Before reggaeton ruled Billboard’s Hot 100, global streaming charts, and sold-out stadiums, it was called “underground” in Puerto Rico in the early 1990s. The genre, rooted in Panamanian and Jamaican riddims, was born in Borinquen. During the reggaeton boom of the early 2000s — led by superstars Daddy Yankee, Don Omar, Tego Calderón, Ivy Queen, Wisin & Yandel, Zion & Lennox, alongside beatmakers Luny Tunes and Eliel — the genre was the voice of the isle’s disenfranchised.

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But similar to hip-hop, one of its natural descendants, it eventually caught the attention of politicians who were quick to blame the genre for the Commonwealth’s shortcomings. In 2002, Puerto Rican Senator Velda González proposed an anti-obscenity project aiming to ban reggaeton from the airwaves before 5 p.m. The petition, of course, only made the movement stronger — but it exploded when Daddy Yankee’s 2004 monster hit “Gasolina” dropped. That pivotal song was the first reggaeton track played on English-language radio stations. Its video was an MTV mainstay. Between 2004 and 2007, el genero stayed vital with tracks like N.O.R.E.’s “Oye Mi Canto” and Don Omar’s “Reggaeton Latino.”