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Artist
El General
12+ albums
reggaePanamalatinHip-Hop90s
about
To the world of Latin reggae he is known as El General, the originator of reggaeton. To the people of his hometown Rio Abajo in Panama City he is Edgardo Franco. Franco was born on September 27 to Catherine and Victor Franco. He was one of 10 children growing up in a poverty stricken town inhabited by many Jamaicans. He grew up in a multicultural environment. His mother was part Jamaican and part Trinidadian. His father was part Panamanian and part Colombian. Franco was just six years old when his mother left their family behind. She moved to New York City in hopes of making a better life for herself. Faced with having to make something of his life on his own, Franco resorted to selling sodas, washing cars, and shining shoes. His business side was already showing at the age of 10. “I thought my life would always be a struggle shining shoes,” said Franco. Musically inclined, by the age of 12 he was already writing songs. He would write about things that were going on in Panama City at the time. The media more often than not ignored tragedies in his neighborhood. So Franco took it upon himself to aware his community on what was going on. He would sing and record songs on cassettes and would distribute them to the bus drivers. The bus drivers would play the songs throughout their routes, informing the passengers as they were traveling through the town. “When the community was in an upward and the police didn’t do the right thing, we put it into a song and made people aware. We w
