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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 16 May 2022
In this study, I take a critical look at the presence of narcoculture in reggaeton using as a case study the music video of the remix of ‘Somos de calle’. Specifically, I evaluate whether and to what extent reggaeton’s narco-messages and narco-representations – when they converge with other variables – could potentially influence an individual’s modes of thinking and behaviour. The study does not aim to provide a definitive answer to the debate surrounding this issue. More than anything, it strives to analyse the extent to which the claim that such influence may occur has scientific merit, in order to advocate further research on this matter. The article also discusses the highly politicized debate that has surrounded this topic in public discourse, and how this has seemingly affected its critical assessment in academia. For the analysis I rely particularly on social psychology literature concerning violent media content and in the areas of persuasion studies and prejudice studies, but I also consider literature from other fields, including criminology.
I would like to thank the peer reviewers for JRMA for their insightful comments and recommendations. Translations are my own except where otherwise stated.
1 Jorge Rodríguez Beruff, ‘“Narcodemocracy” or Anti-Drug Leviathan: Political Consequences of the Drug War in the Puerto Rican High-Intensity Drug-Trafficking Area’, The Political Economy of Drugs in the Caribbean, ed. Ivelaw L. Griffith (New York: St Martin’s Press, 2000), 162–82 (pp. 164–5); Jorge Alan Sánchez Godoy, ‘Procesos de institucionalización de la narcocultura en Sinaloa’, Frontera Norte, 21 (2009), 77–103 (p. 91); Zaire Zenit Dinzey-Flores, ‘Criminalizing Communities of Poor, Dark Women in the Caribbean: The Fight against Crime through Puerto Rico’s Public Housing’, Crime Prevention and Community Safety, 13 (2011), 53–73 (p. 55); Dinzey-Flores, Locked In, Locked Out: Gated Communities in a Puerto Rican City (Philadelphia, PN: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2013), 15.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
2 Jorge Rodríguez Beruff, ‘Guerra contra las drogas, militarización y democracia: Políticas y fuerzas de seguridad en Puerto Rico’, Fronteras en conflicto: Guerra contra las drogas, militarización y democracia en el Caribe, Puerto Rico y Vieques, ed. Humberto García Muñíz and Jorge Rodríguez Beruff (San Juan: Gráfica Metropolitana, 1999), 51–115 (p. 79); Rodríguez Beruff, ‘“Narcodemocracy” or Anti-Drug Leviathan’, 164–5. In the 1990s, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) calculated the number of drug-trafficking organizations operating in Puerto Rico as being in the hundreds (see Rodríguez Beruff, ‘“Narcodemocracy” or Anti-Drug Leviathan’, 172).
3 Luis Javier Cintrón-Gutiérrez, ‘Aspectos sociológicos sobre la narco-cultura y los ritos funerarios en Puerto Rico: El caso de la muerte del “Chacal de Llorens Torres”’, Caribbean without Borders: Beyond the Can(n)ons Range, ed. María del Carmen Quintero Aguiló, Gabriel J. Jiménez Fuentes, Marisol Joseph Haynes, Gabriel Mejía González and Diana Ursulin Mopsus (Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2015), 112–23 (pp. 112–13).
4 ‘As of June 25, 2015, there were 12,381 people in Puerto Rican state prisons. Of these, approximately 65% came from households with yearly incomes below $20,000.’ Roberto Abadie, Camila Gelpi-Acosta, Carmen Davila, Angelica Rivera, Melissa Welch-Lazoritz and Kirk Dombrowski, ‘“It Ruined my Life”: The Effects of the War on Drugs on People Who Inject Drugs (PWID) in Rural Puerto Rico’, International Journal of Drug Policy, 51 (January 2018), 121–7 (p. 122).
5 Rodríguez Beruff, ‘Guerra contra las drogas, militarización y democracia’, 57.
6 I use the term reggaeton here to signify a musical movement that crystallized in Puerto Rico in the early 1990s. Some of the songs discussed in this article – including the main case study – could technically be considered hip hop or trap songs. Reggaeton singers have always employed a range of rhythms in their music in addition to the dembow with which the genre has been most commonly associated. See Wayne Marshall, Deborah Pacini Hernandez and Raquel Z. Rivera, ‘Introduction: Reggaeton’s Socio-Sonic Circuitry’, Reggaeton, ed. Rivera, Marshall and Pacini Hernandez (Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2009), 1–16. And I use the term ‘barrios’ also to refer to low-income urbanizaciones such as Parque Ecuestre (in Carolina), which have been important in the development of the genre.
7 Jaime Torres Torres, ‘Ojo crítico al ritmo del reggaetón’, El nuevo día, 10 October 2004, 4.
8 It should be noted that N.O.R.E.’s father was Puerto Rican (and his mother African American). The rapper’s Puerto Rican heritage was an important motivating factor for the recording of ‘Oye mi canto’. In an interview for MTV’s My Block, N.O.R.E. stated: ‘It’s important for me for being who I am … Forget being N.O.R.E. … This is a part of me. Like I said, I’m black-puertorriqueño, I’m proud to be both.’ My Block: Puerto Rico, documentary directed by Ritesh Gupta and Sean Lee (MTV, 2006). ‘Oye mi canto’ also features Nina Sky, Gem Star and Big Nato.
9 Leila Cobo, ‘Radio Finally Ready for Reggaetón’, Billboard, 6 November 2004, <https://worldradiohistory.com/hd2/IDX-Business/Music/Billboard-Index/IDX/2004/2004-11-06-Billboard-Page-0031.pdf> (accessed 26 October 2021).
10 Spencer Kornhaber, ‘“Despacito” and the Revenge of Reggaeton’, The Atlantic, 20 March 2017, <https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2017/05/despacito/527403/> (accessed 26 October 2021).
11 Jessica Roiz, ‘Luis Fonsi Breaks Seven Guinness World Records Titles Thanks to “Despacito”’, Billboard, 17 October 2018, <https://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/latin/8480426/luis-fonsi-despacito-breaks-guinness-world-records> (accessed 8 October 2021).
12 Keith Caulfield, ‘Bad Bunny Makes Latin History on Billboard Charts with New Album “YHLQMDLG”’, Billboard, 8 March 2020, <https://www.billboard.com/articles/business/chart-beat/9330437/bad-bunny-latin-history-billboard-charts-yhlqmdlg> (accessed 8 October 2021).
13 This was not, however, the only term employed to refer to the genre in the early stages of its development. See Marshall, Pacini Hernandez and Rivera, ‘Introduction’, Reggaeton, ed. Rivera et al., 4.
14 Marisol Lebrón, Policing Life and Death: Race, Violence, and Resistance in Puerto Rico (Oakland, CA: University of California Press, 2019), 85.
15 Raquel Z. Rivera, ‘Policing Morality, Mano dura Stylee: The Case of Underground Rap and Reggae in Puerto Rico in the Mid-1990s’, Reggaeton, ed. Rivera et al., 111–34. The attempt to prohibit reggaeton music needs to be understood within the context of the policy known as mano dura contra el crimen established by the Puerto Rican government around the same time. See also Fronteras en conflicto, ed. García Muñíz and Rodríguez Beruff; Dinzey-Flores, ‘Criminalizing Communities of Poor, Dark Women in the Caribbean’; and Lebrón, Policing Life and Death.
16 Germán Palacio, Globalizaciones, estado y narcotráfico (Santafé de Bogotá: Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Facultad de Derecho, Ciencias Políticas y Sociales; UNIJUS; Instituto para el Desarrollo de la Democracia ‘Luis Carlos Galán’, 1998). See also Danilo Santos, Ainhoa Montserrat Vásquez Mejías and Ingrid Urgelles, ‘Introducción: Lo narco como modelo cultural: Una apropiación transcontinental’, Mitologías hoy, 14 (2016), 9–23 (p. 9).
17 Ben Pengalese, ‘The Bastard Child of the Dictatorship: The Comando Vermelho and the Birth of “Narco-Culture” in Rio de Janeiro’, Luso-Brazilian Review, 45 (2008), 118–45; Rodrigo Ganter Solis, ‘Narcocultura y signos de transfronterización en Santiago de Chile’, Mitologías hoy, 14 (2016), 287–302.
18 Iván Chaar López, ‘Una mirada fugaz a la narcocultura en Puerto Rico’, 80 grados, 13 October 2010, <http://www.80grados.net/una-mirada-a-la-narcocultura-en-puerto-rico/>; Chaar López, ‘Ética y participación en la narcocultura de Puerto Rico’, 80 grados, 12 November 2010, <http://www.80grados.net/etica-y-participacion-en-la-narcocultura-de-puerto-rico/>; Chaar López, ‘Imágenes de la narcocultura en Puerto Rico’, 80 grados, 10 December 2010 <http://www.80grados.net/imagenes-de-la-narcocultura-en-puerto-rico/> (all accessed 8 October 2021).
19 Rafael Ponce-Cordero, ‘Reguetón, narcocultura y bandidaje social en el filme puertorriqueño “Talento de barrio”’, Mitologías hoy, 14 (2016), 135–49.
20 Ana Rosa Thillet, ‘La representación de la marginalidad por parte de la industria del reggaetón en Puerto Rico’ (MA thesis, University of Havana, 2006); Luz Adriana Pérez, ‘Reggaetón: Manifestación artística de los marginados’ (MA thesis, University of Texas at San Antonio, 2008); Jennifer Domino Rudolph, ‘Pidieron Cacao: Latinidad and Black Identity in the Reggaeton of Don Omar’, CENTRO: Journal of the Center for Puerto Rican Studies, 23 (2011), 31–53.
21 It should be noted that some narcoculture scholars do not categorize this phenomenon as a subculture. David Moreno Candil, César Jesús Burgos Dávila and Jairo Eli Valdez Batiz write with respect to this: ‘En la actualidad, es imposible hablar de narcocultura en términos de “subcultura”, porque no es un fenómeno propio ni exclusivo del grupo social de los narcotraficantes’ (‘Currently, it is impossible to talk about narcoculture in terms of a “subculture”, as it is not a phenomenon that relates exclusively to people involved in drug trafficking’). Moreno Candil, Burgos Dávila and Valdez Batiz, ‘Daño social y cultura del narcotráfico en México: Estudio de representaciones sociales en Sinaloa y Michoacán’, Mitologías hoy, 14 (2016), 249–69 (p. 255).
22 This is a revised version of a definition of ‘narcoculture’ that I provided in a previous study: Omar Ruiz Vega, ‘Representando al caserío: Narcocultura y el diario vivir en videos musicales de reggaetón’, Latin American Music Review, 39/2 (autumn/winter 2018), 229–65 (p. 231).
23 Pengalese, ‘The Bastard Child of the Dictatorship’, 138; Sánchez Godoy, ‘Procesos de institucionalización de la narcocultura en Sinaloa’, 94; Anajilda Mondaca-Cota, ‘Narcocorridos, ciudad y vida cotidiana: Espacios de expresión de la narcocultura en Culiacán, Sinaloa, México’ (Ph.D. dissertation, Universidad Jesuita de Guadalajara, 2012), <http://ccdoc.iteso.mx//cat.aspx?cmn=browse&id=6208> (accessed 8 October 2021), 54–5; Moreno Candil, Burgos Dávila and Valdez Batiz, ‘Daño social y cultura del narcotráfico en México’, 255–6.
24 ‘La pintura azul no tapa el recuerdo de Coquito’, Primera hora, 12 May 2010, <http://www.primerahora.com/noticias/policia-tribunales/nota/lapinturaazulnotapaelrecuerdodecoquito-386647/> (accessed 18 October 2021).
25 Ibid.
26 Pengalese, ‘The Bastard Child of the Dictatorship’, 124.
27 Moreno Candil, Burgos Dávila and Valdez Batiz, ‘Daño social y cultura del narcotráfico en México’, 251.
28 Jaffe, Rivke, ‘The Popular Culture of Illegality: Crime and the Politics of Aesthetics in Urban Jamaica’, Anthropological Quarterly, 85 (2012), 79–102 (p. 85).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
29 Robert Agnew, ‘Strain, Economic Status, and Crime’, The Handbook of Criminological Theory, ed. Alex R. Piquero (Malden, MA: John Wiley & Sons, 2016), 209–29.CrossRefGoogle Scholar See also the documentary series The Business of Drugs (Netflix, 2020).
30 Thillet, ‘La representación de la marginalidad por parte de la industria del reggaetón en Puerto Rico’, 16; Rivera-Rideau, Petra R., Remixing Reggaetón: The Cultural Politics of Race in Puerto Rico (Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2015), 49.Google Scholar
31 Zaire Zenit Dinzey-Flores, ‘De la disco al caserío: Urban Spatial Aesthetics and Policy to the Beat of Reggaeton’, CENTRO: Journal of the Center for Puerto Rican Studies, 20 (2008), 34–69 (p. 48).
32 Lebrón, Policing Life and Death, 110.
33 These songs also tend to portray a more complex and thus more realistic representation of these communities than maleanteo songs.
34 The original version of this song was part of the soundtrack of the film Talento de barrio. The timings I present below relate to the version of the video found at <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oIyZg1ty9Og>.
35 For a more detailed analysis regarding the representations of narcoculture in reggaeton music videos between 2006 and 2016, see my previous article, ‘Representando al caserío’. To my knowledge, there are no studies that discuss the representations of narcoculture in reggaeton music during the 1990s. Nevertheless, on the basis of my research, the representations of narcoculture have remained very similar throughout the genre’s history.
36 ‘No toleramos listerías, si eres chota en la boca, si eres comelón en la barriga.’
37 ‘Se toman como un símbolo de poder, quien traiga consigo un arma tiene el poder de imponer su voluntad a los otros.’ Moreno Candil, Burgos Dávila and Valdez Batiz, ‘Daño social y cultura del narcotráfico en México’, 260. See also Mondaca-Cota, ‘Narcocorridos, ciudad y vida cotidiana’, 74.
38 ‘Modelos de comportamiento caracterizados por un exacerbado “anhelo de poder”’. Sánchez Godoy, ‘Procesos de institucionalización de la narcocultura en Sinaloa’, 80.
39 Ibid., 96; Günther Maihold and Rosa María Sauter de Maihold, ‘Capos, reinas y santos: La narcocultura en México’, IMex / México Interdisciplinario / Interdisciplinary Mexico, 2 (December 2012), 64–96 (p. 72); Miguel Rojas-Sotelo, ‘Narcoaesthetics in Colombia, Mexico, and the United States: Death Narco, Narco Nations, Border States, Narcochingadazo?’, Latin American Perspectives, 41 (2014), 215–31 (p. 225); Moreno Candil, Burgos Dávila and Valdez Batiz, ‘Daño social y cultura del narcotráfico en México’, 256–7.
40 Liliana Paola Ovalle and Corina Giacomello, ‘La mujer en el “narcomundo”: Construcciones tradicionales y alternativas del sujeto femenino’, Revista de estudios de género: La ventana, 3 (2006), 297–319 (pp. 304–5).
41 ‘En relación al narcotráfico, la vestimenta y la apropiación de accesorios de alto costo son elementos de deseabilidad, de poder y distinción social. También, una forma de legitimación. Para Ovalle “tener el reloj de la mejor marca y el más costoso, andar con la mujer más bonita, ir a los mejores sitios, tener la casa más vistosa, los automóviles más lujosos; son expresiones de la búsqueda de aceptación de los sujetos”. El consumo representa una lucha simbólica con la que se busca “dar una impresión”, “hacer creer” e “inspirar respeto o confianza”. Así, el vestir y el consumo son prácticas sociales en las que se visibiliza el poder económico del mundo del narcotráfico.’ Moreno Candil, Burgos Dávila and Valdez Batiz, ‘Daño social y cultura del narcotráfico en México’, 257. See also María Luisa de la Garza, Pero me gusta lo bueno: Una lectura ética de los corridos que hablan del narcotráfico y de los narcotraficantes (Tuxtla Gutiérrez: UNICACH and Miguel Ángel Porrúa, 2008), 35.
42 Erik K. Watts, ‘An Exploration of Spectacular Consumption: Gangsta Rap as Cultural Commodity’, That’s the Joint! The Hip-Hop Studies Reader, ed. Murray Forman and Mark Anthony Neal (New York: Routledge, 2004), 593–609 (p. 598).
43 Alfredo Nieves Moreno, ‘A Man Lives Here: Reggaeton’s Hypermasculine Resident’, Reggaeton, ed. Rivera et al., 252–79.
44 Pérez, ‘Reggaetón’, 59–61; Domino Rudolph, ‘Pidieron Cacao’, 36–8.
45 Sánchez Godoy, ‘Procesos de institucionalización de la narcocultura en Sinaloa’, 80.
46 ‘Así que estate quieto / Que si te pillo por mi callejón te van a mandar un rafagazo / Estate quieto, Arcángel, “La Maravilla”, protagonista de tu fracaso.’
47 ‘No soy sicario, pero jalo cuando es necesario.’
48 Chaar López, ‘Ética y participación en la narcocultura de Puerto Rico’; Mariana Cobián, ‘Cae la ganga de Los Lobos’, Primera hora, 19 May 2016, <https://www.primerahora.com/noticias/policia-tribunales/notas/cae-la-ganga-de-los-lobos/> (accessed 26 October 2021).
49 John H. McDowell, ‘The Ballad of Narcomexico’, Journal of Folklore Research, 49 (2012), 249–74 (p. 267).
50 ‘Digan, ¿le llenamo e’ boquete la Tacoma? / Y si no se muere ese cabrón va a quedarse en coma.’
51 ‘De la calle soy el cáncer / Las cortas pasan, yo conozco al bouncer / Un fantasmeo y te llenamos de boquete el Lancer.’
52 Carlos Martín, personal communication.
53 The ‘Somos de calle’ remix was filmed in Residencial Villa Kennedy (San Juan), Residencial Jardines de Quintana (San Juan), Barrio La Perla (San Juan), Barrio Tras Talleres (San Juan), Villa Palmeras (San Juan), Residencial Virgilio Dávila (Bayamón) and in some areas of Loíza and Ponce. Ibid.
54 Ruiz Vega, ‘Representando al caserío’.
55 Ibid., 253–4.
56 The term ‘stereotype’ here refers to ‘a cognitive structure that contains our knowledge, beliefs and expectancies about some human social group’. Miles Hewstone, Wolfgang Stroebe and Klaus Jonas, ‘Glossary’, An Introduction to Social Psychology, ed. Hewstone, Stroebe and Jonas, 5th edn (Chichester: BPS Blackwell, 2012), 601–12 (p. 612).
57 L. Rowell Huesmann, ‘The Impact of Electronic Media Violence: Scientific Theory and Research’, Youth Violence and Electronic Media: Similar Behaviors, Different Venues?, ed. Corinne David-Ferdon and Marci Feldman Hertz, special issue, Journal of Adolescent Health, 41/6 (2007), S6–S13 (p. S11).
58 Barbara Krahé, ‘Aggression’, An Introduction to Social Psychology, ed. Hewstone, Stroebe and Jonas, 273–312 (p. 285).
59 Valkenburg, Patti M. and Piotrowski, Jessica Taylor, ‘Media and Violence’, Plugged In: How Media Attract and Affect Youth (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2017), 96–115.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
60 Anthony R. Pratkanis and Elliot Aronson, Age of Propaganda: The Everyday Use and Abuse of Persuasion, rev. edn (New York: W. H. Freeman/Owl Books, 2002), 147.
61 Valkenburg and Piotrowski, ‘Media and Violence’, 105, 112.
62 Krahé, ‘Aggression’, 295.
63 Social psychologists refer to this phenomenon as ‘habituation’ or ‘desensitization’. See Krahé, ‘Aggression’, 294–5; Huesmann, ‘The Impact of Electronic Media Violence’, S8; and Valkenburg and Piotrowski, ‘Media and Violence’, 107–8.
64 ‘Genera proximidad psicosocial al narcotráfico; es decir, niveles de simpatía, comprensión, interacción, apropiación y valoraciones sobre el fenómeno’. Moreno Candil, Burgos Dávila and Valdez Batiz, ‘Daño social y cultura del narcotráfico en México’, 251. See also Sánchez Godoy, ‘Procesos de institucionalización de la narcocultura en Sinaloa’, 82, and Ashleigh A. Fugate, ‘Narcocultura: A Threat to Mexican National Security?’ (MA thesis, Naval Postgraduate School, 2012), <https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/pdfs/ADA574223.pdf>, 18.
65 Narcocorridos are a contemporary variant of the traditional Mexican corrido – a type of narrative ballad – whose lyrics tend to extol the world of drug trafficking.
66 Huesmann, ‘The Impact of Electronic Media Violence’, S7.
67 Krahé, ‘Aggression’, 280; Matt DeLisi and Michael G. Vaughn, ‘Correlates of Crime’, The Handbook of Criminological Theory, ed. Alex R. Piquero (Malden, MA: John Wiley & Sons, 2016), 18–36; Valkenburg and Piotrowski, ‘Media and Violence’, 113.
68 For examples of attitudes research, see Richard E. Petty and Russell H. Fazio, Attitudes: Their Structure, Function and Consequences (New York and Hove: Psychology Press, 2008); Alice H. Eagly and Shelly Chaiken, The Psychology of Attitudes (Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Cengage Learning, 2010); and Geoffrey Haddock and Gregory R. Maio, ‘Attitudes’, An Introduction to Social Psychology, ed. Hewstone, Stroebe and Jonas, 171–200. It is important to consider that, ‘Attitudes are one form of knowledge, namely evaluative knowledge and are as such represented in memory. Just as we associate “bread” with “butter” and “doctor” with “nurse”, we can associate “yuck” with “cockroaches”.’ Wolfgang Stroebe, ‘Strategies of Attitude and Behaviour Change’, An Introduction to Social Psychology, ed. Hewstone, Stroebe and Jonas, 201–33 (p. 219). In our case, ‘drug trafficking’ is associated with ‘money, power and social distinction’.
69 This code of ethics certainly displays regional differences. Nevertheless, it contains several core features which are similar across regions, among them the acceptance of utterly violent behaviour (particularly gun violence) and an extreme materialistic mindset.
70 Agnew, ‘Strain, Economic Status, and Crime’, 214.
71 Valkenburg and Piotrowski, ‘Media and Violence’, 113–14. See also George Gerbner, Larry Gross, Michael Morgan and Nancy Signorielli, ‘The “Mainstreaming” of America: Violence Profile no. 11’, Journal of Communication, 30 (1980), 10–29.
72 Anne Campbell, ‘Aggression’, The Handbook of Evolutionary Psychology, ed. David M. Buss (Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, 2005), 628–52 (pp. 642–6); Russell Spears and Nicole Tausch, ‘Prejudice and Intergroup Relations’, An Introduction to Social Psychology, ed. Hewstone, Stroebe and Jonas, 449–98 (p. 456).
73 John Tooby and Leda Cosmides, ‘Conceptual Foundations of Evolutionary Psychology’, The Handbook of Evolutionary Psychology, ed. Buss, 5–67 (p. 17).
74 This relates to what persuasion studies scholars refer to as the ‘peripheral route to persuasion’: ‘This type of persuasion refers to any attitude change mechanism that does not involve systematic processing. The peripheral route thus encompasses cognitive processes such as the use of heuristic decision rules (e.g. “experts can be trusted”), affective processes such as evaluative conditioning and mere exposure, and the use of information about the attitudes held by relevant others.’ Wolfgang Stroebe, ‘Strategies of Attitude and Behaviour Change’, An Introduction to Social Psychology, ed. Hewstone, Stroebe and Jonas, 201–33 (p. 209). See also Pratkanis and Aronson, Age of Propaganda, and Agnew, ‘Strain, Economic Status, and Crime’, 216.
75 Edward Schiappa, Peter B. Gregg and Dean E. Hewes, ‘The Parasocial Contact Hypothesis’, Communication Monographs, 72 (2005), 92–115 (p. 95; emphasis original).
76 ‘Why Do I Need You?’, The Brain with David Eagleman, directed by Glenn Barden, documentary series (PBS, 2015), episode 5, <https://www.amazon.com/gp/video/detail/B016O9YRVI/ref=atv_hm_hom_1_c_iEgOEZ_2_1> (accessed 18 October 2021).
77 For instance, Tooby and Cosmides state: ‘We no longer live in small, face-to-face societies, in seminomadic bands of 20 to 100 people, many of whom were close relatives. Yet, our cognitive programs were designed for that social world.’ Tooby and Cosmides, ‘Conceptual Foundations of Evolutionary Psychology’, 17.
78 ‘La exposición prolongada a eventos violentos contribuye a que éstos se normalicen, y peor aún, que la construcción de alternativas se dificulte, pues esta violencia se vuelve un elemento de la cotidianidad.’ Moreno Candil, Burgos Dávila and Valdez Batiz, ‘Daño social y cultura del narcotráfico en México’, 261. See also Sánchez Godoy, ‘Procesos de institucionalización de la narcocultura en Sinaloa’, 95.
79 Rivera, ‘Policing Morality, Mano dura Stylee’, 118–21; Rivera-Rideau, Remixing Reggaetón, 47, 49.
80 Pérez, ‘Reggaetón’, 7; Philip Samponaro, ‘“Oye mi canto” (“Listen to my Song”): The History and Politics of Reggaetón’, Popular Music and Society, 32 (2009), 489–506 (p. 499).
81 Rivera, ‘Policing Morality, Mano dura Stylee’, 122.
82 Stuart Hall, ‘Kodieren/Dekodieren’, trans. Bettina Suppelt, and ‘Reflektionen über das Kodieren/Dekodieren-Modell: Ein Interview mit Stuart Hall’, trans. Tobias Nagl, Ideologie, Identität, Repräsentation, ed. Juha Koivisto and Andreas Merkens, 3rd edn (Hamburg: Argument Verlag, 2010), 66–80, 81–107.
83 Mark Edberg, ‘The Narcotrafficker in Representation and Practice: A Cultural Persona from the U.S.–Mexican Border’, Ethos, 32 (2004), 257–77 (p. 273); Eithne Quinn, Nuthin’ but a ‘G’ Thang: The Culture and Commerce of Gangsta Rap (New York: Columbia University Press, 2005), 39; Ovalle and Giacomello, ‘La mujer en el “narcomundo”’, 298–9; Miguel Angel Cabañas, ‘El narcocorrido global y las identidades transnacionales’, Revista de estudios hispánicos, 42 (2008), 519–42 (p. 539); Rivera, ‘Policing Morality, Mano dura Stylee’, 121–6; Lebrón, Policing Life and Death, 83–113.
84 Here I am paraphrasing the work of María Luisa de la Garza (Pero me gusta lo bueno, 133). Also insightful in this regard is Honneth, Axel, Kampf um Anerkennung: Zur moralischen Grammatik sozialer Konflikte, 10th edn (Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp, 2018).Google Scholar
85 Ruiz Vega, ‘Representando al caserío’, 257.
86 Jillian M. Báez, ‘“En mi imperio”: Competing Discourses of Agency in Ivy Queen’s Reggaetón’, CENTRO: Journal of the Center for Puerto Rican Studies, 18 (2006), 62–81 (p. 75); Nieves Moreno, ‘A Man Lives Here’; Rivera, ‘Policing Morality, Mano dura Stylee’, 128–9; Petra R. Rivera-Rideau, ‘“Tropical Mix” : Afro-Latino Space and Notch’s Reggaetón’, Popular Music and Society, 34 (2011), 221–35 (pp. 228–30); José Gálvez, ‘Machtverhältnisse, Genderasymmetrien und Körperkonfigurationen in Reggaeton’, PopScriptum: Sound, Sex und Sexismus, 12 (2016), <https://www.musikundmedien.hu-berlin.de/de/musikwissenschaft/pop/popscriptum-1/sound-sex-und-sexismus/12-sound-sex-und-sexismus> (accessed 26 October 2021).
87 ‘Acho yo creo en el karma, brother, y […] me pasó de que una vez me llaman: “Acho, Jory, ve este video.” Y yo veo que matan a un tipo con la canción mía puesta, con “Bienvenidos a mi mundo”. Y para mí, eso me dijo como que […] “Yo estoy ayudando a esta gente a matarse.” Yo lo vi así. Hay gente que no le importa, pero yo lo vi así. Yo dije: “esto me va a traer un karma malo” […] Pues yo dije […]: “Pal carajo. No voy a hacer más […] maleanteo. Vámonos con las nenas.”’ Rapetón, ‘Por esta razón @joryboyofficial ya no hace maleanteo’, interview with Ángel M. Vera ‘El Guru’, 25 January 2020, <https://www.instagram.com/tv/B7wKVauDhu9/?igshid=avnzujffaam2> (accessed 20 October 2021).
88 Specifically, he sings: ‘Aquí en la esquina, donde día a día juego con mi vida’.
89 Stephen Lowry and Helmut Korte, Der Filmstar: Brigitte Bardot, James Dean, Götz George, Heinz Rühmann, Romy Schneider, Hanna Schygulla und neuere Stars (Stuttgart: Metzler, 2000), 13; Jessica Evans, ‘Celebrity, Media and History’, Understanding Media: Inside Celebrity, ed. Jessica Evans and David Hesmondhalgh (Maidenhead: Open University Press, 2005), 11–56 (p. 19); Richard Dyer, ‘Stars as Images’, The Celebrity Culture Reader, ed. David P. Marshall (New York: Routledge, 2006), 153–76; Silke Borgstedt, Der Musik-Star: Vergleichende Imageanalysen von Alfred Brendel, Stefanie Hertel und Robbie Williams (Bielefeld: Transcript, 2007), 53–64; Omar Ruiz Vega, Musik–Kolonialismus–Identität: José Figueroa Sanabia und die puerto-ricanische Gesellschaft 1925–1952, Musik und Klangkultur, 9 (Bielefeld: Transcript, 2015), 35–7.
90 Gupta and Lee, Puerto Rico; Dinzey-Flores, ‘De la disco al caserío’, 60–1.
91 Nicky Jam: El Ganador, directed by Jessy Terrero (streaming series, Netflix, 2018).
92 Valkenburg and Piotrowski, ‘Media and Violence’, 114–15.
