Inside Reparto’s Rise: How the Once-Banned Genre Is Gaining Global Attention

More than two decades ago, a new music genre began to take shape in Cuba — and was promptly banned.

Blending urban music with traditional Cuban sounds including son , timba and rumba — reparto was initially restricted on the island partially due to its explicit lyrics that often reflected the poverty, struggles and street life of the marginalized neighborhoods of Havana’s suburbs.

“Back then, we didn’t have nightclubs and the internet didn’t exist” on the island, recalls reparto singer Wow Popy, who began his career in 2012.

“To hear our music, you had to go to bonches [street parties or gatherings held in people’s homes] because that music couldn’t be played on the radio or television.” Bebeshito, Helabusador & Rey Tony, DJ Conds and Wow Popy will speak at the first reparto panel at Billboard Latin Music Week.

Register at billboardlatinmusicweek.com .

Related Reparto Music Is Cuba’s New Urban Movement: 31 Artists to Discover Watch Bebeshito Talk Reparto’s Momentum, El Taiger’s Legacy & Meeting Bad Bunny Ozuna, Daddy Yankee, Maluma, Bad Gyal & More Artists Obsessed with Cuba’s Reparto Music Since 2020, though, the genre has grown — and become widely embraced across the globe — thanks to recent breakout hits like “Dichavate” from Cuban newcomers Ya Ice Dilan, Rey Tony and Helabusador.

Released last Christmas, first on YouTube and two weeks later on Spotify, the cheeky “Dichavate” — Cuban slang for “exposing oneself” — has provocative lyrics that reference the “best partner in bed” and quickly gained traction on social media: With over 141 million YouTube views and 18.4 million TikTok posts, it’s one of reparto’s most viral songs.

Without any official promotion strategy, the DJ Honda-produced track (released on independent labels JIP Music Global and Planet Records), broke onto the Billboard charts this March, peaking at No.

1 on Peru Songs and reaching a No.

5 high on Spain Songs in April — making history as the first reparto song to hit the top five on both Billboard Hits of the World charts (based on streaming and sales activity from within each respective country as tracked by Luminate).

“Everything happened very quickly,” Helabusador told Billboard at the time.

“We didn’t have the opportunity to run advertising campaigns on Spotify or YouTube due to the explicit lyrics … We tried, but we couldn’t.

We didn’t even have the chance to invest in the song.” Still, as Rey Tony added in the same interview, the song didn’t need much: “Back in Cuba, it just really took off.” By August, after a wave of Latin artists not known for making reparto music — including Bad Gyal, Ryan Castro, Greeicy and Maluma — posted videos jamming to the song, it surged up even more on the charts.

To date, “Dichavate” has reached peaks of No.