What's the difference between reggaeton and Latin trap?

I was confused about it at first too, but then I got the hang of it. The main difference is in the rhythm and the beat: reggaeton has that really marked dembow (dum-tss-dum-tss) that's like hypnotic, while trap latino uses more of those fast hi-hats and heavy 808s but with a different flow, more laid back and with more space between the words. Your brother is kind of halfway there - yeah, both use modern beats, but reggaeton is more for moving your hips and trap latino is more for rapping and experimenting with the flow, you know? Plus, reggaeton came from Panama years ago and trap latino is more recent, adopting that US trap style but with a Latino flavor.

Your brother's on the right track but not quite there. What happens is reggaeton comes from the dembow, that really specific rhythmic pattern that gives you that hypnotic groove, whereas trap latino takes elements from American trap (the fast hi-hats, the heavy 808s) and mixes them with Latin flow. The melody and production are different too: reggaeton is more straightforward for the dance floor, trap latino has more layers, more experimental, with those futuristic synths. Basically it's like reggaeton is the classic foundation and trap latino is someone who grabbed that foundation, threw it in a blender with modern electronic sounds and was like "alright, this moves too."

It's not that they're the same with different rhythms, it's way more than that. Reggaeton is built around the dembow, that hypnotic pattern other people already mentioned, but the crucial thing is that it's a genre that comes from the 90s with a very defined identity: rhythm of around 92 bpm, deep bass, and a musical structure that privileges that constant groove for dancing. Trap latino, on the other hand, takes influences from American hip-hop, variable speeds, faster and more complex hi-hats, and the lyrics tend to be different: more narrative, less focused on direct dancing.