The Puerto Rican Reggaeton Ivy Queen turned 50 last Friday showing that she is “the diva and the queen” of the urban genre for censoring sexist violence in her songs and for her continued defense of this musical movement.
Martha Ivelisse Pesante Rodriguezfirst name of the interpreter, was born in Añasco, a municipality on the northwest coast of Puerto Rico, far from where reggaeton evolved in the early nineties on the island: the metropolitan area.
“When he left Añasco, he went looking for luck,” recalled DJ Negro, one of the pillars of reggaeton and one of the first music producers who gave Ivy Queen the opportunity to demonstrate her talent on a record at the age of 24.
Although the musical genre was dominated by men -which it still is- Ivy Queen did the impossible for any of the producers of that time to hear her sing and include her on an album.
THE DISCOVERY OF IVY QUEEN
Ivy Queen was going to meet DJ Negro at the opening of a barbershop, but since the activity was extended in hours and she couldn’t show him her musical skills, she finally went to his recording studio another day.
“That’s where I gave him the opportunity to show me his talent,” said DJ Negro, who noted that the eighth song Ivy Queen performed was the one he liked.
That song was titledMany want to knock me down”and between its lines there were messages against sexist violence such as: “Those who swear love eternally end up giving their wife death.”
The topic was included in “The Noise 5″ (1995), the fifth compilation of DJ Negro records, and in which the duo of Baby Rasta and Gringo also participated.
TALENT AND COMMITTED LYRICS
“There were women who sang, but their style stood out with all the ‘corillo’ of The Noise and that surprised Negro,” said Gringo.
“It was crazy to have her, because the other ‘corillos’ had to squeeze (make an effort),” he added about the singer, whose albums include “Diva” (2003), “Sentimiento” (2007) and the most recent, “The Queen has arrived (2019).
In addition to expressing her concern and frustration about sexist violence, Ivy Queen criticized in another song the contempt that society had for reggaeton artists with her song “We are rappers, but not criminals.”
Baby Rasta, meanwhile, highlighted Ivy Queen’s “innate talent” and her strength to achieve “respect” among the bunch of men dedicated to reggaeton.
IT WAS RESPECTED
“Apart from my career as a singer, I see who has talent and who doesn’t… From that first time, I knew that the world was going to be eaten in a difficult time for having a macho audience,” said Baby Rasta about his colleague.
“She came with the cannons ready. She saw that she was going to be a diva, a respected woman. She is the same as Daddy Yankee, who will always be on a pedestal apart from everyone, because they followed their careers from the beginning, striving and consistent despite all the frustrations they experienced, “she reflected.
With eight albums under her arms, Ivy Queen was the only female voice of twelve interpreters in the introduction of the album “12 disciples”, in which with the phrase “take off you that the horse arrived, the bitch, the diva, the filly” underlined his reign in the world of reggaeton. (AND)
Source: Eluniverso
Paul is a talented author and journalist with a passion for entertainment and general news. He currently works as a writer at the 247 News Agency, where he has established herself as a respected voice in the industry.
