In 2002, Puerto Rican Senator Velda González misguidedly conflated her anti-reggaeton and perreo stance with fighting for women’s rights, calling the percussion-heavy genre a “triggering factor for criminal acts,” and claiming that reggaeton as a whole was denigrating women. At the time, though, Gonzalez’s sentiment was a popular opinion, and few would have put the words feminist and reggaeton in the same sentence. The following year, feminist reggaetonera Ivy Queen released “Yo Quiero Bailar.”
On the dembow heavy song, lyrically frank and created for that sensual perreo dance, Ivy set the record straight, singing, “Yo quiero bailar, tu quieres sudar y pegarte a mi/Yo te digo si, tu me puedes provocar, eso no quiere decir que ‘pa la cama voy.” Essentially: I’ll grind, sweat and dance with you, but that doesn’t mean you’re taking me to bed.
An anthem to this day, Ivy Queen (born Martha Ivelisse Pesante Rodríguez) was unapologetically addressing women in a new way that was both empowering and sex-positive. Coming off the wave of reggaeton’s rise in the ’90s, which was sown and cultivated in Panama and Puerto Rico, reggaeton was becoming mainstream in the U.S. at the time, and Ivy Queen was one of the only women in the crop—and, certainly, the best known and most respected.
On Monday night, Bad Bunny honored a few trailblazers from his homeland in the surprise single “Desde el Corazon,” and rightfully included La Mama de los Pollitos. Ivy—like Chicho Man, Daddy Yankee, Tego Calderon, and others—laid down the groundwork for the current reggaeton boom, paving the way for artists like Conejo, J Balvin, and Karol G. Still, the Puerto Rican queen doesn’t always get the recognition and honor she’s due.
Last week in Miami, sandwiched between DJ sets by Riobamba and Uproot Andy, La Caballota participated in a live taping of Bien Buena on Red Bull Radio. She spoke about the history of reggaeton and her journey, saying that “no” was always the fuel for her curiosity. The next day, Jezebel spoke with her en Español about her inspirations, thoughts on the current generation pushing the genre forward, and her new work. Our conversation has been translated and lightly edited.
JEZEBEL: When I think back on it, you were the only female reggaetonera I heard on the radio growing up, when reggaeton was really on the rise here in the “Gasolina” era. Were there women influences or people you admired and looked up to when you first started?
IVY QUEEN: Honestly, when I started with reggae, which then became reggaeton, there was no female movement. Meaning, when this started in Spanish as commercial music, and there was an El General and Vico C and this was becoming reggaeton, there were no women making reggaeton, so the movement was very underground. There were no record shops. Music was sold from the back of our trunks.
In my house, I was raised on music. My dad, rest in peace, was a guitarist. He liked bohemian music, and my mom liked salsa, so I was very much influenced by Celia Cruz. By her voice, her image, her character, her joy, her energy. I fell in love with the way Celia was respected by all the men in La Fania. Then I came across Lupe’s music around the same time I learned about Celia, and Lupe was another woman with a lot of courage and a really distinct voice. She was super passionate with her lyrics and her live shows. The women who influenced me were some really tough women.
Yeah, I adore them both. And speaking of Vico C and El General and others who set the foundation for reggaeton, you saw it all flourish in the early days, and from working with greats like Nando Boom and The Noise. How was that for you? How was it to grow as an artist in that time and in that environment?
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