Suelto -or suelta- como gabete refers, in the slang of reggaetoneros, to be unleashed, live happily or be willing to do anything.
SYNONYMS FOR Suelta como gabete
- To be like crazy or unleashed, untied
- Willing to do anything
ORIGIN OF Suelta como gabete
The actual pronunciation of the word would be more like “cabete”, which is the shoelace. So estar suelto/a como gabete, means something similar to “estar desatado/a” or “estar desamarrado/a”.
Those who do not use the word “cabo” as a synonym for ‘rope’, may not know that this voice is the one that would make sense in expressions such as atar cabos (or desatarlos).
However, reguetoneros have known this for quite a while, as the genre’s exponent Don Omar sang in his lyric “Suelta como gabete”. “Hoy nos vamos hasta abajo pa’ que no inventes, suelto como gabete, dale…”.
This allows to build the idea that it means to live in a joyful way and to be untied, referring to both men and women.
But as said before, it is not a ‘gabete’, as the song says, but a ‘cabete’ that is referred to when using such expression.
The RAE says that it is cabete (or ‘herrete’) that is to say “remate”, generally metallic, that is placed to the laces so that they can easily enter through the eyelets (of the shoes)”.
CURIOSITIES OF Suelta como gabete
In Bogota they did a concert to celebrate 7 years of reggaeton that made the lovers of the genre tremble as only the singer Karol G “Suelta como gabete” knew how to do it.
“Estoy suelta como gabete” is surely one of the most memorable phrases of reggaeton. It appeared in the regueton anthem “Dale Don dale, de Don Omar”.