Dembow is a Dominican and Puerto Rican musical subgenre[1][2] that can be traced to a riddim that originated in Jamaican dancehall.[3] The dembow genre was named after the song "Dem Bow" released by Jamaican dancehall artist Shabba Ranks in 1990. It did not take long for the dembow genre to form. Riddims were built from the song and the sound became a popular part of reggaeton. From there, it took off in the Dominican Republic, creating the sound UNDERWORLD ("Bajo Mundo" in Spanish) which reflected the underground nature of the music. Dembow soon became popular on the streets of New York, and it soon made its way to all of Latin America. The Dominican dembow sound keeps evolving and has been fused with trap music since 2016. It's also fused with bachata and merengue from the Dominican Republic. Dembow artists are called "Dembowseros".[4][5]

Characteristics

The main element of dembow music is its rhythm, which is somewhat reminiscent of reggaeton and dancehall music, but with a more constant rhythm and faster beats per minute than reggaeton. Rhythm and melodies in dembow tend to be simple and repetitive. The lyrics in dembow are usually fast and delivered in rhythm similar to American rap with repetitive phrases and innuendos of street life.

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Dembow Took Over Dominican Republic in 1990. Can It Take Over the World?". Rolling Stone. 7 November 2019.
  2. ↑ "El dembow: el sonido urbano del momento".
  3. ↑ "Historia breve del Reggae jamaiquino, Reggaeton y Dembow". Archived from the original on 2016-02-22. Retrieved 2017-04-05.
  4. ↑ "Digital Rhythm: The loopy origins of dembow and the knotty dancehall roots of reggaeton". Archived from the original on 2020-08-18. Retrieved 2018-05-08.
  5. ↑ Marshall, Wayne. Dem Bow, Dembow, Dembo: Translation and Transnation in Reggaeton. pp. 131–151.
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