Playero 37 | |
Type: | Album |
Artist: | DJ Playero |
Cover: | Playero 37 - Underground.jpg |
Released: | December 1993 (Original Limited Release)1994 (Wide Release) (Puerto Rico)[1] 1999 (reissue "The Original") |
Recorded: | 1993 |
Genre: | Reggaeton |
Label: | [2] |
Producer: | DJ Playero |
Next Title: | Playero 38 |
Next Year: | 1994 |
Playero 37 is DJ Playero's first studio album. It is considered a landmark album and influential in the creation of the music genre now known as "Reggaeton". The album was released in December of 1993. Playero recorded and mixed the album in one week inside his home located in Villa Kennedy, Puerto Rico. The album consists of fusions between Hip Hop and Jamaican Dancehall Riddims with Latino rappers rhyming over the beats in Spanish. The first pressing which is a rarity was released only in cassette tape. Around a few hundred original copies were sold while most people who received the initial version copied from those original tapes.[3]
Playero 37's success lead to a partnership with Bayamon Records (BM Records) for wide release on Cassette and CD in 1994.[4] It became one of the first "Underground" albums (which is what Reggaeton used to be known as then), to receive wide distribution inside of Puerto Rico and parts of the United States. Despite being banned from radio and television due to its explicit content, the album would go on to earn a gold certification for the sale of 30 thousand units. It eventually sold over 100,000 copies. Today, the album is known for introducing influential Reggaeton artists such as OG Black, Master Joe, Q Mac Daddy, Frankie Boy, Maicol & Manuel, Blanco, B.F Yaviah & Daddy Yankee. It is considered by many to be the most influential Reggaeton album of all time.[5]
The original first edition of Playero 37 was about 90 mins. long. The rerelease via BM Records was cut down to under 50 mins. and is the most well known version of the album. [6] The original 90 min. version was given a limited re-release by BM Records in 1999 retitled "Playero 37 The Original". This edition contains clean and edited lyrics. A unedited version of the original edition is yet to be released outside of the first pressings on tape in 1993.[7] Playero 37 was the continuation of a series of underground mixtapes by Playero DJ and the first to contain all original material. Most of these tapes have been lost though Playero 34 which contains Daddy Yankee's first recording has resurfaced online. Playero 37 and its sequel Playero 38 along with other notable works like The Noise and Mas Flow series; went on to be the foundation for modern Reggaeton and the "Dembow" genre from the Dominican Republic.[8] [9]
Side A: Dance Hall Mix
Side B: Ragga Moonfin Mix
Playero 37: The Original