The term GOAT is tossed around haphazardly in our post-TikTok world. But when you speak of true GOAT status in contemporary music, only a few artists can hold the title and represent it as well as Daddy Yankee. With the release of his final album, LEGENDADDY, the unquestioned GOAT of reggaeton retired. The entire Latinx music community let out a collective “bendito” and prayed to the reggaeton gods for one last perreo. Just 45, Puerto Rico’s Ramón Luis Ayala Rodríguez está cansado.

It was Victor Cruz's Puerto Rican abuelita who first taught him to dance salsa as a kid in his living room in the gritty neighborhood of Paterson, New Jersey. The record player blasting the sounds of Frankie Ruiz. Many years later, the former Giants wide receiver would pay homage to his grandmother with an end-zone dance that was as much a celebration of his touchdowns as it was of his roots.

Last year, Bad Bunny bested Los Reyes Magos (the Three Wise Men). Gold, frankincense and myrrh combined didn’t stand a chance against the genre-bending opus that was Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio’s debut album, X 100PRE, released on Nochebuena (December 24, 2018). It was a gift made for Latinx but embraced by the world.

Interviewed Colombian reggaeton star Karol G for TIDAL.

Bruno Mars doesn't walk; he glides. It’s as if he’s perpetually ready to perform a Motown-style choreography set in front of tens of millions watching the Super Bowl (which he has done twice in the past four years)—even easing his way into a suburban L.A. pizza parlor, where moments earlier, his sexy, chart-topping 2012 hit, “Locked Out of Heaven,” was on blast, as if anticipating his appearance. Mars just has that aura. His outfit is straight Fania-era salsa/blaxploitation swag—Gucci cap over his curls; sunglasses; an open shirt, floral and teal; tan shorts; dress shoes (no socks, to accentuate those smooth legs); and minimal gold jewelry.

It began with a big F-you to authority. “Pigs,” the intro song to Cypress Hill’s emblematic self-titled debut, which celebrates its 30th anniversary on August 13 with a new Expanded Edition, called out the barrio’s overseers. From the get-go you could tell these weren’t your usual Latino MCs rhyming about girls and parties. B-Real, Sen Dog and Latinx-by-association DJ Muggs weren’t about making nice; rather, they were about being heard, smoking bud and stomping out anyone who dare cross them.

We were never supposed to hear Tego Calderón as a masterful reggaetonero. Initially a hip-hop MC, the artist from Loíza, Puerto Rico, wasn’t crafting perreos at first. In the early 2000s, Calderón, on the advice of his peers and DJs, started to perform reggaeton his way. “It was very difficult for me to break out doing rap,” he told me in 2003.

Interviewed Brazilian superstar Anitta for TIDAL's In Conversation series.

If you were of perriando age in the mid-2000s, you were lucky enough to perriar during the Golden Age of Reggaeton. Daddy Yankee’s “Gasolina” helped globalize the Puerto Rican genre beyond the ’hoods of his beloved island and the extended isle of Ñueva York. Yet, much like its forefathers reggae and hip-hop, reggaeton never addressed the struggles and ambitions of women. In fact, women seemed to go unmentioned — unless, of course, they were the object of lust. Enter Ivy Queen. It’s difficult to

Luis Miguel is truly the model for the modern-day male Latin pop star. Romeo Santos, Prince Royce, Luis Fonsi, Maluma and anyone who’s crooned a romantic quip and been inundated with lingerie onstage is in debt to the original master of romance. This weekend, as LuisMi turns 50 on April 19, we honor his illustrious career and catalogue, which spans four decades.

Global icon J Balvin highlights the key moments and people that spurred his career to the apex of pop culture. “Of the cowards, nothing has been written,” says the Colombian artist. “You always have to take risks to do something new. Even though change in the beginning is a little painful, in the end you see that the results are excellent.” And Balvin’s results are full of excellence.

It’s September 29, 2019, and it’s cloudy inside Madison Square Garden. J Balvin is being showered with applause from a remarkably diverse crowd of reggaeton lovers. In front of the cartoon-like imagery of his Arcoiris stage show and dressed in extra bright colors — per usual — he’s been performing songs from Oasis, his joint album with fellow eccentric trendsetter Bad Bunny.

Diego Armando Maradona wasn’t a perfect man. He wasn’t even the perfect athlete. His diminutive height was better suited for a jockey than a world-class futbolista. However, the scrappy Argentino became one of the beautiful sport’s most beloved players in its history.

Interviewed reggaeton legend Nicky Jam for TIDAL.

Albert Einstein was a genius. He was also a horrible dresser—seemingly always disheveled, wearing oversize sweaters—and that hair. Oh, for the love of Pantene, that hair. In comparison, modern-day genius Lin-Manuel Miranda is the coolest motherfunker on planet Broadway—sporting a Fania-inspired T-shirt (“Todo Tiene Su Final”), his hair slicked back in a colonial pony-tail—not a man-bun, thank God. But Miranda does have one thing in common with Einstein: He looks tired.

Few artists have had the chance to inspire a generation with their music, fashion and overall being — let alone in a mere 23 years. In hip-hop, Tupac Shakur is held on a saintly pedestal by anyone who’s ever picked up a mic, fought the system, or battled with good and evil weighing on their shoulders. Similarly, almost every present-day Latinx (and sometimes non-Latinx) artist gives themselves a bendición in honor of the late Selena Quintanilla.

Natti Natasha arrives at TIDAL’s New York City offices dressed in a custom emerald green and black Louis Vuitton leather jacket; she’s about to rip the runway at Custo Barcelona, her first show at New York Fashion Week for Spanish designer Custo Dalmau. Still, the Dominican born artist is far more ecstatic to share a few songs from her debut album: the diverse, enchanting ilumiNATTI.

Ryan Guzman’s shirt is open. His abs appear golden, even heaven-sent, in the brilliant afternoon light that bathes the Hollywood Hills. For someone shooting his first Latina cover, the 27-year-old Mexican American actor appears at ease — no jitters, just chill. It helps that his partner-in-style is Jennifer Lopez, his costar in the The Boy Next Door, set for release in early 2015. The iconic boricua superstar, who has graced the cover of Latina numerous times in the magazine’s history, takes total control of the shoot and the day. “There’s too much rock in the background,” she says with authority, looking over the photographer’s test shots. With absolute confidence, she steps into a backless tiered Thomas Wylde dress that could’ve been plucked directly from a runway. Guzman wears a tuxedo better than James Bond. “She’s ready for you,” a Lopez handler tells him. “And I’m ready for her,” Guzman replies without missing a beat, betraying his playful California upbringing.

You may have never heard of Totó La Momposina, but you have heard her sing. Although her face might not be familiar to average modern-day music listener, her ethereal chants were featured prominently on JAY-Z’s 4:44; No ID sampled “La Verdolaga” on “Blue’s Freestyle/We Family,” and harked back to her on countless other songs. Listen to our Tracks & Traces playlist below to hear cuts from artists as diverse as Pacha Massive and Rich Boy — all inspired by La Momposina.

“La Camisa Negra” is one of the most hilarious songs recorded in modern history. “Uno por pobre y feo, home’ Pero antojao’/this happened to me not because I’m poor and ugly/ but because I was craving” is the way Juanes starts off his love revenge romp. The singer/songwriter then proceeds to spew off a bunch of double entendres that would please your champion freestyle MC.