walking upstream…
Ryan Castro
photo: andrelovanegas · cc by-sa 4.0 ↗Ryan Castro
sourcesWikipedia · Rolling Stone · GRAMMY.com
Bryan David Castro Sosa, born in 1994 and raised in the working-class Pedregal neighborhood of Medellin, came up singing on public buses and street corners before turning professional in 2017 with the single "Morena," building a following on SoundCloud and YouTube under the nickname "El Cantante del Ghetto." A teenage stint in Curacao steeped him in Caribbean dancehall, reggae, and carnival rhythms, a palette he fuses with reggaeton and afrobeats across breakout hits like "Jordan," "Mujeriego," and "Quema." He has said the biopics of rappers like Eminem and 50 Cent first convinced him that music could be a way out, and credits Medellin's reggaeton wave with clearing a path for a new generation of Colombian artists.
the sound in question
2021
JordanRyan Castro
walk the tributaries ↓
J Balvin2010s · Reggaeton / Latin pop
Castro credits the Medellin reggaeton wave, and Balvin above all, with making a path for new Colombian artists, telling Rolling Stone that the world now knows they come from the same land as Balvin. That inheritance is audible in his more melodic, unhurried paisa reggaeton, where the vocal glides over a sparse dembow rather than crowding it.
listen: upstream & here
2015
GinzaJ Balvin
2021
MujeriegoRyan Castro
listen forPut on Balvin's "Ginza" and then Castro's "Mujeriego" and listen for the same laid-back, half-sung hook floating over a rubbery, near-empty dembow, the melody carrying the song while the beat leaves space around it.
Daddy Yankee2000s · Reggaeton / Latin hip hop
Press and Castro alike frame his strongest lane as classic, early-2000s reggaeton, and "Quema" was built as an old-school-inspired track. The blueprint for that sound, the insistent boom-ch dembow and the shouted, percussive hook, was codified by Daddy Yankee, and it drives Castro's more traditionalist club singles.
listen: upstream & here
2004
GasolinaDaddy Yankee
2023
QuemaRyan Castro
listen forDrop Daddy Yankee's "Gasolina" next to Castro's "Quema" and hear the same relentless dembow kick pattern and gang-shouted, call-and-response chorus engineered to detonate a dancefloor.
Sean Paul2000s · Dancehall / Reggae fusion / Pop
Castro has repeatedly said dancehall and reggae are core to who he is, telling interviewers that longtime fans know him more for dancehall and that his Curacao years soaked him in Caribbean riddims. That melodic, sing-jay dancehall was carried into the pop mainstream by Sean Paul, whose patois-inflected hooks over a skipping riddim are echoed in Castro's afro-dancehall singles.
listen: upstream & here
2005
TemperatureSean Paul
2021
JordanRyan Castro
listen forPlay Sean Paul's "Temperature" and then Castro's "Jordan" and notice the same bouncing, syncopated dancehall riddim and the loose, melodic sing-jay flow riding just behind the beat.