You can tell if a place is a creative force to be reckoned with when aside from contributing to the biggest cultural movements of its time, it is also a place where new things are always taking shape. Argentina is the birthland of a lot of Latine pop, trap, and reggaeton stars: Tini, Bizarrap, Nicki Nicole, María Becerra, Nathy Peluso, Cazzu, Lali Esposito, Lola Indigo, just to name a few. But there’s more than that happening in Argentinian music in the 2020s. While genres like reggaeton and cumbia are popular there and in many other Latin American countries, the genre dominating Argentina is a fusion of these two, RKT.
RKT was born in San Martín—more specifically in a bowling alley and club called “Rescate Bailable” in the province of Buenos Aires— when a group of resident DJs started meshing cumbia and reggaeton beats on their remixes in the late 2000s. They kept the tempo and the güiros of the original cumbia made in Colombia, the typical accordion of Argentina’s take on cumbia, the dry snare of reggaeton, and boom: that new sound became RKT.
From the first remixes, such as “Danza Fantasma,” RKT grew a whole scene in the suburbs of Buenos Aires, influenced by rap/trap music and culture. While RKT remains a genre of the streets (or “música de barrio,” as Argentinians call it), it has gained enough traction to attract new artists and earn them commercial success since 2020.
While RKT artists will make sure you know they’re proudly Argentinian when you listen to the music or watch the music videos, it is also impregnated with foreign influences and is even subject to prejudice for its explicit references to sex, alcohol, and drugs. But for the RKT artists, it became a lifestyle and an expression of their identity. Let’s get to know seven artists making and shaking the RKT scene in Argentina.
L-Gante
When L-Gante released “L-Gante RKT,=” in 2020, it was a turning point for RKT. The track found unprecedented success and showed other RKT artists a vision of what the genre and scene could be. “L-Gante RKT” made L-Gante a pioneer, and the song quickly became known as “the RKT anthem.” In 2021, the singer and songwriter took RKT to an even higher point when he collaborated with Argentinian producer Bizarrap for his project “Bzrp Music Sessions.” Thanks to L-Gante, “Vol. 38” became the first of many tracks from the project to top the Billboard Argentina Hot 100 chart.
BM
BM’s career began during the pandemic, but his break was in 2022 with the song “M.A.,” which stands for “Mejores Amigos” and is a reference to the Instagram feature. The track’s success led the singer and songwriter to release a remix with Callejero Fino, La Joaqui, Lola Indigo, and DJ Alan Gomez, placing him at the center of the RKT movement.
La Joaqui
One of the first female rappers of Argentina’s rap battle scene, La Joaqui found in RKT a space to embrace a different version of her artistic persona. Her trademark sound is her hoarse voice, but she also catches attention with her body tattoos and fashion style. La Joaqui’s sense of melody and rhyming lets you know she is rooted in hip-hop, but she looks and sounds perfectly at home in RKT. The fans of the genre seem to agree, as La Joaqui is called by many “la reina de RKT.” She’s still one of the few female artists at the top of the RKT scene.
Callejero Fino
While the main RKT male singers, such as L-Gante and Kaled di Masi, had deep voices, Callejero Fino went for the higher-pitched tune reminiscent of sad rap. His music consists of both romantic and party songs. Callejero Fino’s flow is as catchy as his vignettes. And he has many: “Yo soy CF, mami,” “Hagan caso / Pa’ la rocha beso y pa’ lo gile rafagazo” (“Pay attention / Kisses to the girls and gunshots at the guys,”) and “7-2-3” (in an interview for Caja Negra, he explained that the numbers reference his address and have a personal, symbolic meaning for him) became catchphrases that even his collaborators echo.
Kaleb Di Masi
Kaleb Di Masi was one of the first RKT singers to break through during the 2020 genre boom with the song “Turraka.” He calls his music “turreo místico” (“mystic turreo”), which is marked by his deep voice and obscure style.
DJ Alan Gomez
The DJs are a fundamental part of the RKT scene. After all, they’re the producers and responsible for keeping the genre’s sound alive. One of the lead characters of the RKT scene is DJ Alan Gomez. His project Missions features a wide range of RKT singers in music videos recorded in a white room that looks like the interior of a spaceship.
DJ Tao
If DJ Alan Gomez has the Missions and the white ship, DJ Tao has the Turreo Sessions and his music videos are recorded inside a car, which he drives as his featured artists sing. DJ Tao is an exponent of RKT, but he also produces tracks closer to purer cumbia to adapt to each collaboration.