5. NYC

Whilst PR, Jamaica, the DR and Panama even, were crucial in the development of Reggaeton, arguably it was NYC that really brought things together. At the end of “Raagga Mix to Mix” you hear, “Yo me voy pa’ New York e-i-e-i-o” or ‘I’m going to NY’ to the beat of “Old McDonald.” This is not just a throwaway line, from allusions to explicit naming, NYC was featured everywhere in Underground and early Reggaeton. This practice, “gestured to New York as the cultural crucible where Puerto Ricans, Panamanians, Jamaicans, and African Americans, among others, encountered each other and contributed to a shared, contested, and culturally charged soundscape” (47). Moreover, Underground/Reggaeton’s proximity both audibly and geographically to the hoods and barrios of NYC offered interesting racial reflection for those engaged in the music.If you look, for example, at the artwork of popular mixes, you'll see city skylines, graffiti style lettering and the “often dark-skinned, denizens of the underground” (40).