El General (born Edgardo Franco) is a Panamanian Reggae artist considered by some to be one of the Fathers of Reggaeton. During the early 1990s, he initiated the Spanish spoken dancehall that would later become reggaeton. Early examples of this were the international and somewhat mainstream songs, "Te Ves Buena" and "Tu Pum Pum." Both songs, performed in Spanish rap, were very successful in North America. After getting his foot in the door of the commercial market, many other Spanish rappers became famous in the mainstream as well, such as Vico C and DJ Negro. He has a unique, easy to listen to style of dance music and has produced many well known songs all over Latin America. His musical works have become popular in Latin America over the last few years. This style is called Reggae en Español or Reggaeton, because he makes reggae music with Spanish lyrics.

El General began singing and composing songs at the age of 12 in Rio Abajo, his home. After getting a scholarship, the young artist moved to the U.S. to study business administration, soon becoming a professional accountant. He started his career when he was 19 years old, and during 17 years, his albums achieved gold status 32 times and platinum 17 times, and several other awards. El General's type of music from Panama was something much different from the reggae of Jamaica. The popular music in Panama was called petroleo.