Page "Cuban hip hop" Paragraph 10

Most recently, the term " underground " has become appropriate for rap. The most popular urban music in the country is now reggaeton.

Recently, there has been an explosion in popularity of reggaeton, particularly among Cuba ’ s 5 million people under the age of thirty.

Reggaeton – whose lyrics emphasize Sensuality, Individualism and sex, in graphic and sexually explicit terms – stands in sharp contrast to the tradition of Cuban underground rap, the content of which is more often characterized by social commentary on inequality and injustice.

Reggaeton versus Cuban rap has become a contentious debate in Cuba.

It's driven many within the socially-conscious rap scene to paint reggaeton as the " enemy " due to its focus on mindless dancing rather than community reflection.

Furthermore, critics of reggaeton condemn the genre as lyrically and musically deficient ( It is ironic however, that Engineering a Cuban Reggaeton song is drastically more complex in contrast to Cuban Hip Hop ) and morally questionable as well as too commercially oriented.

Nehanda Abiodun, an American living in Cuba to avoid charges of racketeering, who has advocated strongly for Cuban hip-hop and rap, said of the move towards reggaeton “ There is an element of commercialism that ’ s creeping in … You cannot blame these young people for wanting to see the fruits of their labor, but will they be able to maintain that responsible, intellectual rap and still get paid?