The Disingenuous world of Podcast Reactions and Social Media Influencers within Reggaeton and Urbano Music (Exclusive)

 

The Disingenuous world of Podcast Reactions and Social Media Influencers within Reggaeton and Urbano Music

by DJ Chachi Lova AKA Reggaeton Party Mane 1 "El Uno"

I honestly felt that for the longest time, podcasters and social media influencers held little to no power over the Reggaeton and Spanish Rap culture much less how it is consumed.  Boy, was I wrong.  An album I won’t mention but that is the most overrated in the history of this music is what got me looking at things differently.  Most people don’t know the role influencers play, but here I will tell you.

This isn’t the first time an album has been overrated by the social media foothold.  I remember when “X100PRE” first came out in the tail end of 2019.  So many relevant voices (most who I don’t know who they are, but they have several followers and not all are botted, though some are) came out on social media and declared it an instant classic.  They also wanted people who disagreed to feel out of touch, old, stupid or just behind in the times because they didn’t “get it”.

Thankfully influencers back then hadn’t really become half of what they are now.  So there were many voices that pushed back (I am not one of them) and called Bad Bunny’s debut mediocre or straight up wack.  I felt it was fine, but far from a classic (Rating:  7/10).  Basically, Bunny’s debut got a deserved mixed reaction.  I remember the weirdest thing being how gringos and black people were shocked that Tainy could do ‘Trap’ beats as good as the Americans.  They were shocked with how good the beats were and that was an eye-opener on how people outside our culture view our music.

But then this specific debut album dropped on 2024, around the time I began being a Redditor.  I did that to provide the kind of content I would like to see but felt was missing within our culture.  I see content creators do what I do on other subjects like Rock, Rap and EDM, so I figure why not ours, too.  It is the most relevant style of music in the history of the Spanish language.  I think most people don’t do what I do because most lack the history knowledge I possess on this culture and most people won’t take their time to write on it even if they know what they’re talking about.  It’s a lot of thankless work.  I can’t blame them.

But that album that dropped in 2024, I suddenly saw posts like “We’re #1”.  “We got an instant classic”.  I saw the same thing when the W Sounds Beele one topped the charts.  Are you guys part of some secret club or something?  Probably.  But that’s besides the point.  What I thought to be an isolated incident suddenly turned this artist into a phenomenon.  I saw him headline the famed Estadio Cuscatleco in El Salvador, something only big names like Metallica and Iron Maiden have done.

I skimmed through the album when it first came out and because I had been hearing so much underwhelming crap around this time, I didn’t want to hear more crappy to mediocre music.  So I ignored this album entirely for the first 5 months.  I am older.  I don’t get out much.  And I am in the United States.  There are many things limiting me to an instant connectivity of what’s hip in Urbano unless I go out of my way.  Then this artist with the help of a world renowned special guest sells out El Choliseo.  I remember just a year before people other than myself were questioning if this guy was deserving of a feature from Daddy Yankee on a very average song, then all of a sudden, he skyrocketed to the top.

I had to check it out.  I found the music production (i.e “beats”) to be fairly impressive for Reggaeton standards.  Nothing out of this world nor original but the sound was up to date and it had beats you could hear Feid or Bad Bunny ride on.  I feel like half the audience judge albums today based on beats before anything else.  And if you are that type of person I can see why you like the album.  My final honest rating for it is a 4/10, more on that later.

I wanted to like it, I really did, but the more I heard this album, it reminded me of those local talents from New England, New York/Tri-state and Philly you used to hear in the underground back in the day.  Some of them would stand out like Nova y Jory, Temperamento or Mr. Phillips, but most of them were not ready for prime time.  To me, Omar sounded like one of those amateurs from New England back in the day with a good auto tune engineer.  But that’s just my opinion.

Of course, people forcing this album on me like it was a true classic, made me hate it.  I gave it a 2/10 and people went berserk on me.  Truthfully it probably deserved a 4 maybe even a 5 because of the beat making, but I overreacted to the forced hype.  I will try my best not to do that again in the future.

I resented people who did not treat my opinion as genuine, still do, because even though I gave it a point or 2 less than it possibly deserved, my sentiments written were all true.  These fans, however, act like bots or plants.  I think at least half of them are real, but those who are I feel are brainwashed for the most part.  I know some Reggaeton fans who don’t like Lito & Polaco and Tego Calderon because they don’t understand lyricism nor like Rap.  That’s fine, but I don’t overreact to their opinions even if they are wrong. 

To be fair, I may have done that once or twice in my youth and maybe I am paying the price for it all these years later.  But that was Tego Calderon who this particular unnamed artist is nowhere near close to in ability, skill, legacy, catalogue nor overall quality in music.  There is just no comparison except from maybe the viewpoint of a fool.

About a month and a half ago, this artist comes out with his follow up album.  And just about a week ago, I gave my honest opinion.  I found his follow up worse, but was not hearkened by personal sentiments and gave him a  3/10.  That same kid who said “we’re #1” when Beele topped the charts who must be either Westcol or Beele’s nephew went off on me again.  And I was deeply offended he would not respect my opinion and just labeled me as wrong and out of touch.

I have been a dedicated follower of this music since I was 10 years old in 1997 and I got to listen to all of Guatauba thanks to a return to my family’s store from a customer.  The cassette skipped near the end and my father honored the customer with an exchange.  Since he wouldn’t return the cassette to the distributors for awhile, I heard that tape for months on end.  And I was amazed.  I had heard Playero, The Noise, El General, Big Boy and Nando Boom by then, but it was really Mexicano on the first Guatauba that hooked me for life.  I never knew Spanish Rap could be that good.  Before that, it was just a growing curiosity for me.

Since then, I have avidly followed this music all my life.  I never married and do not have children of my own that I raised.  That may not have been the wisest path in life, but here I am.  I never found the right woman willing to entirely faithful to me and went most years without being able to find a woman at all.  I have been very unfortunate in that regard for reasons I know very well and mostly not of my own fault, but that is not what the subject is about today.

Many times, I have wanted to leave this music behind forever because to me over time it has been the equivalent of an unfaithful whorish wife who once was pure and beautiful but now has become a shell of her former self; only on occasion showing a semblance of what she once used to be.  So, when some newbie and his ultracrepidarian opinions about Reggaeton and Underground are exalted over me as truth with others believing it to be that way, forgive me for being offended.

But this has little to do with what this article is about.  Let’s get right to it.  ¿Who the hell are all these influencers?  Well, when it comes to the more relevant ones… many of them are NOT nobodies.  One thing I will tell you that you must be aware of is that when you consume the content of these influencers, at least pertaining to the more relevant ones, at least half of them are making their money off of Reggaeton in one way or another and not just through their TikToks or YOUTUBE vids.

You often see these influencers hocking product.  Many of these products are financed by Reggaeton artists themselves.  Without your knowledge, they’ll be selling you a shampoo that belongs to Justin Quiles and his people, a hookah sponsored by Arcangel, or a product from a store in Puerto Rico where the secret owner/s is one of your favorite Reggaetoneros.  Some of them are transparent with these notions but most are not.

And this is on the light side of the scale regarding personal interests.  Some of these influencers are straight up promoters, A&R’s and some even secretly run their own record labels.  I am not even mentioning yet those who are still active artists like Jay Wheeler, Gringo and Benny Benni.  There is this one guy who is one of the most powerful influencers (it’s not Westcol) and he used to secretly A&R for Mas Flow Inc, is an active promoter and still invests in the careers of modern talents like De La Rose, Omar Courtz and others.  I think if more people knew that about this guy, they would question his opinion on anything regarding Reggaeton and Urbano.

Is there anything illegal about this?  No.  Is there anything inherently wrong?  That depends.  When you come to the social media spectrum pretending to paint an unbiased opinion, but truth is you are secretly overhyping an artist because he is coming to your club next month… yes that’s a problem.  Because we cannot trust your opinion.  Your opinion is then rendered invalid.  That’s why most of these influencers don’t tell y’all what they do behind closed doors or you would stop supporting them.

Is there a way you could work behind the scenes, be an artist or producer yet still give good and honest critique in Reggaeton/Urbano music?  Maybe.  You would probably have to develop an alter ego, but it could be done.  Yet knowing this genre the promoters/artists would just develop alter egos and keep lying to you.  It’s all about agendas today.

A true artist is supposed to be honest in all that they do.  But social media has pushed the importance of networking so much to the forefront that people are afraid to have an honest opinion.  And these people we consume who are supposed to be giving us their honest outlook put their personal biases and agendas before giving us any truth in opinion.

I’ll give a perfect recent example.  For the longest time, Maiky Backstage would paint himself as the ultimate proponent of Tempo and his works, but would often flip flop against him when the popular voice was too strong like in his battle with Residente.  Tempo noticed, got sick of this and dissed Maiky Backstage in his tiraera to Al2.  Maiky then became the only Puerto Rican podcaster that declared Al2 the victor in his battle against Tempo, after swearing up and down he was riding with Tempo.  And like this example there are several dozens.

Influencers in my opinion have ruined any sort of respectable critique in Ubrano music from prevailing to the forefront.  They are gonna sh#t on whatever Westcol and them tell them to sh!t on.  But then they will praise whatever their social media influencer masters tell them to exalt.  It’s BULLSH!T!  Few, if any of these influencers are telling the truth!

They are hyping up their boys who give them backstage passes.  They are hyping up the ones that are cool with their concert promoter backers.  And because Puerto Rico is so small, they are hyping up their literal cousins sometimes, unless that cousin begins to snub them because he’s now too BIG, then they start dissing their own fam online because they can’t get backstage passes anymore to impress the girlies.

I am just annoyed that this is the culture that dares to challenge my knowledge and prowess about Reggaeton and Latin Rap culture as if I don’t know what they’re all about.  I may be a “loser” based on their conventional definitions to exalt modern popular people, but when it comes to this music, at least I know what I am talking about.  Unlike most if not all of them.

This has to be one of the main reasons why ever since J Balvin became big, though this music reached new heights commercially, it is the worst it has ever been artistically.  Bad Bunny cannot save this culture alone.  It is going to take a collective effort.  And you people with your crappy music tastes and bullsh#t opinions are not helping.  Watch you turn your back on these same artists you overhype today once those backstage passes stop coming in.  And if you don’t do a good job like Maiky, Chente or Benny then one day no one will care about your opinion anymore to the point you run out of money botting all your views.  Peace!