Reggaeton, also known as reggaetón, reguetón and reggüetón,, is a modern style of popular and electronic music that originated in Panamá during the late 1980s, and which rose to prominence in the late 1990s and early 2000s through a plethora of Puerto Rican musicians. It has been popularized and dominated by artists from Puerto Rico since the early 1990s.
Ramón Luis Ayala Rodríguez, known professionally as Daddy Yankee, is a Puerto Rican rapper, singer, songwriter, and actor who rose to worldwide prominence in 2004 with the song "Gasolina". Dubbed the "King of Reggaeton", he is often cited as an influence by other Hispanic urban performers. He scheduled his retirement for December 2023 after completing his "La Meta" tour in Puerto Rico.
Nick Rivera Caminero, known professionally as Nicky Jam, is an American singer and actor. He is best known for hits such as "X", "Travesuras", "En la Cama", "Te Busco", "El Perdón", "Hasta el Amanecer", and "El Amante"; the latter three are from his 2017 album Fénix. He has frequently collaborated with other Latin artists such as Daddy Yankee, J Balvin, Ozuna, Plan B and Anuel AA. While his early music exemplified traditional fast-paced reggaeton, his newer compositions place more emphasis on sung vocals and romantic lyrics.
Talento de barrio is a film released on October 10, 2008, by Maya Entertainment, starring Daddy Yankee. The film was directed by José Iván Santiago, and written by George Rivera and Ángel M. Sanjurjo, with additional material by Edgar Soberón Torchia. It was also the first movie Daddy Yankee co-produced. In the United States it was a major success, although it was not launched in all the country. It was shown in the major cities like New York City, Los Angeles, and some parts of New Jersey.
Pina Records is a Puerto Rican record label founded by Rafael Antonio Pina Nieves in 1996. It is the most famous and successful record label in the reggaeton music industry due to its long background history and artists. Currently, Pina Records manages Daddy Yankee, R.K.M & Ken-Y, Natti Natasha and Plan B.
Lito & Polaco were a Puerto Rican Latin hip hop duo from Carolina, Puerto Rico.
...Distinto a los demás is the debut extended play by American singer Nicky Jam. Released in 1995, he was 14 years old when he recorded the album.
Josías de la Cruz, known professionally as Nely el Arma Secreta, is a Puerto Rican reggaeton producer, introduced in the genre by Luny Tunes.
José Fernando Cosculluela Suárez, known professionally as Cosculluela, is a Puerto Rican rapper, singer and songwriter. In 2018, he was caught up in a controversy after fellow Puerto Rican rapper Anuel AA released a diss track.
Jessy Terrero is a Dominican film and music video director.
R.K.M & Ken-Y is a reggaeton duo formed in 2003 by José Nieves (R.K.M) and Kenny Vázquez (Ken-Y). The artists are renowned in the Latin music world for being the first to successfully fuse mainstream pop music with the reggaeton street rhythms of Puerto Rico and expose the style to a wide international audience. The sound introduced by R.K.M & Ken-Y would go on to inspire the pop reggaeton songs of successful acts such as CNCO, J Balvin, and Maluma. The duo had a very successful career with the Spanish-speaking audience of Latin America, the United States, and Spain until their separation in 2013. In June 2017, the duo announced their official return by Pina Records. In mid-2021 the Duo confirmed that they are on hiatus and are currently working on their solo projects.
American singer Nicky Jam has released six studio albums, three compilation albums, one EP, one mixtape, and 30 singles as a lead artist.
El Disco Duro is an unreleased and later cancelled studio album by Puerto Rican rapper Daddy Yankee. It was originally scheduled to be released during early 2017 under its original title King Daddy II: Elemento DY, a sequel to his previous album King Daddy, produced by Los de la Nazza, a production duo that worked with Daddy Yankee from 2007 to 2014. The album was to include "Sígueme y Te Sigo", "Dura", "Vaivén" and "Shaky Shaky" as singles, which were released between March 2015 and April 2016.
Puerto Rican rapper Daddy Yankee has released 98 music videos and one film. His first music videos were directed for various underground mixtapes during the 1990s decade, in which he appeared as guest artist. No videos were filmed for his debut studio album No Mercy (1995). Three clips were filmed for his second studio album El Cangri.com (2002), including "Latigazo", directed by Puerto Rican rapper and producer Eddie Dee, which introduced his music in New York City and Miami in the United States. In 2002, he made a brief appearance in the documentary Big Pun: Still Not a Player.
Omar David Hernández Colón, known as Darkiel, is a Puerto Rican reggaeton artist and actor, born in Lares. He is better known for his role in the Netflix biographical series of Nicky Jam called Nicky Jam: El Ganador.
José Fernando Morales Rivera, known professionally as Kendo Kaponi, is a Puerto Rican rapper and singer.
Urbano music or Latin urban is a transnational umbrella category including many different genres and styles. As an umbrella term it includes a wide and diverse set of genres and styles such as dancehall, dembow, urban champeta, funk carioca, Latin hip hop and reggaeton. The commercial breakthrough of this music took place in 2017 with artists from Colombia, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Panama, Puerto Rico, the United States, Venezuela and even non-Spanish-speaking nations, such as Brazil, where Portuguese is spoken.
Elvia Fernanda Torres Pérez most known as Elyfer Torres, is a Mexican actress. Her first major role was in the Telemundo telenovela's Betty en NY (2019). Although previously she stood out for series like La rosa de Guadalupe (2012–2017), La Piloto (2018), El secreto de Selena (2018), and Nicky Jam: El Ganador (2018). Torres began her artistic training as a child taking workshops at the Centro de Educación Artística of Televisa. later she specialized in acting for cinema at the renowned New York Film Academy in Los Angeles; returning to Mexico to continue her training at the CasAzul of Argos school, and finally, she finished her classical dance training at the Royal Academy of Dance in England.
Raúl Alejandro Ocasio Ruiz, known professionally as Rauw Alejandro, is a Puerto Rican singer, songwriter, and actor. Referred to as the "King of Modern Reggaeton", he belongs to "the new generation" of Puerto Rican urban musicians. He is noted for his versatile music palette, as well as being the only mainstream male Latin artist to incorporate choreography into his creative vision. With an acclaimed discography consisting of 4 studio albums, Alejandro is currently a leading act in the latin music scene; he was declared the 10th most streamed artist of the year on Spotify in 2022. In just 3 years since his debut album Afrodisíaco, he has earned two Latin Grammy Awards, two Billboard Latin Music Awards, an iHeart Radio Music Award, and more wins out of his 214 career nominations.
The Premios Tu Música Urbano is an award presented by television network Telemundo Puerto Rico to recognize artists who "transcended and boosted the success of Latin urban music around the world." The show is held annually at the José Miguel Agrelot Coliseum in Puerto Rico since 2019, is produced by Telemundo, Sora & Company and Mr. & Mrs. Entertainment, and is broadcast by Telemundo Puerto Rico in Latin America and by Telemundo in the United States. The awards were created in response to the lack of representation of reggaeton and Latin trap artists in the Latin Grammy Awards main categories and the absence of a separate Latin urban category at the Grammy Awards.
