Last month, reggaeton matriarch Ivy Queen spoke out about the “testosterone of urbano” and highlighted the ways in which systems of the music industry have locked her out of collaborations with major stars. She named-checked a few people who haven’t responded to her DMs, including Bad Bunny, Rosalía and Ozuna, and shared that she even convened a group of female urbano artists for a single that got shelved because of label politics.
Ivy is among the most foundational voices in urbano, and she served as a trailblazer who defined a path that helped so many artists get to where they are today. Now, there are a few people who want to make sure that no one forgets what a pioneer she has been – including another member of the reggaeton vanguard, Baby Rasta, who said Queen is like “his sister in music” in a recent interview.
While he’s not wild about people ignoring Queen’s requests to collaborate, he did explain the challenges in coordinating new music: “The schedules of certain artists are difficult, sometimes things get delayed, and most of the time, labels influence a lot of things,” he said.
Still, he shared that he and Queen are still close and that they have “chemistry” that could potentially lead to more work together someday.
“With Ivy, I have a beautiful communication. We met up in Panama and we were at the same concert about a month back… I have great chemistry with her. She’s my little sister in the music,” he said. He nodded to their backgrounds in San Juan by adding, “You know about Baby Rasta and Gringo, right? Where are we from? And where is she from,” he said, referring to their beginnings in San Juan’s The Noise collective.
We’re hoping this puts energy out into the world that one day gives us a legends-only collab including Baby Rasta and La Caballota.