Song You Need to Know: Ozuna, El Cherry Scom y Kiko El Crazy, ‘Baje con Trenza Remix’

Ozuna added a fiercely rapped verse to El Cherry Scom and Kiko El Crazy’s dembow romp “Baje con Trenza” on Monday. Though Ozuna’s biggest hits rely on his sweet singing voice and intuitive melodies, the star takes a very different approach on “Baje con Trenza,” delivering drilling lines at top speed, as if he never sang a note in his life.

The original version of “Baje con Trenza” came out at the end of November. It’s a relentless, racing single executive produced by Santiago Matias, a dembow ambassador who often champions the genre on his popular Alofoke radio show. El Cherry Scom and Kiko El Crazy waited a week before releasing the second version of “Baje con Trenza.” The remix immediately shot to the top of YouTube’s Trending Chart in the Dominican Republic, and it has amassed more than 2.5 million views.

Ozuna’s decision to record a bare-bones dembow record represents another valuable endorsement for the Dominican genre. The genre has been growing steadily — between January 2018 and August 2019, listening to dembow tracks on Spotify grew by 202 percent, according to data provided by the platform. That growth has been noticed by stars like Bad Bunny, J Balvin, Yandel, and Farruko, who have all jumped on dembow tracks in the last year.

Matias called dembow “the new reggaeton” in a recent interview with Rolling Stone. “Don’t isolate dembow,” Matias added. “Don’t see it as an underground genre.”