Reparto Music Is Cuba’s New Urban Movement: 31 Artists to Discover

Gente de Zona became the first Cuban duo to sell out the coveted Kaseya Center in Miami earlier this month, where they performed for over 14,000 fans in celebration of its 25th anniversary. The duo’s prolific career includes their breakout hit “Bailando” with Enrique Iglesias and Descemer Bueno that spent 41 weeks at No. 1 on the Hot Latin Songs chart in 2014 and made history as the  first Spanish-language video to achieve one billion views on YouTube. 

Like Gente de Zona, helmed by Randy Malcom and Alexander Delgado, artists such as Osmaní García, Jacob Forever, and El Chacal formed part of the booming Cubatón movement in the 2010s, and propelled the genre (that blends Cuban rhythms with reggaetón) beyond the Caribbean island and onto its mainstream success. García teamed up with Pitbull, Sensato and Lil Jon in the 2015 hit “El Taxi,” Jacob’s “Hasta Que Se Seque El Malecón” peaked at No. 10 on Hot Latin Songs in 2016, and Chacal’s “Ay Mi Dios” in collaboration with Yandel and IAmChino reached No. 1 on the Latin Airplay chart that same year.

But in recent years — especially since 2018 when public WiFi hotspots were made more accessible on the island — a large wave of artists, mainly still living in Cuba, has brought to the forefront “reparto” music, a genre that was once considered “reggaetón of the poor,” but today represents the sound of modern-day Cuba, and is gaining massive popularity.

What is Reparto?

In honor of its 25-year trajectory, Gente de Zona also released its tenth studio album called Reparto, with the hopes of “showing the world the evolution of Cuban reggaetón that defines our culture, and shine a light on the artists who are leading the authentic reparto movement,” according to Malcom in a statement. 

The name derives from the barrios or housing projects in Cuba, where aspiring artists would create their own homemade reggaetón and sing about street life powered by local slang. The genre’s first exponents trace back to the mid-2000s with artists such as the late Elvis Manuel (who tragically drowned in 2008 as he migrated to the U.S. by raft), Adonis MC, El Uniko, and most notably, Chocolate MC, who cleverly added the Cuban clave to his 2010 reggaetón song “Parapapampan,” resulting in what is known now as reparto.

“The genre is known for its fusion of Afro-American rhythms and rumba elements, and its main element is the Cuban clave,” producer NandoPro (real name: Fernando Lázaro Otero Van-Caneghem) tells Billboard. “It’s evolved and now features a blend of drums derived from reggaeton, hip hop, timba, and Cuban folk music in general. But, the biggest difference is the way the lyrics are narrated. El Reparto is characterized by more aggressive, harsher and explicit lyrics, without much filtering in the language.” 

Today’s reparto artists, however, are changing the narrative. 

They are singing about love (Wampi’s “Roma”); making positive affirmations (El Chulo’s “Tienes Que Nacer de Nuevo”); and even empowering women (Mawell’s “La Triple M”). Others are strategically turning popular songs, such as Alejandro Sanz’s “Corazón Partío” and Akon’s “I Wanna F*ck You,” into a reparto melody.

Meanwhile, the movement is highly consumed in Peru, Spain, Miami, and has already captured the attention of non-Cuban artists, such as Nacho, Lenny Tavárez, and Sergio George, who have all collaborated with a repartero. 

“The Dominican Republic has its dembow, Puerto Rico has its reggaetón — today Colombia is taking over Afrobeat, and I think that’s going to happen with Cuba as well,” Nacho, who’s currently viral with his reparto tune “Nosotros” alongside Maffio and L Kimii, says to Billboard. “Reparto is a wealth of rhythms combined: there’s son, there’s salsa, there’s timba, there’s reggaetón. There’s a bit of everything, and I’ve been in love with that genre for a long time.” 

Nando, who’s produced hits for Gente de Zona, El Taiger, J Balvin, and Farruko, among others, further explains: “After 2014, many Cubatón exponents emigrated to the United States in search of international success, and many even explored other genres in search of acceptance. This left a large void within urban music in Cuba and it was the young reparto artists that filled that space. This is the evolution of music from the Cuban barrios. We still have a long way to go, but the authentic message is getting through, and artists from other countries are discovering a refreshing style they can experiment with.” 

Below, meet 31 reparto artists shaping Cuba’s new urban movement: