0:00:02 > 0:00:04HE SINGS IN SPANISH
0:00:07 > 0:00:10When Ricky Martin shocked the Grammys with a song
0:00:10 > 0:00:15half in Spanish, half in English, it heralded a "Latin Explosion" across the United States.
0:00:17 > 0:00:19# Do you really want it?
0:00:19 > 0:00:21# Do you really want it? #
0:00:26 > 0:00:29Centre stage in inspiring a generation of Latin artists
0:00:29 > 0:00:33to cross into the American mainstream was the country's most Latinised city.
0:00:35 > 0:00:39Since the 1960s, Miami has been transformed
0:00:39 > 0:00:42by waves of Cuban immigrants who gave the city a new identity.
0:00:48 > 0:00:50In the '80s, TV shows and gangster movies
0:00:50 > 0:00:56depicted a city of violence, as Miami Vice became America's favourite crime series.
0:00:59 > 0:01:05But they also helped transform Miami's image again into a city of style and opportunity.
0:01:08 > 0:01:11As Latin pop spread across America, its impact was dramatic.
0:01:16 > 0:01:20# I don't really know what I'm doing... #
0:01:27 > 0:01:30This new music heralded the increasing Latinisation
0:01:30 > 0:01:34of the States which, in turn, has influenced the world.
0:02:07 > 0:02:09# Come shake your body baby do the Conga
0:02:09 > 0:02:11# I know you can't control yourself any longer
0:02:11 > 0:02:14# Feel the rhythm of the music getting stronger... #
0:02:17 > 0:02:25In the early 1980s, one song ignited the smouldering fuse of Miami's Latin music scene.
0:02:25 > 0:02:30"Conga", fronted by Gloria Estefan and a Cuban-American band, would become the springboard
0:02:30 > 0:02:35for Latin music's invasion of mainstream America.
0:02:35 > 0:02:37It was a true Latino experience of that time.
0:02:37 > 0:02:41It had the Cuban sound, it had the South American influences going.
0:02:41 > 0:02:46I think it was a big hit because it accomplished all these things in one song that we were about.
0:02:46 > 0:02:48That Latinos were striving for.
0:02:48 > 0:02:52That American sound, but that had the Latino culture underneath it.
0:02:53 > 0:02:58Conga was the brainchild of Gloria Estefan's husband, Emilio,
0:02:58 > 0:03:02who had arrived in Miami in the 1960s, as a refugee from Castro's Cuba.
0:03:04 > 0:03:05It was a time that we all had
0:03:05 > 0:03:10a lot of hopes, a lot of dreams, but it was difficult.
0:03:10 > 0:03:12Especially for me it was very difficult
0:03:12 > 0:03:16because I came without my dad and my mom when I was 15 years old.
0:03:16 > 0:03:19To me everything looked black and white at the time.
0:03:19 > 0:03:22It was hard. People can see the success and see what
0:03:22 > 0:03:29happened later on in life but there was a lot of time used to look down to the floor and say, "Oh, my God.
0:03:29 > 0:03:32"I don't know what's going to happen to my life."
0:03:35 > 0:03:39Refugees like Emilio had fled their island of Cuba
0:03:39 > 0:03:44after the dictator Batista was driven out by Fidel Castro in 1959.
0:03:52 > 0:03:57In the following years, 300,000 Cubans headed for Miami.
0:03:57 > 0:04:03They were noticeably different from previous waves of Latin immigrants, from Puerto Rico or Mexico.
0:04:04 > 0:04:09These were mostly middle class, and their skills and ambition to be
0:04:09 > 0:04:12part of the American dream would help transform Miami.
0:04:14 > 0:04:22The press prepares the city for kind of a welcoming of these heroic people.
0:04:22 > 0:04:26These people that are escaping from the monsters of communism, etc.
0:04:28 > 0:04:31You have this influx of well-to-do people that
0:04:31 > 0:04:37are economically and culturally in synch with the American way of life.
0:04:37 > 0:04:40And many of them in an uncritical way.
0:04:45 > 0:04:46It was...
0:04:46 > 0:04:52a time when everybody was at the same economic level. Which was zero.
0:04:52 > 0:04:59And a lot of Cuban exiles took whatever jobs they could to support their families.
0:04:59 > 0:05:04Cubans did not take a piece of the pie, they baked their own pie.
0:05:04 > 0:05:13So along what later became known as Little Havana, these little businesses began to open up and...
0:05:13 > 0:05:20again, my recollection started with little restaurants where you could get a little cup of Cuban coffee.
0:05:20 > 0:05:24And then the small little cottage industries - seamstresses,
0:05:24 > 0:05:33tailors that would adjust your old- fashioned clothes to the more recent American standards.
0:05:37 > 0:05:42But I also remember things which are very disturbing
0:05:42 > 0:05:49about that southern city, like this Southern-style segregation down to the water fountains, and people
0:05:49 > 0:05:56who could and not come into certain establishments was outrageous and very foreign to Cubans.
0:05:59 > 0:06:03The new immigrants would drag a sleepy white resort town
0:06:03 > 0:06:08of half a million people into the 1960s, and they did it with their music.
0:06:17 > 0:06:22One of the things we brought from Cuba, we brought music.
0:06:22 > 0:06:24It helped us survive the early years.
0:06:24 > 0:06:26It helped us to keep us...
0:06:26 > 0:06:29focused as to who we were.
0:06:31 > 0:06:35The exiles brought old-style dance rhythms from Havana.
0:06:35 > 0:06:42These were often performed by top Cuban singers, like Celia Cruz, who had also fled from Castro.
0:06:42 > 0:06:44SHE SINGS IN SPANISH
0:06:57 > 0:07:04Miami's exiled musicians worked when they could and slowly built the city's vibrant nightlife.
0:07:04 > 0:07:06We needed the money so bad but it wasn't all about money.
0:07:06 > 0:07:09It was the only thing that kept me alive, being separated from my family.
0:07:09 > 0:07:13I knew that was the only time I was happy... When I used to play music.
0:07:14 > 0:07:18By day, Emilio worked in the post room at Bacardi.
0:07:18 > 0:07:23By night, he put together his own band - the Miami Latin Boys.
0:07:23 > 0:07:28But they wanted a female vocalist, and turned to a fellow emigre.
0:07:28 > 0:07:30We ran into each other in a wedding.
0:07:30 > 0:07:32We had met shortly before at a friend's house
0:07:32 > 0:07:34and he heard me sing on my guitar
0:07:34 > 0:07:35from the folk masses and things.
0:07:35 > 0:07:38Gloria was definitely very shy.
0:07:38 > 0:07:43I mean one thing I notice in Gloria, she always look down to the floor because I saw a depressed person.
0:07:43 > 0:07:45But one thing that I always noticed on her...
0:07:45 > 0:07:49The same thing that I have... That she love music.
0:07:49 > 0:07:51He says, "I remember you! Why don't you sit in with the band?"
0:07:51 > 0:07:54So I sat in, sang a couple of songs, Cuban standards.
0:07:54 > 0:07:57People loved it because they knew me since I was a kid.
0:07:57 > 0:08:01So he said, "You know, I think it would be a great idea to have a girl singer.
0:08:01 > 0:08:03"Why don't you join the band?"
0:08:10 > 0:08:14Before long, Emilio asked her to marry him.
0:08:14 > 0:08:20But with Gloria in the band, the Miami Latin Boys needed a new name.
0:08:20 > 0:08:22We weren't boys any more. And he thought, "OK, she's going to stay."
0:08:22 > 0:08:24We'd been there long enough for that, so we changed.
0:08:24 > 0:08:28They gave us the "Sound Machine", the small local company that signed us. We wanted to be just "Miami."
0:08:32 > 0:08:35Miami Sound Machine!
0:08:44 > 0:08:47I never wanted to forget where I came from.
0:08:47 > 0:08:49On the same time, I was growing up listening to disco,
0:08:49 > 0:08:52to Donna Summer, to every single great music there was at that time.
0:08:52 > 0:08:55So what I did, I combined both musics.
0:08:55 > 0:08:57And that's what I called "the Miami sound".
0:08:57 > 0:08:59SHE SINGS IN SPANISH
0:09:04 > 0:09:08For five years they toured throughout Latin America,
0:09:08 > 0:09:13now mixing American pop sounds with their Cuban rhythms and Spanish lyrics.
0:09:21 > 0:09:24Emilio began to look beyond the gruelling road trips
0:09:24 > 0:09:28towards the more rewarding English-language market around him.
0:09:28 > 0:09:34First he aimed his new recordings at Miami's burgeoning club scene in the early '80s.
0:09:36 > 0:09:38Clubs definitely open a lot of doors.
0:09:38 > 0:09:41They can play anything. And people will tell you if they liked it or not.
0:09:41 > 0:09:45And we got so many number ones in clubs, thanks to all the DJs.
0:09:46 > 0:09:50The club scene was far more adventurous than radio,
0:09:50 > 0:09:53where DJs were afraid to try anything outside the approved play-lists.
0:09:56 > 0:10:01Convinced he had a winning formula, in 1984 Emilio took a chance
0:10:01 > 0:10:05with a crossover number, sung in English to a Cuban beat.
0:10:05 > 0:10:09I went to the label all excited. I said we have an English song that has all the beats.
0:10:09 > 0:10:12They said "They will never play this on radio."
0:10:12 > 0:10:19Emilio hand-delivered it to every DJ he knew in clubs from Miami to New York.
0:10:19 > 0:10:25It was such a hit that radio changed its mind and Dr Beat leapt to number one on the Miami charts, in 1984.
0:10:27 > 0:10:28# Say say say doctor
0:10:28 > 0:10:32# I got this fever that I can't control
0:10:32 > 0:10:35# That I can't control
0:10:35 > 0:10:39# Music makes me move my body
0:10:39 > 0:10:43# Makes me move my soul Makes me move my soul
0:10:44 > 0:10:46# Doc, you better give me something
0:10:46 > 0:10:48# Cos I'm burning up
0:10:48 > 0:10:50# Yes, I'm burning up... #
0:10:50 > 0:10:55You always have to remember that Emilio started out as a Bacardi salesman.
0:10:55 > 0:11:00And you know that's to his credit and has been a big part
0:11:00 > 0:11:06of his success that he was able to sell himself, sell Gloria, sell what he can do, sell Miami.
0:11:06 > 0:11:10But he's not the whole story.
0:11:10 > 0:11:20There are many other factors that came into making Miami an important place.
0:11:26 > 0:11:31In the same year as Dr Beat, the TV crime series Miami Vice enthralled the nation.
0:11:31 > 0:11:34Even its theme tune went to number one.
0:11:40 > 0:11:50Miami Vice was incredibly influential in Miami first, because it was total fantasy.
0:11:50 > 0:11:52- You looking for someone?- Who are you?
0:11:52 > 0:11:54Just a friend.
0:11:54 > 0:11:57No-one in Miami in those days would
0:11:57 > 0:12:04wear a jacket over a T-shirt, or push their sleeves up...
0:12:04 > 0:12:05But they started to.
0:12:05 > 0:12:10It was like instead of art imitating life, it was life imitating art.
0:12:20 > 0:12:21The display of luxury items
0:12:21 > 0:12:25in the show like cars, like clothes, like sunglasses,
0:12:25 > 0:12:28all those things became associated with Miami
0:12:28 > 0:12:33and eventually helped Miami promote itself as a style capital.
0:12:33 > 0:12:38Let's say South Beach in some ways was attractive to Miami Vice because it was falling apart.
0:12:38 > 0:12:43In fact, in Miami Vice episodes they had to paint the buildings because they were in such disrepair.
0:12:59 > 0:13:03Although it brought a lot of people to Miami looking for that fantasy,
0:13:04 > 0:13:11that and the drug culture that prevailed was extremely harmful,
0:13:11 > 0:13:14in my opinion, to the city.
0:13:14 > 0:13:15Somebody call the police!
0:13:19 > 0:13:20We got cameras.
0:13:23 > 0:13:29The truth was that Miami, in the early '80s, was a caricature of the TV show,
0:13:29 > 0:13:32a city consumed by crime and violence,
0:13:32 > 0:13:36much of which was blamed on the influx of new immigrants.
0:13:39 > 0:13:43The most publicised problem for Miami in the early '80s had been
0:13:43 > 0:13:49the Mariel boatlift, which brought a further 125,000 Cubans to the city.
0:13:52 > 0:13:56Some of them came from Castro's prisons and insane asylums.
0:13:56 > 0:14:01He called them "the scum of Cuba" and gave them free passage to Miami.
0:14:05 > 0:14:11Thousands of Cuban criminals were incarcerated, or escaped onto the city streets,
0:14:11 > 0:14:14causing a backlash against Cuban exiles.
0:14:14 > 0:14:19We're the American people, we pay the money, we pay the taxes and we're fed up.
0:14:23 > 0:14:28It'd be like an invading army was dropped in here to rape, pillage and burn in our town.
0:14:28 > 0:14:31And that's exactly what they're doing.
0:14:31 > 0:14:35# Why be afraid
0:14:35 > 0:14:38# If I'm not alone... #
0:14:39 > 0:14:44This was the background to the blockbuster Hollywood offered the world as Scarface,
0:14:44 > 0:14:50the film that confirmed Miami's reputation as the capital city of crack and crime, in the early '80s.
0:14:52 > 0:14:54His name exploded through the streets
0:14:54 > 0:14:59and his smile seduced a city.
0:15:00 > 0:15:02His eyes ignited passion
0:15:04 > 0:15:06and his hands
0:15:06 > 0:15:08built an empire.
0:15:09 > 0:15:13Al Pacino is Scarface.
0:15:13 > 0:15:18He loved the American Dream with a vengeance.
0:15:20 > 0:15:27You can go into stores in Miami and see huge posters of Scarface and you would wonder why
0:15:27 > 0:15:33would people in Miami have a cult to Scarface if it's a film that in some ways denigrates Latinos and Miami.
0:15:33 > 0:15:37I think part of it is because Scarface embodies this desire
0:15:37 > 0:15:43for the American Dream and suggests that it is possible for everybody.
0:15:43 > 0:15:47The movie reflected the darker side of the city.
0:15:47 > 0:15:51Organised crime, drugs and money laundering were, for a time,
0:15:51 > 0:15:56pillars that supported Miami's seemingly uncontrolled economic boom.
0:16:00 > 0:16:05By the 1990s, unscrupulous developers were transforming virgin Everglades
0:16:05 > 0:16:11into a concrete rest-home for gangsters and ageing tourists seeking winter sunshine.,
0:16:11 > 0:16:16and beach condos for immigrant families from across Latin America.
0:16:16 > 0:16:22The city had grown from half a million in the 1950s to four million by the '90s.
0:16:22 > 0:16:26# Bad bad bad bad boys
0:16:26 > 0:16:29# You make me feel so good... #
0:16:29 > 0:16:32Like any other city we're growing and we have growing pains.
0:16:32 > 0:16:36Even the racial tension is not so much racial as it is economic.
0:16:36 > 0:16:38You're talking about extreme poverty in these areas and
0:16:38 > 0:16:42something has to be done about it and we have to find a way of fixing it.
0:16:44 > 0:16:47When the city fathers determined to clean up, Miami needed
0:16:47 > 0:16:52a while new soundtrack, and who better to provide it than the Estefans.
0:16:55 > 0:16:57Conga became an anthem of the city, a mammoth crossover hit
0:16:57 > 0:17:01with Cuban percussion that said "come join the dance."
0:17:01 > 0:17:05# Everybody gather round now
0:17:05 > 0:17:08# Let your body feel the heat
0:17:10 > 0:17:13# Don't you worry if you can't dance
0:17:13 > 0:17:15# Let the music move your feet... #
0:17:17 > 0:17:21Surprisingly, Cuban-inspired music was still a hard sell
0:17:21 > 0:17:24in the rock-fixated world of mainstream USA.
0:17:26 > 0:17:30I was so excited with the piano and the horns, and I mean I went
0:17:30 > 0:17:34to Sony and Sony told me, "This will never happen. You're totally crazy."
0:17:34 > 0:17:37I was at CBS when Gloria was there and Emilio. That's where we met for the first time.
0:17:37 > 0:17:43And I remember going to the radio stations and taking the Conga single
0:17:43 > 0:17:46and they looked at me like, "What are you... What is this?"
0:17:50 > 0:17:56Emilio produced the video on a shoestring, with no help from his record company.
0:17:56 > 0:17:58They told me they have no money for the video.
0:17:58 > 0:18:03So my mom, my dad, my uncle my aunt, everybody is in the video. My niece is on the video.
0:18:14 > 0:18:23Gloria and the Miami Sound Machine were the beginning of Miami as a launching point for Latin pop.
0:18:23 > 0:18:27And they set the template in several very important ways.
0:18:27 > 0:18:32They were good at promotion, and Miami was their base for it.
0:18:32 > 0:18:36They used really up-to-date,
0:18:36 > 0:18:39top-notch production and they did it here.
0:18:39 > 0:18:46And they competed in the American arena, in the mainstream.
0:18:46 > 0:18:52They did all those three things first, and they did them all out of here.
0:19:04 > 0:19:06She made Hispanics hip.
0:19:06 > 0:19:11She took them out of the barrio. And Americans said, "Wow, you know what?
0:19:11 > 0:19:15They're all not just a bunch of people holding people up in elevators in the projects
0:19:15 > 0:19:19"and breaking into cars. They are pretty intelligent and it's great music."
0:19:19 > 0:19:22# Get on your feet... #
0:19:22 > 0:19:27It gave the American record labels the impetus to say "Hey!
0:19:27 > 0:19:31"You know what? There is a big business here and we're going to try and find other Gloria Estefans."
0:19:31 > 0:19:33And it put Latin music on the map in a big way.
0:19:35 > 0:19:38For the music industry, it was an awakening.
0:19:38 > 0:19:45Latin record sales had mostly been in the tens of thousands, but the Estefans were selling millions.
0:19:45 > 0:19:49And the new president of Sony Music had a reputation as an opportunist.
0:19:52 > 0:19:58In looking at Gloria and Emilio, I saw an opportunity to take this great
0:19:58 > 0:20:01Miami sound that they had come up with
0:20:01 > 0:20:06and take it and make it into popular music throughout the world.
0:20:06 > 0:20:08It really didn't happen by accident.
0:20:11 > 0:20:15There were few accidents in the gradual Latinisation of the music business.
0:20:15 > 0:20:19The other big-time crossover act of the early '80s was a meticulously
0:20:19 > 0:20:24packaged group of teenage boys from Puerto Rico, called Menudo.
0:20:24 > 0:20:27Here fronted by the twelve-year-old Ricky Martin.
0:20:27 > 0:20:32# Nobody Nobody
0:20:32 > 0:20:35# Nobody cares about me. #
0:20:36 > 0:20:39The Menudo product was extremely popular.
0:20:39 > 0:20:46Whether it it was bad music or cheesy lyrics or bad hair, it was very, very popular.
0:20:46 > 0:20:50And it also, I think, introduced in many parts, particularly if
0:20:50 > 0:20:56you think of the US context, the idea of a light-skinned
0:20:56 > 0:21:00Latin rock performer that could reach
0:21:00 > 0:21:05the key demographic of teenage girls and make them want to buy your records.
0:21:05 > 0:21:08# How love can be when dreams come true
0:21:08 > 0:21:12# Let me hold you and I'll give you... #
0:21:12 > 0:21:14We had, I don't know,
0:21:14 > 0:21:18ten songs on the radio, all the videos, everything was number one,
0:21:18 > 0:21:21number two, three, four. There was nothing but Menudo.
0:21:21 > 0:21:23So it was overwhelming this....
0:21:23 > 0:21:26That kind of experience. We're talking about
0:21:26 > 0:21:28just thousands of people everywhere.
0:21:28 > 0:21:32Just thousands of people everywhere, you know, girls hiding in bathrooms.
0:21:32 > 0:21:36It was exciting but it was absolutely nuts.
0:21:36 > 0:21:39We worked for the acceptance of the audience.
0:21:39 > 0:21:41"We" as in me and my colleagues.
0:21:41 > 0:21:42I'm now talking for me.
0:21:42 > 0:21:46I work for the acceptance of the audience. I work for the applause.
0:21:46 > 0:21:52It's so addictive when you're on stage and you're performing and whatever, 20,000, 30,000 people.
0:21:52 > 0:21:54There's a lot you have to deal with, like leaving your family.
0:21:54 > 0:21:56I left my family when I was 12.
0:22:00 > 0:22:03The Menudo kids were bilingual.
0:22:03 > 0:22:06Completely fluent in Spanish and English.
0:22:06 > 0:22:09Ricky Martin comes up from a training
0:22:09 > 0:22:13that allows him to be comfortable in many different cultural settings.
0:22:13 > 0:22:20What's important to Ricky Martin is that the ways that the Menudo product was developed, packaged and promoted
0:22:20 > 0:22:25in many ways opened up the possibilities of his emergence as a global pop star.
0:22:26 > 0:22:29HE SINGS IN SPANISH
0:22:33 > 0:22:37By the time of his first major hit, aged 20, Ricky Martin was
0:22:37 > 0:22:41a seasoned performer, displaying all the moves he'd learned in Menudo.
0:22:41 > 0:22:45But his music was still aimed largely at the Spanish-speaking market.
0:23:14 > 0:23:19On the heels of Maria came an offer that Ricky could not refuse.
0:23:19 > 0:23:22He wanted to make the crossover in a big way.
0:23:22 > 0:23:28And the company was running on all 12 cylinders at the time with me
0:23:28 > 0:23:36at the top pushing the button, making everyone, making an entire army move forward on the Ricky Martin front.
0:23:37 > 0:23:43At the 1999 Grammys, Ricky Martin was scheduled to present his latest crossover offering.
0:23:43 > 0:23:47Until then, everyone sang in English there.
0:23:47 > 0:23:53This was a big deal because the Grammys, to this day, hate to have Latin acts perform in Spanish.
0:23:53 > 0:23:57They think that ratings drop the minute you put another language in.
0:23:57 > 0:24:00# Now is the time... #
0:24:00 > 0:24:03So he began his song in English.
0:24:05 > 0:24:08# Push it along, go go go... #
0:24:08 > 0:24:11I just had a feeling all over - it was goosebumps -
0:24:11 > 0:24:14that something special was happening.
0:24:16 > 0:24:18Then Ricky suddenly became Latin.
0:24:18 > 0:24:20IN SPANISH:
0:24:25 > 0:24:27That was such a kick-ass song.
0:24:27 > 0:24:29I mean, what other song sounded like that then?
0:24:29 > 0:24:31Nothing sounded like that.
0:24:31 > 0:24:33I was there that night.
0:24:33 > 0:24:34The place went insane.
0:24:49 > 0:24:51# Do you really want it?
0:24:52 > 0:24:54Do you really want it?
0:24:54 > 0:24:57# Do you really want it? Yeah yeah yeah
0:24:57 > 0:25:00# Here we go ole ole ole... #
0:25:00 > 0:25:07Every star in those first five or ten rows, I mean, they were fixated on him.
0:25:07 > 0:25:09It was just fascinating.
0:25:15 > 0:25:16LOUD CHEERING
0:25:20 > 0:25:25The gamble paid off. Ricky's Spanglish lyrics carried Latin music into the mainstream.
0:25:35 > 0:25:38Something really interesting is happening, when it comes to fusion
0:25:38 > 0:25:44and when it comes to exchanging cultures and ideas, that I really definitely want to be part of.
0:25:44 > 0:25:48I'm going to be here getting ready for anything.
0:25:48 > 0:25:53That's what I presented tonight. I presented percussions, I presented horns, I presented who I was.
0:25:53 > 0:25:59Even though he's Puerto Rican and got his start with a Puerto Rican boy group,
0:25:59 > 0:26:04Ricky Martin's sound, image, persona and explosive success
0:26:04 > 0:26:07is very associated with Miami.
0:26:07 > 0:26:14He produced his records here, he promoted here and his label, Sony,
0:26:14 > 0:26:22which ran this promotional machine behind him, is based here.
0:26:22 > 0:26:28And I think Miami becomes a leaping-off point,
0:26:28 > 0:26:35a lens into Latin music and Latin culture for much of the rest of America.
0:26:37 > 0:26:40Miami had become an international gateway.
0:26:40 > 0:26:43And not the least of its attractions was the nightlife,
0:26:43 > 0:26:47with discos and clubs offering a dazzling mix of dance rhythms.
0:26:50 > 0:26:52Rhythm move people.
0:26:52 > 0:26:54So you go to Colombia they have great rhythm.
0:26:56 > 0:27:00You go even to Mexico, they have great rhythm.
0:27:00 > 0:27:03You go to Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic.
0:27:03 > 0:27:06That syncopation we have, and you know the flair that we have
0:27:06 > 0:27:08when we do percussion. Nobody can do it like we do.
0:27:12 > 0:27:19Emilio Estefan had opened his own Miami studios, in 1994, to exploit this confluence of Latin rhythms.
0:27:19 > 0:27:22He not only managed Gloria Estefan's career,
0:27:22 > 0:27:28but also played a key role in launching other major Latin artists into the English-language market,
0:27:28 > 0:27:31from Ricky Martin to Shakira.
0:27:33 > 0:27:39Shakira Mebarak arrived at Estefan's studio in 1998 in search of a new audience.
0:27:39 > 0:27:41I saw in Shakira talent.
0:27:41 > 0:27:44A baby full of talent.
0:27:44 > 0:27:47This girl can move, she can sing, she can write.
0:27:47 > 0:27:54We worked hard, to 5am, 6am, trying to translate songs and trying to do things because we believed in her.
0:27:54 > 0:27:59There are people who saw her way back when she broke out as a very young singer-songwriter
0:27:59 > 0:28:06out of Colombia singing barefoot, Pies Descalzos, that first successful album of hers,
0:28:06 > 0:28:14and she went through a huge transformation in a few years.
0:28:14 > 0:28:15SHE SINGS IN SPANISH
0:28:19 > 0:28:23Before Shakira, every crossover artist had been bilingual.
0:28:23 > 0:28:28But the young Colombian spoke no English. And she struggled.
0:28:28 > 0:28:32So Emilio searched for a distinctive sound and image.
0:28:32 > 0:28:37You really have to find a sound that establishes their personality, where they come from.
0:28:37 > 0:28:42For example Shakira, the first song I did for her, it was Middle Eastern.
0:29:00 > 0:29:05Emilio's production focused on Shakira's Lebanese ancestry.
0:29:05 > 0:29:07But she was still recognisably the girl from Colombia.
0:29:11 > 0:29:16So what do you have to do then to make a Latin rock-pop star
0:29:16 > 0:29:20be consumable by American or English-speaking audiences?
0:29:20 > 0:29:23Well, they did a few things.
0:29:23 > 0:29:26One was they repackaged her appearance, like for instance Shakira
0:29:26 > 0:29:32was known for very strange clothing, hairstyles and hair colours.
0:29:32 > 0:29:37And one of the most noted changes that they did physically, was making her blonde.
0:29:44 > 0:29:47# Tell me one more time... #
0:29:48 > 0:29:56And the question that was asked was, "Is that the price that a Latina, particularly a female performer,
0:29:56 > 0:30:02"has to pay in order to be mainstream, that now she has to conform to US standards of beauty?"
0:30:08 > 0:30:10SHE SINGS IN SPANISH
0:30:18 > 0:30:25Shakira deserves a lot of credit, I believe, for re-inventing herself.
0:30:25 > 0:30:32And she certainly had help with the album she produced with Emilio, that was really a breakthrough for her.
0:30:36 > 0:30:43The video of Whenever, Wherever would carry the blonde Shakira onto global MTV in the following years.
0:30:47 > 0:30:54And to see a Latin artist succeed on that kind of international level
0:30:54 > 0:30:59is enormous in terms of opening a road for other artists.
0:30:59 > 0:31:02SHOUTING
0:31:03 > 0:31:06Shakira's launch as a mainstream Latin rock star
0:31:06 > 0:31:11coincided with the hype and hysteria surrounding Ricky Martin's first English-language album.
0:31:15 > 0:31:18I'm presenting my album today for the first time.
0:31:18 > 0:31:20It's a very important date.
0:31:20 > 0:31:24I've been working for two and a half years for this day.
0:31:24 > 0:31:27And, uh... I'm just really excited. Let's see what happens.
0:31:30 > 0:31:34When you think about putting a whole machine behind an artist to say
0:31:34 > 0:31:38"this artist has global potential", you really have to think about -
0:31:38 > 0:31:41can they make popular music
0:31:41 > 0:31:48and can they then be out there to support that popular music bilingually?
0:31:48 > 0:31:54Ricky Martin had the Latin thing covered, so they really didn't need me for that.
0:31:54 > 0:32:01They needed me to help funnel that to the American and the European market.
0:32:01 > 0:32:11When I met Ricky Martin, I didn't think of him as a Latin pop, tropical, you know, hip-shakin' dude.
0:32:11 > 0:32:13I thought of him as a rock star.
0:32:15 > 0:32:19A Miami boy of Cuban descent, Desmond Child had a flourishing career
0:32:19 > 0:32:24writing hits for mainstream rock musicians. Until now.
0:32:26 > 0:32:29Desmond would help create the song that transformed Ricky Martin
0:32:29 > 0:32:34into an all-American pop star, with the help of an extravagant video funded by Mottola.
0:32:34 > 0:32:37# She's into superstitions
0:32:37 > 0:32:39# Black cats and voodoo dolls... #
0:32:40 > 0:32:45"She's into superstition, black cats and voodoo dolls."
0:32:45 > 0:32:47It's just like a swing song.
0:32:47 > 0:32:49Tony Bennett could do that song.
0:32:51 > 0:32:54# She's into new sensations
0:32:54 > 0:32:56# New kicks in the candlelight... #
0:32:56 > 0:33:00In Latin music at the time, they would use a lot of reverb in the voice.
0:33:00 > 0:33:05And if you listen to the records I made with Ricky, the vocal is dry.
0:33:05 > 0:33:08# Woke up in New York City... #
0:33:08 > 0:33:10They don't have any effects on them.
0:33:10 > 0:33:13# She took my heart and she took my money... #
0:33:13 > 0:33:16They're right there in your face...
0:33:16 > 0:33:18# Upside inside out
0:33:18 > 0:33:20# Livin' la vida loca... #
0:33:20 > 0:33:24There was another element too, Elvis in Vegas.
0:33:24 > 0:33:32All black, in a kind of small setting that gave people an archetypal sense that that...
0:33:32 > 0:33:37- that he was that thing that they had always loved.- Come on!
0:33:37 > 0:33:39# Livin' la vida loca
0:33:39 > 0:33:42# Come on! She's livin' la vida loca...#
0:33:42 > 0:33:46La Vida Loca is hybrid, it's like Spanglish. It's, you know...
0:33:46 > 0:33:51it's what it is, it's who we are.
0:33:51 > 0:33:53It's pop.
0:33:53 > 0:33:59"Unabashedly pop," wrote Time Magazine, "but saved by its Latin soul."
0:34:01 > 0:34:01# Come on! #
0:34:03 > 0:34:09The day that I heard La Vida Loca I said, "This is going to be a phenomenon."
0:34:09 > 0:34:13We couldn't even keep up with the orders, and I think
0:34:13 > 0:34:18we sold somewhere in the vicinity of 20 or 25 million worldwide.
0:34:18 > 0:34:22As Latin artists entered the mainstream, they became increasingly
0:34:22 > 0:34:26attractive to corporate America for promoting commercial products.
0:34:26 > 0:34:31When we talk about Ricky Martin or we talk about Shakira, we talk about Gloria Estefan, we're really not
0:34:31 > 0:34:36talking about them as people who we have no relationship to as the public.
0:34:36 > 0:34:40We are talking about them as what we consume.
0:34:44 > 0:34:49In Ricky Martin's case, this hip Latin dude who was now
0:34:49 > 0:34:53the top Latin pop star in the world, promoting Pepsi.
0:34:53 > 0:34:56So that does a lot of things for Pepsi, you know?
0:34:56 > 0:35:00For the Latin community, which probably drinks more Coke than Pepsi,
0:35:00 > 0:35:05it's time to communicate that Pepsi is somewhat Latin.
0:35:09 > 0:35:15To the rest of America, we're melding it with this hot Latin star that epitomizes everything
0:35:15 > 0:35:21that's hip about culture right now, so now those values are kind of transmitted to the soda.
0:35:21 > 0:35:26# ..and she talks like she walks She bangs, she bangs... #
0:35:26 > 0:35:29Ricky quickly became corporate America's favourite Latino.
0:35:29 > 0:35:35His image and recordings were for sale in every city and suburb of the States.
0:35:35 > 0:35:38This is a historic moment. This is a real crossover.
0:35:38 > 0:35:41And almost immediately they began talking about other
0:35:41 > 0:35:44Latin acts that were going to come out with English language albums.
0:35:44 > 0:35:48And you could see maybe not a movement, but certainly a wave.
0:35:50 > 0:35:55Mottola moved fast to promote other Latin artists on his books.
0:35:55 > 0:36:01On The 6 by Jennifer Lopez hit the stores only three weeks after the release of Ricky Martin's album.
0:36:01 > 0:36:09The video featured J-Lo with Puerto Rican rappers, accentuating her own Puerto Rican heritage.
0:36:09 > 0:36:12You also see in her videos these sort of pillars of the Latin hip-hop scene
0:36:12 > 0:36:18in New York City, which serve as authenticating symbols in what she's doing.
0:36:18 > 0:36:24And so for her to still prove to her listeners that she's "Jenny From The Block,"
0:36:24 > 0:36:30she has to film scenes on the block, she has to have guys who have street cred on the block,
0:36:30 > 0:36:33so she has to have Fat Joe and Big Pun in her video.
0:36:36 > 0:36:37# I opened up my eyes today
0:36:39 > 0:36:42# Felt the sun shining on my face... #
0:36:42 > 0:36:45I always looked at myself as more individual.
0:36:45 > 0:36:48I had something different to offer than other people.
0:36:48 > 0:36:52It can kinda... you know, it's all about separating yourself and finding your own niche, and stuff like that.
0:36:52 > 0:36:55# Feel like there's no limit... #
0:36:55 > 0:37:01In fact, J-Lo found a whole variety of niches to please her expanding fan base.
0:37:01 > 0:37:02Jennifer!
0:37:02 > 0:37:07Jennifer Lopez represented herself and was promoted in such different
0:37:07 > 0:37:11ways depending on the audience and depending on the consumer.
0:37:11 > 0:37:16So, for instance, if you look at Jennifer Lopez in Vibe Magazine,
0:37:16 > 0:37:20you know, she looks different than in People Magazine,
0:37:20 > 0:37:24she looks different than in Latina Magazine,
0:37:24 > 0:37:32so in that regard she could appear as Latin as they come for the Latin community, but she can also look...
0:37:32 > 0:37:39black depending on how she's dressed and depending on how she's styled and in what context you place her.
0:37:44 > 0:37:49Having started as a dancer in the TV show In Living Color, J-Lo's videos cemented her
0:37:49 > 0:37:54street cred and her multi-ethnic appeal to urban Latinos.
0:37:57 > 0:38:05The thing about Jennifer is the whole package, and the fact that she was Latino was a way to take
0:38:05 > 0:38:10s New York girl, basically, and present her to the public and say,
0:38:10 > 0:38:15"Here is a shining example of a Latina."
0:38:17 > 0:38:24Though the Latin market had expanded hugely during the '90s, Mottola was positioning his artists
0:38:24 > 0:38:29within the aspirations and spending power of a new multicultural middle class.
0:38:29 > 0:38:32# Don't be fooled by the rocks that I got... #
0:38:32 > 0:38:37And just a few weeks after the release of J-Lo's album, Tommy Mottola notched up
0:38:37 > 0:38:44his next English language Latin blockbuster, featuring J-Lo's next husband, Marc Anthony.
0:38:44 > 0:38:46Exactly what you're doing.
0:38:46 > 0:38:48It's a new song.
0:38:52 > 0:38:54Getting nasty and dirty on it.
0:38:54 > 0:38:57Marc Anthony had evolved out of Latin hip-hop and then salsa,
0:38:57 > 0:39:02first as a backing singer and then as a solo artist.
0:39:02 > 0:39:08An early hit with La India showed both his vocal talent and his competitiveness.
0:39:08 > 0:39:10We're gonna take it again.
0:39:10 > 0:39:15There was a sense of competition where they wanted to outdo each other, and it was a fun competition,
0:39:15 > 0:39:17it wasn't like an animosity, it was like,
0:39:17 > 0:39:19"Put the track, I'm gonna show her," "I'm gonna show him."
0:39:30 > 0:39:36The Marc Anthony sound was a combination of the hard-edged New York sound with the romantic stuff,
0:39:36 > 0:39:43but with a more of a pop R&B edge that these young artists like La India and Marc had.
0:39:49 > 0:39:50That's as good as it gets.
0:39:51 > 0:39:56At an ambitiously conceived show in Madison Square Garden,
0:39:56 > 0:40:01Mottola unveiled his new bilingual Latin star.
0:40:01 > 0:40:05Marc Anthony became another great success,
0:40:05 > 0:40:10capitalizing on both popular music in English and using
0:40:10 > 0:40:17his Latin base as well to do many songs in Spanish, and really marketed to both audiences in a big way.
0:40:19 > 0:40:26The first rule of crossover was keep your Latin fan base faithful, before you hit the English language market.
0:40:26 > 0:40:30So Marc Anthony greeted his audience with a display of Puerto Rican pride.
0:40:38 > 0:40:41Wave that beautiful flag, folks!
0:40:41 > 0:40:43I'm just happy to be here.
0:40:45 > 0:40:47Check it out, baby.
0:40:48 > 0:40:51# They say around the way you asked for me
0:40:52 > 0:40:55# There's even talk about you wanting me
0:40:56 > 0:40:59# I must admit that's what I want to hear
0:41:00 > 0:41:03# But that's just talk until you take me there
0:41:03 > 0:41:06# Oh, if it's true don't leave me all alone out here
0:41:06 > 0:41:10# Wondering if you're ever gonna take me there
0:41:10 > 0:41:13# Tell me what you're feeling cos I need to know... #
0:41:13 > 0:41:18Marc Anthony played to a largely Latino audience, but the HBO network
0:41:18 > 0:41:25reached 25 million households, most of them English-speaking.
0:41:25 > 0:41:27Hello, HBO!
0:41:32 > 0:41:37You know, I think Latinos... we are so hungry to see ourselves represented in mainstream culture
0:41:37 > 0:41:43that to see us suddenly bombarded with it was a really overwhelming experience.
0:41:43 > 0:41:46Latin music was something I'd always listened to at home and I listened
0:41:46 > 0:41:50to popular music at school with my friends, and they'd never met.
0:41:50 > 0:41:54I listened to Jerry Rivera, I listened to Marc Anthony,
0:41:54 > 0:41:59I listened to Gilberto Santa Rosa, but I could never share that with my white friends.
0:41:59 > 0:42:02And suddenly my white friends are walking around going, "Bailamos!"
0:42:02 > 0:42:04and it was a heady time.
0:42:05 > 0:42:12Certainly the Latin demographic was getting huge and I think, musically,
0:42:12 > 0:42:16the country was ready for something new and fresh and exciting.
0:42:16 > 0:42:22Starting from Gloria and the whole Miami Sound Machine influence,
0:42:22 > 0:42:28right to Ricky and then when Marc Anthony came out and then Jennifer Lopez.
0:42:28 > 0:42:39All of that culminating at once created what Time magazine then billed as the "Latin Explosion."
0:42:44 > 0:42:49The epicentre of that carefully controlled explosion was the United States'
0:42:49 > 0:42:53most Latin city, at the crossroads between North and South America.
0:42:55 > 0:42:58Latino culture is mainstream culture in Miami, and I don't think there's
0:42:58 > 0:43:04any other city in this country where Latinos have the power that they do,
0:43:04 > 0:43:08not in LA, not in New York,
0:43:08 > 0:43:10you know, here.
0:43:15 > 0:43:20And I think that Miami has played a very big role in the mainstreaming
0:43:20 > 0:43:23of Latin culture to the rest of the country.
0:43:26 > 0:43:29It's normal to speak two languages.
0:43:29 > 0:43:36When you have those labels here and those networks here, they are promulgating Latinidad
0:43:36 > 0:43:42out to the rest of the country and out to the rest of the world, and that's just the way this city is.
0:43:45 > 0:43:50The city's restless mix of styles and cultures is mirrored in the rhythms
0:43:50 > 0:43:56that producer Sergio George stirs into a Latin-light brew in his Miami studio.
0:43:57 > 0:44:02OK, something really nice and pretty, pop melody, now we're gonna give it some dirt.
0:44:02 > 0:44:07I'll give you an example of how we build an arrangement, try to get different cultures and genres
0:44:07 > 0:44:09into the music by giving it accessibility.
0:44:09 > 0:44:14So it's that pre-melody that I played before, with the reggae undertones
0:44:14 > 0:44:19to give it accessibility to the younger generation, because they understand those drum patterns.
0:44:23 > 0:44:29These string sounds is also more like a hip-hop type of influence that hip-hop producers like to use.
0:44:34 > 0:44:37The salsa comes in now, with still the pop sensibility.
0:44:39 > 0:44:43The horn section is like and Earth Wind And Fire, Chicago type of horn line.
0:44:45 > 0:44:47More salsa now, you know?
0:44:50 > 0:44:57And you hear these horn lines come from like, for example, a Colombian, say Columbian salsa.
0:44:57 > 0:44:58This type of horn line here.
0:45:00 > 0:45:02It's a staccato type of stuff.
0:45:10 > 0:45:13That's very Latin, South American.
0:45:13 > 0:45:16Now we're back to like the reggae influence.
0:45:21 > 0:45:29So right there, it's about a minute and ten of music, so in a minute and ten seconds of music I gave you
0:45:29 > 0:45:33dancehall reggae, Spanish pop ballad, I gave you Colombian horn lines,
0:45:33 > 0:45:38South American horn lines, I gave you Chicago, Earth Wind And Fire, and I gave you Afro-Cuban.
0:45:38 > 0:45:40Giving the music that kind of sound where
0:45:40 > 0:45:43everybody can get into it, because it's a little bit for everyone.
0:45:43 > 0:45:46So this is what I'm talking about, watering it down, you could say, whatever you wanna call it, but
0:45:46 > 0:45:51it's accessibility by just combining the different elements and doing it quickly, where it's not losing
0:45:51 > 0:45:56the listener, where the radio station gets what they want and the first ten seconds grab the listener.
0:45:56 > 0:46:01To make it accessible to everyone - Americans, even Hispanics who didn't grow up with this kind of thing.
0:46:01 > 0:46:04So that's the objective that we try to do here.
0:46:09 > 0:46:12Miami's Latin pop combines North American business acumen
0:46:12 > 0:46:16with the rhythms and artists of the Southern hemisphere.
0:46:16 > 0:46:21You get artists from Spain or from Mexico, or from wherever.
0:46:21 > 0:46:26If they need to promote internationally, they come to Miami because that's the centre point.
0:46:26 > 0:46:32So it was with Colombian singer Shakira, whose horizons were expanding.
0:46:32 > 0:46:36Her new album Laundry Service sold 20 million copies.
0:46:36 > 0:46:40The hit song Whenever, Wherever had been co-written by the Estefans,
0:46:40 > 0:46:43applying the successful Miami pop formula.
0:46:43 > 0:46:48# Oh, baby, when you talk like that You make a woman go mad
0:46:48 > 0:46:54# So be wise and keep on Reading the signs of my body
0:46:54 > 0:46:58# I won't deny My hips don't lie and I'm starting to feel you, boy #
0:46:58 > 0:47:02I mean, that syncopation we have, that flair that we have, people love that.
0:47:02 > 0:47:04You gonna have a sound that is very much the Miami sound
0:47:04 > 0:47:08in a different way, and I think that's what people love.
0:47:08 > 0:47:13What you can never do is do a sound that copies another sound or...
0:47:13 > 0:47:17Like Ricky can not sound like Marc Anthony or Gloria can not sound like Shakira.
0:47:17 > 0:47:20Every one of them has a different personality.
0:47:28 > 0:47:32By 2001, Shakira's distinctively blonde Latin persona
0:47:32 > 0:47:35was available in every provincial American high street.
0:47:35 > 0:47:38So it was time for a second transformation.
0:47:40 > 0:47:44At the point where she starts this crossover process, Shakira is a rock pop star.
0:47:44 > 0:47:48So in that regard she already has that going for her.
0:47:48 > 0:47:54The second thing that was done, and that's done for every crossover act, is to try to figure out where the
0:47:54 > 0:48:02centre of gravity is in terms of the audience, having her do duos and mix her music with other genres.
0:48:04 > 0:48:07# Beyonce, Beyonce
0:48:07 > 0:48:09# Shakira, Shakira
0:48:09 > 0:48:12# Beyonce, Beyonce
0:48:12 > 0:48:14# Shakira, Shakira... #
0:48:14 > 0:48:17By pairing with Beyonce, Shakira was now covering all the
0:48:17 > 0:48:22audience demographics - Latino, white and black.
0:48:22 > 0:48:25But for some Latinos, it could be a step too far.
0:48:25 > 0:48:27# Can't we laugh about it?
0:48:27 > 0:48:30# It's not worth our time... #
0:48:30 > 0:48:36Latin pop has to walk a pretty delicate line between on the one hand seeming Latin enough and seeming...
0:48:36 > 0:48:40poppy enough for being able to have that crossover appeal.
0:48:40 > 0:48:44We're sort of lost, we're sort of integrated a little bit and we, you know, we need to come back
0:48:44 > 0:48:46a little bit to the culture and we're doing it
0:48:46 > 0:48:49by having great artists bringing us into the culture.
0:48:53 > 0:48:55One such artist is the Colombian guitarist Juanes.
0:48:55 > 0:49:03He brought his own style of rock music back into the States and called it "Rock en Espanol."
0:49:03 > 0:49:09I still sing in Spanish, but I think I play my guitar in English.
0:49:09 > 0:49:13I don't want to feel ashamed of being a Colombian.
0:49:13 > 0:49:17I just want to be proud of that and I want to bring all the elements
0:49:17 > 0:49:21from my essence and just mix it with the elements of rock music.
0:49:27 > 0:49:31Latin pop is no longer one-way traffic, exported from the States.
0:49:31 > 0:49:38This is South America feeding back its own hybrid styles into the US, like musical revolving doors.
0:49:47 > 0:49:53And then when you understand Latin music is so rich and so diverse and you can find from metal, punk,
0:49:53 > 0:49:59Reggaeton, to pop, salsa, vallenato and it's like an ocean of different elements.
0:49:59 > 0:50:04Miami became what people called the Nashville of Latin music.
0:50:04 > 0:50:10It became the production and media centre.
0:50:10 > 0:50:17The two major Spanish language television networks, Univision and Telemundo, are based here.
0:50:22 > 0:50:28Univision plays a powerful role in the Latin pop business, transmitting shows across the Americas.
0:50:28 > 0:50:31It's a media empire whose influence is unrivalled
0:50:31 > 0:50:36in the Spanish-speaking world, disseminating Latin pop as never before.
0:50:43 > 0:50:47And yet new styles are constantly emerging.
0:50:47 > 0:50:53As Latin pop becomes ever more urbane, young Latinos have found a harder-edged voice.
0:50:54 > 0:51:01At the Calle Ocho Festival in Miami, streets are packed in anticipation of rapper known as Mr 305,
0:51:01 > 0:51:04Miami's telephone code.
0:51:06 > 0:51:09Statistically we are growing in such numbers, Latinos.
0:51:09 > 0:51:11And it's not like we are just Latinos.
0:51:11 > 0:51:14First generation, second generation, third generation.
0:51:14 > 0:51:17A lot of them don't even speak Spanish no more but they're proud to be...
0:51:17 > 0:51:20or where their parents are from, the country that they represent.
0:51:28 > 0:51:33Pitbull's in a sense symbolic of the way Miami works in terms of how all these things are constantly
0:51:33 > 0:51:39crisscrossing each other and the way it can be very fluid in the Miami Latin music industry.
0:51:45 > 0:51:49Pitbull's Reggaeton is a rap-style music that evolved in
0:51:49 > 0:51:52Puerto Rico, mixing hip-hop with Caribbean rhythms.
0:51:52 > 0:51:57It exemplifies how broad and diffuse Latin identity has become,
0:51:57 > 0:52:01as Reggaeton reclaims Latin music for the streets.
0:52:03 > 0:52:09You see a lot of traditional Caribbean beats married to urban and hip hop beats.
0:52:09 > 0:52:13You see traditional sounds like Mexican trumpets married to
0:52:13 > 0:52:17pop or married to a kind of more progressive alternative music.
0:52:17 > 0:52:21Nobody will raise an eyebrow at any mix of rhythms.
0:52:24 > 0:52:31What really unites Reggaeton is the fusion of all music in just one genre.
0:52:31 > 0:52:35So we got the best of both worlds.
0:52:35 > 0:52:37We've got the best of...
0:52:37 > 0:52:39the Anglo music and Latin music.
0:52:39 > 0:52:43If you listen to our melodies, it's like hip-hop melodies.
0:52:43 > 0:52:47# Get lower, lower Get lower, lower
0:52:47 > 0:52:51# Get higher, higher Get higher, higher... #
0:52:51 > 0:52:58But under that melody structure is the drum pattern, which is Latino.
0:52:58 > 0:53:01So it's a great combination of music.
0:53:03 > 0:53:07Daddy Yankee took Reggaeton off the streets and on to the dance floors
0:53:07 > 0:53:12of America's mainstream, with his hit song Gasolina.
0:53:22 > 0:53:28I was like, "Wow, finally we got the recognition that we needed,"
0:53:28 > 0:53:32you know? Right now everybody's paying attention to us.
0:53:32 > 0:53:35So basically,
0:53:35 > 0:53:40I put that seed right there for the next generation.
0:53:45 > 0:53:48It was a number one hit, it was totally ubiquitous,
0:53:48 > 0:53:51and for a lot of people it was their introduction to Reggaeton.
0:53:51 > 0:53:54And I definitely think that also, you know, definitely corresponds to this
0:53:54 > 0:53:59really emerging, large, powerful demographic of Spanish-speaking people
0:53:59 > 0:54:06in the United States and, in a sense, Reggaeton was able to provide a soundtrack for that emergence.
0:54:11 > 0:54:15Despite its success among Latin youth, who now enjoyed their own
0:54:15 > 0:54:23form of hip-hop, the Spanish press railed against what they called "musical pornography".
0:54:23 > 0:54:29The same scenario that hip-hop had during the '80s, a lot of people didn't know
0:54:29 > 0:54:31and didn't understand what we were saying.
0:54:31 > 0:54:34People thought that we were promoting the violence.
0:54:34 > 0:54:37It was not like that. We was just being real.
0:54:37 > 0:54:42Reggaeton evokes the hard reality of the urban projects of Puerto Rico,
0:54:42 > 0:54:44where many of its protagonists grew up,
0:54:47 > 0:54:51and which they constantly refer to in their videos, like Daddy Yankee's Gangsta.
0:55:01 > 0:55:06Out of those projects came another influential Reggaeton voice, Tego Calderon.
0:55:27 > 0:55:32Tego, after spending some years in Miami, added a further mix to Reggaeton.
0:56:00 > 0:56:05Reggaeton reflects the fact that Latin music can now be
0:56:05 > 0:56:08almost anything a Latin musician wants it to be, in the same way that
0:56:08 > 0:56:15being Latino - whether in New York, Los Angeles or Miami - has become an essential part of the American mix.
0:56:15 > 0:56:21By the year 2050, it's estimated that a quarter of all American youth will be Latino.
0:56:24 > 0:56:30The thing about Reggaeton is that it was able to express, on the one hand Latinidad, the "Latin-ness"
0:56:30 > 0:56:33and, on the other hand, modernity.
0:56:33 > 0:56:35You could be bling-blinged out, you could look like
0:56:35 > 0:56:40all of your peers in this more general sort of hip-hop world.
0:56:40 > 0:56:43You didn't have to feel like you were somehow selling out your own cultural roots.
0:56:43 > 0:56:47These third, fourth generation Latins are really embracing the fact
0:56:47 > 0:56:51that they're Latin, are very eager to learn more about their culture.
0:56:51 > 0:56:55And I also think the mainstream, more than ever, is open to things Latin.
0:56:55 > 0:56:59It's not seen as something as foreign as it used to be.
0:56:59 > 0:57:04And this is wonderful, that you can find pieces of so many cultures
0:57:04 > 0:57:07as an integral part of the mainstream culture.
0:57:09 > 0:57:14In the 80 years since Afro-Cuban rhythms first impacted on the States,
0:57:14 > 0:57:20the different Latin music forms and the changes they reflected have helped transform America.
0:57:24 > 0:57:29Tens of millions of Latin immigrants have entered, from the Caribbean in the East and Mexico in the West,
0:57:29 > 0:57:33the biggest migration in the history of the world.
0:57:33 > 0:57:35And their music helped maintain their pride
0:57:35 > 0:57:40and identity and integrate them gradually into American society.
0:57:40 > 0:57:44Mambo dancing led to salsa...
0:57:46 > 0:57:49Chicano rock fed into Latin pop...
0:57:51 > 0:57:56TV and the movies helped carry their music into the mainstream.
0:57:56 > 0:58:02They mirrored the ongoing Latinisation of the States, and its impact on us all.
0:58:09 > 0:58:12Conquitando los Estados Unidos
0:58:12 > 0:58:14Oh oh oh Snoop Dogg,
0:58:14 > 0:58:18Daddy Yankee, Cangri Real gangstas
0:58:18 > 0:58:21Traficando musica por tonelada
0:58:21 > 0:58:24Haha Oh oh oh
0:58:33 > 0:58:35Oh oh oh...
0:58:35 > 0:58:37Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd