Ricardo "Richie" Ray's "Lookie Lookie" isn't one of the best boogaloos ever recorded but it may very well be considered the first. "Lookie Lookie" appeared on Ray's Se Soltó album from 1966, an LP which exclaimed that it was Introducing the Bugaloo and best that anyone's been able to figure out, this was the first time a Latin artist had invoked the term "boogaloo" to refer to a new, distinct Latin dance style. 

To be sure, the whole notion of "first" is always fuzzy when it comes to musical genres. Just because you're first to use a term doesn't mean you invented the style and without taking anything away from Ray, one could easily point at any number of earlier songs that seem "boogaloo-esque" regardless if the name itself was applied to it. That includes the Joe Cuba Sextet's "El Pito" from 1965 but you can go back at least as early as 1962 with "El Watusi" by Ray Barretto. But once you get to "Lookie Lookie," it seems that Latin boogaloo had indeed developed a basic blueprint. 

Begin - as "Lookie, Lookie" does - with a simple but strong piano hook known as a montuno. It does double-duty as both a rhythmic and melodic anchor and is one of the most identifiable features in a whole range of Afro-Cuban styles including mambos, pachangas, descargas, cha-cha-chas, guajiras, etc. The next element in Ray's song are the English lyrics. This may seem unsurprising given that Ray and most of his band grew up in New York but at the time, the Latin scene was dominated by Spanish-language songs. Putting the verses into English broadened the song's potential to reach non-Latin audiences and many later boogaloo artists followed suit. It would be one of the few Afro-Cuban styles where English - not Spanish - would be dominant. 

The last main attribute is not a presence so much as an absence; boogaloo songs, including "Lookie, Lookie" tend to lack the same kind of polyrhythmic complexity of other Latin styles. Again, this was a concession made to non-Latin dancers by moving towards the 4/4 so standard in rock n' roll and R&B music of the era. For most American listeners, the difference isn't that obvious but in the Latin music scene, boogaloo's bend away from conventional Latin rhythms became one of the big criticisms lodged against it. For boogaloo to be "off clave" was tantamount to it ceasing to be Latin music at all, at least for the more rigid purists. 

You can hear all this encapsulated in "Lookie, Lookie." The main thing missing was...heat. While "Lookie, Lookie" has all the markings of a boogaloo song - and indeed, should absolutely be considered an important template of the style - it wasn't the most energetic or scintillating tune. However, that piano vamp on "Lookie, Lookie" was purportedly a big influence on the Joe Cuba Sextet's "Bang Bang," which, unlike Ray's tune, would go onto become the first massive boogaloo hit. In that way, whatever "Lookie, "Lookie" may have lacked, it still provided some of the ingredients that would turn boogaloo into the hottest Latin style in town for the next 2-3 years. 

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