Released in 1990, “Tu Pum Pum” (sometimes written as “Tu Pun Pun”) was the most successful track off El General’s Estas Buena. Later, the track was re-released on his 1998 album, Move It Up. El General is the stage name of Panamanian artist Edgardo Armando Franco, who became one of the most influential early actors in reggaetón. The song’s lyrics reflect the often sexually explicit themes found in reggaetón. El General sings “tu pum pum mami mami no me va a matar” (your pum pum mommy mommy is no going to kill me) in the song’s chorus, referring to his girl’s genitals. As with much of reggaetón and hip-hop throughout the twentieth century, the lyrics reinforce traditional understandings of masculinity, sexual desires, and misogyny.
Often credited for being one of the first reggaetón songs, “Tu Pum Pum” set the stage for the genre, establishing the place of the now characteristic “dembow riddim”. The song’s instrumentation combined aspects of reggae, Jamaican dancehall, and hip-hop, all accompanied by Spanish-language lyrics. In combining these aspects of different genres, El General effectively created a new genre within Latin music. Reggaetón has gone on to become one of the most successful Latin genres globally and in the United States.
El General. Tu Pum Pum. Pu Tun Tun. New York: Gold Disc, 1990.