NPR’s Morning Edition focused on Tego Calderón’s brand of reggaeton in “Puerto Rican Hip-Hop Icon Tego Calderon Mixes Prose and Politics.” Read the following short description by Jasmine Garsd, with a link to the interview below:

When the Morning Edition team arrived in Puerto Rico to report our series on the island’s difficult situation, one of the first things we noticed was, strangely enough, the sound of the coquis — tiny frogs whose mating chant goes on throughout the night. In fact, the sound of music — whether by the coquis, from stores, or blaring from passing cars — accompanied us continually. The island seems to always keep moving to the sound of various beats.

It would be too easy to arrive at a location as a journalist and shuttle from one story to the next — crime, unemployment, exodus. But Puerto Rico kept reminding us at every turn that…

An interview with Marjua Estevez for Vibe. Here are some excerpt. Follow this link for the complete interview.

Spiff TV, né Carlos Suarez, moves around the proverbial chessboard with meticulous sway, always predicting the upward trend in music—eyes on the Internet and ears to the streets. A child of hip-hop and overall student of the industry, Spiff has spent the last decade building his résumé, most notably as Rick Ross’ chief video director. Yet, the music producer and A&R at large can trace his wizardry behind the lens back to when reggaeton, a historically underground music, began to sweep Orlando (or Little Puerto Rico) circa early 2000s.

“I was working with Noreaga,” he says to VIBE Viva. “When he was doing ‘Oye Mi Canto’ and all those other big Latin records, I was going on the road with him.”

Years of A&R-ing for millennial rappers, shooting vivid visuals and unearthing some of your favorite hip-hop beats (see Albert…