Up until recently, reggaeton was a genre of music largely ignored by ethnomusicologists and pop charts alike - deemed too formulaic and vulgar for ethnomusicologists, and too brown and “other” for pop charts. If you didn’t grow up in a place rich in Latinx culture, then your introduction to the world of reggaeton might’ve begun with artists who have penetrated the American mainstream like Daddy Yankee, Don Omar, and Luis Fonsi. When I heard reggaeton for the first time as a middle schooler, the game was over your girl was turned out, a captive of the infectious dembow beats and suave sex lyrics.

If rancheras and boleros were my folk music, then reggaeton was definitely my pop.

While the Bay Area remains a hub for Central and South American Latinx art and music, its cultural landscape is also permeated by the extremely rich musical practices of the Caribbean, especially salsa and reggaeton. Now, I work as a Latin Music Analyst for Pandora Radio, where my job is to listen to and classify genres of Latin pop. I was seven years old and learning to play traditional Mexican and Colombian music alongside my family, which opened my world to the diverse soundscapes of Latin America. Once we were old enough to hold instruments, my sister and I expressed some reticence about performing with our parents, but due in part to the closeness of the Mexican family unit and the allure of high-paying, fun gigs, we caved and formed our family band, La Familia Peña-Govea. I was born in San Francisco, CA to two Chicano musicians who connected over their complete obsession with playing and studying music.

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