Authority control databases: Artists
Authority control databases: Artists  |
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Playero DJ /DJ Playero | |
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| Birth name | Pedro Gerardo Torruellas Brito |
| Also known as |
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| Born | 2 November 1964 San Juan, Puerto Rico |
| Genres | Reggaeton |
| Occupation(s) |
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| Instrument(s) | DJ mixer |
| Years active | 1990–present |
| Labels | |
| Website | |
Pedro Gerardo Torruellas Brito (born 2 November 1964), better known as Playero DJ, DJ Playero, Playe, Play, is a Puerto Rican DJ who was a key figure in the dissemination of reggaeton during its formative period in the 1990s in San Juan, Puerto Rico.[1][2]
Beginning in the early 1990s, he intended to do what DJ Tony Touch was already doing in New York, who was releasing a series of mixtapes, mixing popular and classic songs off most known musical styles like Reggae, Hip Hop and House. It is rumored that Playero gained his name for always using colorful t-shirts that resembled the spirit of the Summer season, and people wore them when going to the beach and they were called "Summer T'shirts", which translated in Spanish would be "Camisas Playeras".
Though Playero's mixtapes presumably started in Number 1 and synthesized hip-hop and dancehall/reggae rhythms, it is not known that Volumes 1 to 33 do already exist. Playero #34 made its appearance on the Internet some years ago and it was heard by people around the world realizing that this mixtape was putting together dancehall, hip hop and Puerto Rican singers freestyling in Spanish-language.
These tape and the following 35 and 36 circulated around the barrios of San Juan and were highly influential upon the generation that would go on to define reggaeton in the coming decade. Most of these tapes were sold by Playero himself and the singers who had recorded in them. That's how Daddy Yankee got his start with DJ Playero, debuting on the mixtape Playero 34, which was recorded in a small studio in one of Puerto Rico's caseríos and was originally released in 1992.[3] It contained several jamaican dancehall songs which were mixed and edited like "Freaks" (Lil Vicious).
DJ Playero was an aspiring producer at the time, he worked in the first LP of The Pioneer Lisa M (Trampa 1990) and (No Lo Derrumbes 1990) 3-2 Get Funky (3-2 Get Funky, 1993; Return of the Funky Ones, 1994), Ranking Stone (Different Styles, 1995), Wiso G (Estoy Aqui, 1996), and Wendellman (Wendellman, 1996). During the late 1990s, as the proto-reggaeton style began to grow popular thanks to 'The Noise', a club-based collective that issued a long-running series of CDs. Playero en DVD: Su Trayectoria (2003) was the culmination of this activity, aiming to cement his legacy as one of the key reggaeton pioneers.[citation needed]