Daddy Yankee’s game-changing third album, Barrio Fino, begins with a wolf whistle, a car passing, and a violin crescendoing alongside the speaker’s words: “De barrio, pero de barrio fino, como mi gente/ Gente que lucha, gente que siente/ Yo no soy de un barrio a la deriva, sin destino/ No, yo soy de barrio, pero de un barrio fino”. It is a resounding message against the stigmatization of a genre created by people experiencing poverty, police brutality, and discrimination. When it blew up in the 90s, reggaeton was targeted by the Puerto Rican government because of its overt sexuality and discussions of issues that affected working-class people in urban areas. The police would raid clubs and music shops for reggaeton cassettes because it was accused of corrupting impressionable youth; now, more than 25 years later, the genre has reached an international audience and a Puerto Rican reggaetonero was the most-streamed artist on Spotify in 2021. Barrio Fino is not where it all started, nor is it the be-all and end-all of reggaeton. However, it made Daddy Yankee an internationally recognized star and brought global attention to Puerto Rico as the place where reggaeton came of age. The album deserves yet another piece of acknowledgment as the “King of Reggaeton” officially passes the torch on to the next generation of urbano artists.
Barrio Fino is thunderous, regal, in-your-face at all times. It deflects the impulse to turn it down. It’s for the party, for almost breaking the speakers in your car, for running in the street, for a paseo on a sweltering day. It’s about being fiercely proud of where you come from and bringing it with you wherever you go. Although reggaeton caused shock amongst older, more traditional listeners, Barrio Fino is infused with signature salsa sounds that call upon Caribbean music that is loved across generations–the familiar scream of a trumpet, the tentative step of a piano, the energizing rhythm of a hand drum all shine on tracks like “Sabor a Melao” and “Salud y Vida”. “Qué Vas a Hacer?” gives an R&B-inspired break to an album packed with triumphant noise, but Daddy Yankee comes back with an immediate punch in “Corazones”. And who can forget the beloved classic “Gasolina”, which I still use to measure the quality of any party depending on how many times it is played.
Decades after the release of this project, Daddy Yankee has announced his retirement with the release of his final album and one last world tour. It’s the celebratory culmination to a career filled with ground-breaking triumphs for the Puerto Rican community, but it also feels like the final nail in the coffin of late 90s/early 2000s reggaeton when the genre was at its rawest and most innovative. Barrio Fino will always sit amongst the early reggaeton greats, up there with the likes of Tego Calderón, Ivy Queen, and Zion y Lennox. It’s an album for the ages and one that will forever adorn the halls of reggaeton history.
Isa Suárez-Sikes 