Playero

Playero was a key figure in the dissemination of reggaeton during its formative period in the 1990s in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Generally billed as Playero DJ, though perhaps best known as DJ Playero, he was above all a mixtape purveyor. Beginning in the early '90s, he produced a series of mixtapes that synthesized hip-hop and reggae rhythms with Spanish-language freestyling (i.e., on-the-spot MCing, toasting, rapping, singing, etc.). These tapes circulated around the barrios of San Juan and were highly influential upon the generation that would go on to define reggaeton in the ...