The Premios Tu Música Urbano is a music industry awards ceremony presented by television network Telemundo Puerto Rico to recognize artists who "transcended and boosted the success of Latin urban music around the world" for the past year. The show has been held annually at the

José Miguel Agrelot Coliseum The ''Coliseo de Puerto Rico José Miguel Agrelot'' ( English: José Miguel Agrelot Coliseum of Puerto Rico) is the largest indoor entertainment and sports arena in Puerto Rico since its inauguration in 2004. Located in the Hato Rey business ce ...

San Juan San Juan, Spanish for Saint John (disambiguation), Saint John, most commonly refers to: * San Juan, Puerto Rico * San Juan, Argentina * San Juan, Metro Manila, a highly urbanized city in the Philippines San Juan may also refer to: Places Arge ...

, Puerto Rico, since 2019, produced by

Telemundo Telemundo (; formerly NetSpan) is an American Spanish-language terrestrial television network owned by NBCUniversal Telemundo Enterprises, a division of NBCUniversal, which in turn is a wholly owned subsidiary of Comcast. It provides content ...

, Sora & Company and Mr. & Mrs. Entertainment, and broadcast by Telemundo Puerto Rico (in Latin America) and by Telemundo (in the United States). The awards were founded after an obvious lack of recognition of

reggaetón Reggaeton (, ) is a modern style of popular and electronic music that originated in Panama during the late 1980s, and which rose to prominence in the late 1990s and early 2000s through a plethora of Puerto Rican musicians. It has evolved fr ...

, urbano and

Latin trap Latin trap is a subgenre of Latin hip hop music that originated in Puerto Rico. A direct descendant of southern hip hop and trap, and influenced by reggaeton, R&B and urbano music. it gained popularity after 2007, and has since spread throug ...

artists was observed at the

Latin Grammy Awards The Latin Grammy Awards (stylized as Latin GRAMMYs) are awards presented by the Latin Recording Academy to recognize outstanding achievement in the Latin music, Latin music industry. The Latin Grammy honors works recorded in Spanish language, S ...

, as well as the (former) absence of any Latin urbano/reggaetón categories at the American

Grammy Awards The Grammy Awards, stylized as GRAMMY, and often referred to as The Grammys, are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achievements in music. They are regarded by many as the most prestigious a ...

. Both organizations have since expanded their representation and categories.

History

Following the exclusion of urban musicians for the

Album An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track cartridge, 8-track or Cassette tape, cassette), or digital distribution, dig ...

, Record and Song of the Year categories at the 20th Latin Grammy Awards, Colombian artist

J Balvin José Álvaro Osorio Balvín (born 7 May 1985), known professionally as J Balvin, is a Colombian singer. He is one of the best-selling Latin artists, with 35 million records sold worldwide. Balvin was born in Medellín. At age 17, he moved to th ...

posted an image depicting a crossed-out

gramophone A phonograph, later called a gramophone, and since the 1940s a record player, or more recently a turntable, is a device for the mechanical and analogue reproduction of sound. The sound vibration waveforms are recorded as corresponding physic ...

—the official "grammy" logo—with the caption "''Sin reggaeton, no hay Latin Grammy''" ("Without reggaeton, there are no Latin Grammys"). The message was soon endorsed by other reggaetóneros, including Puerto Rican musicians

Daddy Yankee Ramón Luis Ayala Rodríguez (; born February 3, 1976), known professionally as Daddy Yankee (), is a Puerto Rican rapper, singer, songwriter, and actor who rose to worldwide prominence in 2004 with the song "Gasolina". Dubbed the "Honorific ...

Farruko Carlos Efrén Reyes Rosado (born May 2, 1991), known professionally as Farruko, is a Puerto Rican singer. He rose to fame collaborating with Daddy Yankee, J Balvin, Don Omar, and J Álvarez. He came to prominence in 2010 with his first solo alb ...

and

Tego Calderón Tegui Calderón Rosario (born February 1, 1972) is a Puerto Rican rapper, singer and actor. He began his musical career in 1996 (as Tego Tec) and was supported by the famous Puerto Rican rapper Eddie Dee, who invited him on his second studio a ...

, and Boricua-American

Nicky Jam Nick Rivera Caminero (born March 17, 1981), known professionally as Nicky Jam, is an American singer. He is best known for hits such as " X", " Travesuras", " El Perdón", " Hasta el Amanecer", and " El Amante"; the latter three are from his 20 ...

, as well as Colombian singers

Karol G Carolina Giraldo Navarro (born February 14, 1991), known professionally as Karol G, is a Colombian singer. Considered as one of the most influential reggaeton and Urban contemporary music, urban pop artists, she has received awards including a ...

and

Maluma Juan Luis Londoño Arias (born 28 January 1994), known professionally as Maluma, is a Colombian singer. Born and raised in Medellín, he developed an interest in music at a young age, recording songs since age sixteen. Arias released his debu ...

, who criticized the lack of nominations despite reggaetón being one of the most popular musical genres in the world. ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

''s vice president for Latin music,

Leila Cobo Leila Cobo is a Colombian journalist, writer, novelist, pianist and television show host. She is noted for her coverage of Latin music for ''Billboard'' where she is currently the Chief Content Officer for Latin Music and Español, overseeing the ...

, supported their discontent, writing that the "Latin Academy has never shown much fondness for reggaeton as a genre" and proposed the creation of a "Latin Grammy reggaeton task force" in order to "foster diversity". The

Latin Recording Academy The Latin Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences, Inc., trading as The Latin Recording Academy (; ), is a multinational membership-based association composed of Latin music industry professionals, musicians, producers, recording engineers, and o ...

responded to the controversy by stating that their members "select what they believe merits a nomination" and invited the "leaders of the urban community to get involved" with the nomination process, since "many" reggaeton artists were not registered Latin Grammy voters, and "many independent labels and producers adno notion of the process of submitting product and becoming a voting member". The Latin Recording Academy was also accused of "

whitewashing Whitewash is a paint-like covering of hydrated lime or a cheap white paint. Whitewash or whitewashing may also refer to: Racist practices * Whitewashing (beauty), modifying the skin tones of photographs of nonwhite people in mass media * Whitew ...

", due to

Venezuelans Venezuelans ( Spanish: ''venezolanos'') are the citizens identified with the country of Venezuela. This connection may be through citizenship, descent or cultural. For most Venezuelans, many or all of these connections exist and are the source ...

artists, such as

Chyno Miranda Jesús Alberto Miranda Pérez (born 15 November 1984, in La Guaira), better known as Chyno Miranda, just Chino, or El Chino, is a Venezuelan singer and is part of the musical duo Chino & Nacho, in collaboration with Miguel Ignacio Mendoza Donatti ...

, Nacho, Neutro Shorty and Danny Ocean, receiving the most nominations at the 20th Latin Grammy Awards. The

Recording Academy National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences, Inc. (NARAS), doing business as The Recording Academy, is an American learned academy of musicians, producers, recording engineers, and other musical professionals. It is widely known for its Gramm ...

was also criticized for its Best Latin Rock, Alternative or Urban Album category, to which Rebeca León, J Balvin's manager and member of the academy's diversity and inclusion task force, referred to as Mexican rock band Zoé competing against J Balvin or American pop rock group

Panic! At The Disco Panic! at the Disco was an American pop rock band formed in Las Vegas, Las Vegas, Nevada, in 2004 by high school friends Ryan Ross (guitar) and Spencer Smith (musician), Spencer Smith (drums), who recruited classmates Brendon Urie (vocals and ...

versus rapper

Travis Scott Jacques Bermon Webster III (born April 30, 1991), known professionally as Travis Scott (formerly stylized as Travi$ Scott), is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, and record producer. Scott has had five number-one hits on the U.S. ''Bil ...

. She also questioned the absence of a separate Latin urban category. ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. The magazine was first known fo ...

''s Suzy Exposito criticized the Best Latin Rock, Alternative or Urban Album category for being a "hodgepodge". In response to the lack of nominees and awards for reggaeton and Latin trap at the Grammy and

, Telemundo Puerto Rico announced the Premios Tu Música Urbano to honor Latin urban music artists. Previously, a short-lived Latin urban-oriented awards show, the People's Choice Reggaetón & Urban Awards, was held during the mid-2000s at the

, but was cancelled due to production errors and the absence of famous artists. There was also a separate Best Latin Urban Album category at the Grammy Awards for two years before being merged with the Best Latin Rock/Alternative Performance category in 2010. The first edition of the Premios Tu Música Urbano was held on March 21, 2019, also at the José Miguel Agrelot Coliseum. Following the controversy, the categories Best Reggaeton Performance and Best Rap/Hip Hop Song were created for the 21st Latin Grammy Awards, where J Balvin, Karol G, Maluma, Daddy Yankee, Puerto Rican acts

Anuel AA Emmanuel Gazmey Santiago (born November 26, 1992), known professionally as Anuel AA, is a Puerto Rican rapper and singer. Often called "The God of Latin trap" by himself and major Latin artists. His music often contains samples and interpola ...

Bad Bunny Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio (; born March 10, 1994), better known by his stage name Bad Bunny, is a Puerto Rican rapper and singer. Known as the " King of Latin Trap", Bad Bunny is credited with helping Spanish-language rap music achieve m ...

and

Ozuna Juan Carlos Ozuna Rosado (; born March 13, 1992), known simply by his surname Ozuna, is a Puerto Rican singer, born and raised in San Juan, Puerto Rico to a Dominican father and a Puerto Rican mother. Five of his studio albums have topped ...

, Puerto Rican producer

Tainy Marco Efraín Masís Fernández (; born August 9, 1989), known professionally as Tainy, is a Puerto Rican record producer, songwriter and record engineer. Born and raised in San Juan, Puerto Rico, he entered the world of reggaeton with his wor ...

and Colombian producer

Sky The sky is an unobstructed view upward from the planetary surface, surface of the Earth. It includes the atmosphere of Earth, atmosphere and outer space. It may also be considered a place between the ground and outer space, thus distinct from ...

received nominations for Album, Record and/or Song of the Year. J Balvin was the edition's most nominated artist, followed by Bad Bunny, Ozuna and Anuel AA. Gabriel Abaroa Jr., President of the Latin Recording Academy, stated that "

hey Hey, HEY, or Hey! may refer to: Music * Hey (band), a Polish rock band Albums * ''Hey'' (Andreas Bourani album) or the title song (see below), 2014 * ''Hey!'' (Julio Iglesias album) or the title song, 1980 * ''Hey!'' (Jullie album) or the ...

continued engaging in discussions with

heir Inheritance is the practice of receiving private property, titles, debts, entitlements, privileges, rights, and obligations upon the death of an individual. The rules of inheritance differ among societies and have changed over time. Offi ...

members to improve the awards process" and that they are now "engaged, better informed, and committed to elevating and honoring musical excellence across all genres of Latin music." The Recording Academy added the

Best Música Urbana Album Best or The Best may refer to: People * Best (surname), people with the surname Best * Best (footballer, born 1968), retired Portuguese footballer Companies and organizations * Best & Co., an 1879–1971 clothing chain * Best Lock Corporatio ...

category for the

64th Grammy Awards The 64th Annual Grammy Awards ceremony was held at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas on April 3, 2022. It recognized the best recordings, compositions, and artists of the eligibility year, running from September 1, 2020, to September 30, ...

Voting

The voting system is based on a pool of voters composed of 200 producers, influencers, radio directors and programmers, all specialized in urban music. The event's co-producer, Shirley Rodríguez, has stated that "sales, downloads and streaming are all taken in consideration to make the final decision."

Ceremonies

Special awards

Icon Award *2020:

*2020:

Trajectory Award *2020:

*2020:

*2020: De La Ghetto Dedication Award *2020:

*2022: Farruko Humanitarian Work Award *2020:

Contribution Award *2022:

Víctor Manuelle Víctor Manuel Ruiz Velázquez (born September 27, 1968), known professionally as Víctor Manuelle, is a Puerto Rican salsa singer, known to his fans as ''El Sonero de la Juventud'' ("The Singer Of Youths"). He is identified primarily with ' ...

Records

Most wins

The record for most Premios Tu Música Urbano won is held by

with 16 awards. The record for most Premios Tu Música Urbano won by a male artist belongs to

and

, both with 12 awards. The record for most wins for a duo or group belongs to

, who have collected 5 awards.

Most wins in a single ceremony

The record for the most Premios Tu Música Urbano won in a single night is held by

with 9 wins in 2023.

(in 2019 and 2020),

(in 2020), and herself (in 2023) follow with 6 awards won in a single night. *

: 9 (2022)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Premios Tu Musica Urbano Latin music awards Awards established in 2019 Spanish-language music Performing arts trophies