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The Fever of Reggaeton
By Diego Zerpa Chang
 Some
people say reggaeton was born in Panama, while others
claim it is from Jamaica and Puerto Rico. Either way,
this form of urban music which mingles West-Indian
tune influences of reggae and dancehall with those
of Latin America, such as bachata, bomba, cumbia,
Latin hip-hop, merengue, Latin-pop and salsa, has
invaded the entire Caribbean region and, of course,
most of Latin America.
This passionate rhythm, which has an explicitly sensual
touch it is dancing beat, is heard across many radio
stations, inside your average kitchen or mechanic
shop, in the atmosphere of today’s most popular
clubs and, regularly, on the streets and on the customary
traffic jam. Its pace tends to motivate dancing and
movement even in the least experienced dancers. With
it, people can get a chance to have some fun, to sweet,
to scream, and to move their bodies’ non-stop.
The well-known rhythm, with its perreo and sandungueo,
two ordinary denominations for a dance form with open
sexual overtones which are performed to this music,
has surprised and won over numerous, especially in
many communities of our lower class culture, where
it definitively derived from and where it became more
popular and widely available.
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Crossovah: Not Your Ordinary
Boy Band
By Monique Reuben
 When
I first learned I would be interviewing up-and-coming
Caribbean male vocal group Crossovah, I was somewhat
exasperated. I immediately remembered my general distaste
for male singing groups of the moment, although I must
admit back in the day I jammed to the likes of Jodeci,
Dru Hill, 112, Tony! Toni! Toné!, and a few other
select groups. But after doing my research, which included
listening to their 2007 demo, I realized Crossovah wasn’t
just another boy band. Crossovah, which consists of
Ricardo Drue of Trinidad, Christopher "Criss"
of Jamaica, Joshua "J-Rah" Jenkins of Barbados
and Dave "Kupid" Richards of Antigua is a
pleasant urprise--fusing R&B, hip hop, and reggae
with soca music in an attempt to create what they coin
“crossover music.” When I realized the motivation
behind the group, I was in awe because I'd never seen
such a blueprint executed successfully. I mean, have
you ever seen a Caribbean male vocal group achieve mainstream
success and longevity? If you're thinking about the
Baha Men (they won a Grammy for Best Dance Recording
for their hit, "Who Let the Dogs Out"), I'd
like you to ask yourself where are they now? Crossovah
may be on the verge of accomplishing what many Caribbean
male groups of the past haven’t.
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