El Draft 2005’s “ROUND 2” Winner Elected By Reggaeton Fans Votes: Cheka's "ACTIVO" is Newest Victor! - Reggaeton News

By Urban Box Office

October 30, 2005

Following its CD’s stunning #4 debut on Billboard’s Latin Music Charts, the El Draft 2005 phenomenon shows no signs of stopping. The unprecedented Reggaeton competition – which takes the American Idol model to the streets, giving the genre’s fervent fans the opportunity to determine the winners by popular vote – has just announced its “Round Two” winner. Cheka’s song, “Activo,” earns the honors, automatically becoming the second single to be internationally promoted off of the El Draft 2005 companion album. El Draft 2005’s CD recently made its mark in the history books as the first Reggaeton album ever to ship Latin Platinum.

El Draft 2005’s second round experienced more than double the 70,000-voter turnout achieved for “Round One,” with fans being able to cast their ballots via SMS/mobile and internet avenues. The thriving popularity of the competition, along with the CD’s record-setting performance, has made the El Draft competition a genuine sensation in the music industry, drawing major attention to the Reggaeton scene – already the fastest-growing music genre in the world.

As they did for “Round One” winner, Rakim y Ken Y’s “Tu No Estas,” El Draft 2005 co-presenters and project distributor Urban Box Office (UBO) will finance and produce a video for Cheka’s “Activo” and will aggressively market the single and video at an international level, with a specific focus on the American market. According to UBO Executive Vice President Bruce Henderson, “We are actually going to start working Cheka’s single simultaneously with Rakim y Ken Y’s, which is already receiving national radio and video airplay. By releasing the second single hot on the heels of the current one, we wanted to showcase the depth and diversity of the entire El Draft 2005 CD. The singles are so completely different, their concurrent success will reveal this album as an incredible collection of 23 unique songs by a variety of talents. And it will continue to build momentum and the fanbase for the final round of the competition.”

The El Draft competition was initially created by noted Reggaeton producers Chencho and Boy Wonder as a way to provide opportunities and exposure for unknown artists working in the genre. This year’s contest is the first in a series of planned annual events and, with the increasing popularity it continues to amass, may well prove to be the vehicle through which the Reggaeton movement (already occupying 25% of the Latin Music Charts) achieves a monumental mainstream crossover success.

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