darío Tobón Montoya and Rafael Reyes-Ruiz's historical investigations of cultural exchange—from the emergence of tango in 1920s Japan through the transformative influence of Latin jazz in the post-war era. My findings reveal that these musical spaces serve two purposes: providing cultural connectivity for Latin American communities in Japan and creating opportunities for Japanese engagement with Latin American culture. Traditional boundaries between Latin American and Japanese cultural expressions have become increasingly fluid, contributing to our understanding of global music circulation and its role in fostering inclusive environments where music transcends linguistic and cultural barriers.