If I told you Lunay or Farruko left Daddy Yankee on read, you’d be gobsmacked. Confusion abounds when an artist deliberately declines to work with someone who laid down the groundwork for the genre they’re so comfortably, and in some cases unrightfully, benefitting from today. But to not even have the decency to acknowledge them is outright disrespectful. Over the weekend, Ivy Queen revealed that several artists in urbano have done just that.
La Caballota, known as one of the first women to break into urbano during its nascent days of more widespread recognition and crossover into the Anglo market, is basically (debatably, according to a group of one) a queen. From playing music out of the trunk of a car to blessing us with incomparable, timeless anthems that set the tone for women in a male-dominated space, the 47-year-old’s vision for the future of urbano is largely unfolding today. Yet, in a recent interview with Telemundo, she expressed concern over the future of the testosterone-filled genre, which she says is “hellbent on dividing women.” Though she claims to have a song titled “Un Dia Sin Nosotras” on file with the new wave of women urbano stars that came about as a result of a day at the studio, the “bureaucracy of testosterone,” which she deems as everyone from managers to labels, is inhibiting its release.
Still, she persists in her effort to both mentor new blood and prove her longevity. When it comes to making music with the likes of Cardi B, who has time and time again verbally bowed down to the Puerto Rican icon over the last two years, calling her “my queen,” Ivy says she’s just waiting for the universe to do its thing. “My energy is there, but I can’t fight a system that’s… kind of strange,” she said. Some of the other culprits who have yet to get back to her DMs include Bad Bunny, Rosalía, J Balvin and Ozuna. These artists, all ahead of their time in some capacity, are of course entitled to decline collaborations. But when it comes to someone of Ivy Queen’s stature, it’s difficult to not ask – what exactly is keeping these artists from hitting the ground running? In the last year alone, the iconic 42-year-old Daddy Yankee has collaborated with Lunay, Bad Bunny, J Balvin, Farruko, Karol G and Ozuna, just to name a few.
When asked if she is still the queen of reggaeton, Ivy echoed the words of Juan Gabriel saying, “Lo que se ve no se pregunta, mi amor.”
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