From Panama to the Top of the Charts: The Story and Roots of Reggaeton Music

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Although today it's one of the hottest styles of music around these days, the story of reggaeton music goes way back to a variety of music genres. These genres range from reggae and dancehall to Latin American styles including bomba, bachata and salsa. It has also been influenced greatly by rap/hip-hop and R & B.

From Panama to the Top of the Charts: The Story and Roots of Reggaeton Music

The style of reggaeton dates back to the country of Panama in the 1970s. At that time, Jamaican reggae started to influence the language and culture of the nation. These early artists gave the Jamaican style a distinctive latin-sounding beat. Meanwhile, Puerto Rico in the 1980s was a site of a related movement. A group of hip hop artists lead by Vico C began to combine reggae into their songs. Caribbean and African-American music was becoming a significant influence in the country during that time. Over the next few years, this trend would radically grow. It wasn't too long until a new genre was formed: a combination of the Panamanian-influenced reggae, but with a strong influence of electronic music. The traditional Latin American sounds mentioned previously were also a key factor to this emerging musical style.

Then, in 1991, the musician Shabba Ranks came up with a song called Dem Bow. Although it wasn't clear at the time, this song would come to have a major influence on the development of the genre. You still here it today to refer to the pounding snare-drum heavy sound that is characteristic of reggaeton. A couple of years later, the name reggaeton was used for the first time, new artists began to make it extremely popular in several Latin American countries.

A second wave of reggaeton artists were responsible for breaking into the market of the USA. Once they did, it did not take long to achieve widespread popularity. Today popular artists including Wisin y Yandel, Don Omar, Rakim y Ken-y, Daddy Yankee and many more have topped the charts and cemented reggaeton's reputation as an incredibly popular fusion genre that's here to stay.

In addition to being a musical force of its own, some of these reggaeton artists have collaborated with other, more mainstream artists to bring even more attention to the genre. Daddy Yankee recorded a song Gangsta Zone with Snoop Dogg; Wisin y Yandel collaborated with 50 Cent on Mujeres en el Club; Dom Omar created Conteo alongside Juelz Santana; and the same Wisin y Yandel also recorded a track with R&B singer T-Pain. In the future, we can expect many more of these exciting collaborations, and for reggaeton music to continue to become more and more popular.

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Ibiza Dance Music - A History of Dance Music in Ibiza

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Music centers can break out in the must unlikely places. Take the small Balearic Island of Ibiza, for example. When people think of island vacations, they likely picture sandy beaches, rolling waves, and drinking cool beverages under the hot sun. In other words, they dream about enjoying the great outdoors.

Ibiza Dance Music - A History of Dance Music in Ibiza

However, it's the great indoors, instead, that makes Ibiza a coveted destination for dance music aficionados all over the world.

Much like latter day world explorers, hippies arrived in Ibiza in the '60s, bringing with them musical styles not yet heard in Spain. And in 1973, Pacha Ibiza, the island's first pivotal club, began to attract music-loving night owls. Soon after, rising musicians from around the globe were flocking to this sonic melting pot, and eventually many other popular night spots took root, including Es Paradis and Amnesia.

In the '90s, dance music began to evolve at a rapid rate, similar to the way the internet and personal computers started fast-forwarding our culture into its brave new future. And when the electronic dance movement started to take shape via house, trance, techno and other keyboard and computerized styles, DJs in the Ibiza club scene took on the role of turntablest agents of change. There's even a genre named after the island, called Balearic Beat, and this indigenous Ibiza music is notable for its strong grooves, which are mixed in with distinctly Spanish influences.

One of Ibiza's best known performers is Jens Gad, who was featured prominently on Enigma's recordings. Tiësto, another Ibiza regular, was the first DJ to perform at the Athens Summer Olympic Games in 2004. Paul van Dyk may be from East Berlin, but his electronic dance music always goes over extremely in Ibiza. John Digweed regularly performs at hot spots, such as Space, and hosts his own radio show, Transitions. Other notable DJs include Above and Beyond, who are appreciated for their uplifting trance sounds, also host the radio show Trance Around the World and have had residencies at Cream, A&B, and others. Markus Schulz is also from Germany, and like many of his DJ contemporaries, hosts his own radio show, which is called Global DJ Broadcast.

Ibiza is more than just a DJs paradise, however, as nearly any and all musical varieties are now openly welcomed there. It's so eclectic in fact many clubs designate rooms solely for certain musical styles, which range from Latin and garage, to R&B and hip-hop. Live music is also alive and well in the Ibiza calendar, as Kaiser Chiefs, The Arctic Monkeys, and Kasabian have all made notable island ventures, brandishing electric guitars, instead of turntables and various electronic wizardry. Much like major creative cities, such as New York, London, and Los Angeles, Ibiza attracts visitors from around the world. These other major metropolises may dwarf the island, size-wise, but Ibiza's adventurous sense of experimentation makes it just as important as any other music capital. Those with ears to hear that want to explore the great indoors must put Ibiza on their travel itinerary.

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How To Buy Hip Hop Beats For Sale On The Internet - Things To Know Before You Buy

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It has become ever so popular for independent recording artists and producers to buy and sell beats online. With this trend comes a lot of traffic from inexperienced artists trying to buy beats online. An inexperienced buyer will easily over pay for a beat online. This article was written from personal experience in hopes of giving some insight, not as a hard set of rules to follow, but a guide. Listed below are things beat buyers should know and understand when buying beats online.

How To Buy Hip Hop Beats For Sale On The Internet - Things To Know Before You Buy

Understand The INTRINSIC Value Of Hip Hop Beats And Rap Beats

You can't touch, bend, break, fold, or smell rap beats. For that matter, you can't even see them, yet in the music industry, we see them being sold for hundreds of thousands of dollars. Oh ... but you can hear and fell vibrations from beats, can't you. This kind of makes music like the wind, so I guess it's fair to say the music industry is selling "air"... not really, but hopefully you get my point. It's not the price of the beat but the producer or person you are buying it from.

The actual value of a beat or music is based on an underlying perception of its true value, perception being the keyword. Don't rip yourself off by buying a beat online for 0 if the producer has no credibility or his or her image and stature in the music industry doesn't give value to your demo or album sales. Look at what Brittany Spears did on her latest album, take note of the album credits and all the popular "Producer Powers" employed, essentially playing a major part in her attempt to revive her career.

Some Internet Beat Pricing Standards And Averages

The average rate on the Internet for a "Non-Exclusive" beat license is - . With this type of license you are essentially leasing or renting the beat for a given amount of time or copies. The average for an "Exclusive" beat license is from around - 0. This type of license gives you full ownership of the beat, as if you created it yourself. More popularly noted as "work for hire". Note: Some exclusive licenses may restrict resale.

Try To Contact The Producer Before You Buy

To get the most for your money, and protect yourself from "beat-jackers" (people who steal other peoples beats and resell them) try to contact the producer first to see if he or she is responsive, email or PM seems to be the best method. Don't just buy beats from "Joe Blow" without making some kind of contact first. Trust me, real beat makers who are truly vested in their craft make themselves available and they'll be happy to hear from you (it builds their ego) and will more than likely work a deal out with you if you buy more than one beat from them. If a seller takes more than two days to respond, keep it moving. There are literally thousands of other producers who will stop at the drop of a hat to make a sale in hopes of repeat business and a little recognition. Try starting off with producers that you see are already selling beats to others on the net or have their beats rated high or "Hot". Obviously they are doing something right and they are more than likely satisfying other beat buyers needs.

Get It In Writing

When you buy beats online, make sure there is some type of printable licensing agreement associated with the beat you buy. A licensing agreement/contract will explain the rights you have with the beats and the terms under which you may use the beat.

Cheap Exclusive Beat

Cheap exclusive beats are the best deals to get but there are very few producers out there who are willing to sell you an exclusive beat from to . Check out thebeattrader for some of those type deals. There are not a lot of producers on that site and understandably so, but the site became very popular for selling low priced exclusive beats a few years ago.

Cheap Non-Exclusive Beats

The next best thing is a low priced non-exclusive. Remember, the catch with non-exclusive beats is that the beat may have been sold several other times before you buy it, so if you are looking for fresh music, make a list of the producers you like on a site and watch their profiles. Good experienced online producers know to cycle out old beats and update their profiles with new beats at least every 2-3 days.

I'd say a fair price to pay for a non-exclusive beat is about . There is an abundant amount of producers selling beats online right now who would fight for your business. Online producers are almost a dime a dozen so it's really easy nowadays to get unique music for your mix-tape, demo, or album at and very affordable price.

Happy Beat Buying!

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Don't Ignore the Small Acts!

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I was super psyched when I got tickets to see The Roots at the Hollywood Bowl last Sunday night. Personally, I would say The Roots are easily one of my favorite bands. The genius of Questlove's beats, and their jazzy, innovative approach to hip hop with live instrumentals makes them one of the best bands to see live these days in my opinion. Needless to say, I was looking forward to getting that actual experience that I could almost feel the moment I got those tickets.

Don't Ignore the Small Acts!

However when I got to the Bowl, the concert was not anything near the sick bass lines, jamming beats that I expected from The Roots. The performance was inspired by the late poet Langston Hughes' poems, Ask Your Mama: 12 Moods for Jazz. The concert featured a opera singer paired with jazz from the Roots, and classical music from the LA Philharmonic, and other singers, which did not mix well for the summer jam I expected. Although, Questlove love stole the show in one movement where he had a 5 minute solo. In the twelve movements, you could also hear Hughes speak many of his poems which went well with the music. Composer Laura Karpman explains, it's "Creating a piece of music that crosses genres, Jazz, Classical, Hip-Hop - to see all of them interact together in a meaningful way, is transformative." The concert was more educational, and metaphorical than jammable, with lyrics centered around race, the black movement, and struggles in America. Although I found the concert interesting and artistically successful in portraying poetry through the sounds of the music, it was not what I wanted to see.

One thing I learned Sunday night is to not be so quick to go to a concert based on preconceived notions. (Not to dismiss that The Roots are great live, they are). Some of the best concerts I have seen have been at small, lowkey venues with unknown artists, who perform amazing live. I think The Roots still honor this concept of playing small close venues as well, however. The Roots play in "jam" style setting, every so often in NYC, for a small audience of about 100, for a 10 dollar cover charge. They still understand and appreciate the concept of a small gig atmosphere.

But the larger point is that just going to familiar, mainstream shows is not always a winner. Often, you will come to hear a certain song, and the artist won't even end up playing it, leaving you disappointed. Some of the best live music experiences are from new small artists you know not much about.

I am not saying that I won't be going to those big concerts with huge expectations in the future, but I think we all need to remind ourselves of discovering those raw unadulterated shows every now and again.

- Will

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The Top Rap and Hip Hop Songs of 2009

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This years songs will transform you to successful artist, and have you crawling to the Empire state building to be the number one. Then they will drop those papers on you and have you asking is it time to break up. So as you listen to these top hip hop and rap songs of 2009, relax and enjoy 2010.

The Top Rap and Hip Hop Songs of 2009

Chris Brown - Crawl

This song crawl had my wife saying maybe Chris Brown is trying to apologize to all his women fans for the situation that happen between him and Rihanna. The song is personal to him by the way he sounds and the lyrics he belch out. This is one of my favorite make up songs of modern times.

Chris Brown, Swizz Beats, and Lil Wayne - I Can Transform Ya

Chris dropped this hard hitting all black wearing song and video with a vengeance. I was shocked to see him in all black with the grunge look. He and the other artist ripped this song up, I believe this was suppose to drop with the movie transformers: rise of the fallen, but because of the little situation things got pushed back. This would have been the song of the year, but will be reduced to just that a song.

Jay Z and Alicia Keys - Empire state of Mind

Jay Z and Alicia Keys did an outstanding job of putting New York back on the map with this great song, it's almost up there with New York New York by old blue eyes, Frank Sinatra. So many people were singing this song and those from NY were proud to have it on the radio. Some artists were so proud that when Jay Z and Alicia performed live Little Moe got on stage and posed with them. Wow if only they made a song about Chicago "Security Kanye is not to enter the room".

Jay Z, Rihanna, and Kanye West - Run this Town

Run this town was a hit and used at my youth football teams homecoming, my son fell on the field as they ran on. That song made you want to pump your fist and work harder to show how good you are doing your workout. This song will be a hit in the near future, and once teams start listening to these lyrics the song will be played in heavy rotation in a lot of ball parks.

Drake and Trey Songz - Successful

I didn't know who this Drake guy was until this summer when I was at a barbecue and my brother -in-law played the raw version of the song. You should have seen the look on the grown folks face when it happens. He quickly put on the clean version and the party kept going. This song is the one that put him on the chart and made him successful in a lot of artists and fans eyes.

50 Cent and Ne-Yo - Baby by me

When I heard this song I said this guy is crazy, I can't have a baby by you fifty it's impossible I am a man. But for real he is telling women the truth, have a baby by him and the child support will be rolling in. Thou this song is catchy it is telling a true story, I hope tigers wife is listening to this one right now, because she will be a millionaire, if not already.

Usher - Papers

Tiger this song goes out to you, for all the other women you slept with because your wife was giving you too much drama. Usher blast his ex in this drama made for radio. He should have listened to everyone around him, so he says in his lyrics. Tiger see 50 cents baby by me.

R Kelly and Keri Hilson - Number One

Back on the scene fresh from county jail is R Kelly with this great song called Number One. He popped back on the scene like he never left and with a cool laid back song. His co artist on this album holds her own, reminds me the duet he did with Sparkle.

Mario and Gucci Man - Break Up

The kids love this song as I play it in the car, you can hear them in the back seat saying "Gucci you don't love me". This song is a car song, that will have your granny bobbing her head. The man is asking the woman why you leaving me, and she replies you don't love me.

New Boys and Ray J - Tie me down

Ray J is the perfect person to sing the hook on this song, with his show and all the nice looking women on it he is not ready to be tied down. This new group is definitely going to be hot in the future, the lyrics are strong, and true, well some of it. I am sure he is talking about a committed relationship and not the rope in the closet tie down.

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Why Use Hip Hop Samples and Loops?

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Whether you use FL Studio, ProTools, DubTurbo or any other music production software, you will be familiar with the loops and samples pre loaded with your software. Yes these are good for beginners, as they give you some set sounds to use when producing your first tracks and beats. However after a while, you will be wanting to update your sound library in order to stay ahead of the game, and stand out from the crowd.

Why Use Hip Hop Samples and Loops?

Most novice producers do not know the difference between a drum loop, and a drum sample. In the Hip Hop game this is very important. Especially if you are looking into updating your sound library and want to know what you are getting.

A drum loop is an audio sound that will usually run for anywhere between 1 and 4 bars. Consisting of several different sounds, all combined together to create drumming sound. As if you have just recorded a drummer playing in the studio, performing a certain beat.

A Drum sample on the other hand is these separate sounds that we piece together to make a drum loop from nothing. Most producers will usually load these effects into a sampler of some sort. For example a keyboard. Which we can then use to trigger various drum effects as we wish. Creating our own custom beats.

So Drum loops are basically preset drum tracks. Even though they are stuck on a preset rhythm. We can still alter the tempo to our personal preference. Where as a drum sample is the loop broken down into smaller parts and you can alter it how you like, and create whatever you want with it.

There are many different loops and samples available to purchase or download. Both free and paid for. In my experience you can find some good free downloads on the net. But so many people use these, it will be hard to find something unique and that stands out from the crowd. If you want the highest quality sounds. Which is a factor to take seriously if you want to be big in the music industry. Then you need to make sure the files you import are of.wav type. Using fresh and new effects will help make your beats & tracks the best they can be. Having abstract sounds, will help grab listeners attention and can make sure your creations are the next big thing.

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Making Beats at Home - It's So Easy Anyone Can Do It

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From just your home computer, you can make beats & instrumentals yourself, record your vocals, and end up with a pretty good quality finished recording of your song. No longer do you need to resort to finding studios & producers to produce beats for you, and help you in recording your own music onto a demo cd. You can do everything yourself, you just have to learn how.

Making Beats at Home - It's So Easy Anyone Can Do It

Making beats is easy, and a lot of people are starting to learn how to do it. Soulja Boy learned how to produce his own beats using Fruity Loops in just one summer, and was able to make himself into a rap superstar. Anyone who has a computer can learn to make beats at home, but not everyone is doing it. Why? Most people think the process is hard, but it actually isn't as hard as most people think. Anyone who is passionate enough about their music can look up video tutorials on the internet that teach you how to make your own beats at home.

The idea of creating your own digital albums to put up on iTunes & making
rap beats to sell online is gaining popularity really fast. More & more people seem to be buying equipment to create their very own home recording & production studios. Since a large number of people are working on their very own digital music right this very minute, the next hit song you hear on the radio could very well have been created by someone you know!

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