Rumbazo
When Alejandro Fernández takes the stage Sept. 14-15 at Las Vegas’ MGM Grand Garden Arena, it will mark his record 22nd year performing at one of the hottest music events in Sin City. But the event he has been playing for more than two decades isn’t a recurring casino or club residency — it’s Fiestas Patrias, the ever-growing weekend of programming celebrating El Grito de Dolores (when Father Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla’s call to arms ignited the Mexican War of Independence in 1810) and Mexican Independence Day, which are officially celebrated Sept. 15 and 16, respectively.
“Twenty-four years ago, I began what has become a tradition of celebrating Fiestas Patrias with the Latino community in Las Vegas,” the Mexican superstar tells Billboard. “I am proud to say it is now the biggest Mexican Independence Day celebration outside of Mexico and one of the most important single days of live Mexican music anywhere in the world.”
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Fiestas Patrias are celebrated throughout the United States and Mexico in big and small ways — but Las Vegas’ version has become the single biggest Fiestas Patrias weekend for live Mexican music anywhere, with thousands of visitors from around the globe, though mainly from Mexico. The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority calls it “one of the largest sources of international visitation” for the city.
This year’s bookings include returning acts, such as Luis Miguel, Los Bukis (who currently have a residency at Dolby Live), Gloria Trevi, Banda MS, Grupo Firme and Emmanuel, and newcomers like Peso Pluma, Fuerza Regida, Ana Bárbara and Carín León, performing at venues throughout the city. And as in previous years, not all of them are Mexican: Urbano stars Nicky Jam and Arcángel, for example, will join Luis R Conriquez and Codiciado at the third annual Rumbazo festival, taking place at the Downtown Las Vegas Events Center Sept. 13-14 in partnership with Billboard.
But despite what it has become today, Las Vegas’ Fiestas Patrias origins weren’t particularly musical.
“In reality, it wasn’t born as a musical event but as a sporting event, when those big fights began, the great Mexican boxers,” says veteran tour promoter Henry Cárdenas, referring to the September 1992 match where Mexican Julio César Chávez famously beat Puerto Rican Héctor “Macho” Camacho for the WBC super lightweight belt. “Then they brought [musical] talent to join the party.”
This year, the boxing tradition continues with Mexican legend Canelo Álvarez putting his super middleweight titles on the line as he takes on Puerto Rican Edward Berlanga at the T-Mobile Arena on Sept. 14. But today music, not sports, is the driving force behind Las Vegas’ Fiestas Patrias celebration.
WBC Super Lightweight Champion Julio César Chávez (R) lands a right on challenger Héctor “Macho” Camacho in the first round of their September 12, 1992, fight in Las Vegas, NV.
CARLOS SCHIEBECK/AFP/Getty Images
For Luis Medina, executive producer/CEO of Uno Productions and a former manager of Julio Iglesias, the city’s Fiestas Patrias tradition dates back even further, to the late ’80s, when the Spanish star began coming to Vegas twice a year to perform a series of shows at Caesars Palace.
“Julio was perhaps primarily the one who opened Las Vegas to Latinos,” Medina says. “Then came [Mexicans] José José, Juan Gabriel, Vicente Fernández, those classics. And that process began.”
Little by little, he recalls, Las Vegas became a Latin artistic hotspot — and the city’s hospitality industry took note. “Many hotels were surprised that they were being left behind because all these movements were happening, and they were still studying us with a magnifying glass,” Medina says. “They thought it was only with Luis Miguel or Julio Iglesias or Vicente Fernández” that audiences would show up.
Eventually, the demand led not only the biggest hotels to book Mexican and Latin talent but also smaller venues and nightclubs. “This effervescence was created as a result of all these processes, and Las Vegas began to grow,” Medina says. “Today, the millions of dollars that drive our business is impressive and allows Las Vegas to live off the Latin market in the month of September.”
Hundreds of thousands of Mexicans travel from south of the border to celebrate their independence in Vegas; even a decade ago, more than 300,000 Mexicans came by air alone for the 2013 festivities, according to a Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority report. And, Cárdenas adds, most of them have good purchasing power. “When you are coming to Las Vegas to celebrate from Mexico, there are other additional costs — the hotel, the tickets, the food, the good life, the partying. And that patron has distinguished himself because he is high class, and he comes prepared to celebrate … and attend at least three or four events that weekend,” he says.
“The people, culture and traditions of Mexico have made a significant impact on the city both on and off the Strip,” says Molly Castano, Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority president of public relations and communications, adding that “the celebrations that take place in honor of Fiestas Patrias are proof of that impact and connection.”
As for Alejandro Fernández, his Fiestas Patrias Vegas bookings have only grown: In 2022, his show went from one to two sold-out nights at the 17,000-capacity MGM Grand Garden Arena.
“He was the first artist that we worked with that wanted to create his special weekend in Las Vegas, and there’s nothing more mexicano than La Familia Fernández,” says Emily Simonitsch, senior vp of West Coast booking at Live Nation. “I think it’s impactful because he does the traditional celebration halfway through the show, celebrating the tradition of El Grito and Independencia with the flag and the bells and the dancers. So that’s what created it. That’s what El Grito is about.”
“This is a demonstration of the cultural influence and economic power of the Latino community in the U.S.,” Fernández adds. “I look forward to continuing the tradition for many years to come, representing my pride and love for Mexico, our people and our music.”
This story appears in Billboard‘s Rumbazo special issue, dated Sept. 14, 2024.
In April, “Gata Only,” a sly reggaetón number about flirting online, gave Chilean newcomers FloyyMenor and Cris MJ their first No. 1 on a Billboard chart. It dominated Hot Latin Songs for 14 consecutive weeks — but even beyond that impressive achievement, “Gata Only” was historic. The last time a Chilean artist had hit No. 1 on the chart was in 1991, when singer-songwriter Myriam Hernández’s “Te Pareces Tanto a Él” ruled for four weeks.
“Gata Only” also entered the Billboard Hot 100, Latin Airplay and both Billboard Global charts — and, in the process, put Chile’s thriving urban movement on the map. “The song touched different angles,” says Adrian Mainou, artist marketing manager of Latin/U.S. at UnitedMasters, which released the song. “It had a very cool impact on the culture, where the lyrics talk about something that’s relatable to the younger generation, and it was catchy on TikTok. For us on the marketing side, it was about taking the record outside of Chile.”
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Taking advantage of the song’s organic local growth, Mainou began working with a Chilean press team and engaging influencers in countries such as Argentina, Ecuador and Mexico to use the song in lip-syncing and dance challenges on TikTok. It worked: “Gata Only” has been used in over 4 million videos on the platform, and that spurred superstars Ozuna and Anitta to jump on a remix. “Chile felt proud,” Mainou says. “It translated from just being a big song to a cultural representation.”
In the ’90s and early ’00s, Chile’s music scene leaned more alternative, as artists like Mon Laferte, La Ley, Álex Anwandter and rapper Ana Tijoux all had presences on the Billboard charts. Then, in 2004, Puerto Rico’s booming reggaetón scene infiltrated the South American country — but although local artists began to create their own reggaetón music, it took more than a decade for Chile’s urban movement to really gain momentum.
“Everything changed in 2019,” explains Josue Ibañez, who with his brother Oscar is co-CEO of Chile-based label Wild Company. (Both are also A&R executives with Rimas Publishing.) “There are various artists who made the change, like Marcianeke, who made Chilean music start to be heard in clubs, but in a massive way. He got Chileans to start dancing to the music of their own artists, because previously we consumed a lot of music from outside like Puerto Rico and Colombia.”
Oscar Ibañez (who is also a producer under the name David Wild) adds, “If you ask any Chilean artist, they will tell you that our Daddy Yankee, our OG, is Pablo Chill-E. At the same time, we had Paloma Mami, and we started to take big steps outward. That was when the big record labels started to want to invest in Chile.”
Pablo and Paloma both entered the Billboard charts, the former on Hot Latin Songs with 2020’s Bad Bunny and Duki collaboration, “Hablamos Mañana,” the latter on Top Latin Albums with Sueños de Dalí and on Latin Pop Airplay with the Ricky Martin-assisted “Que Rico Fuera,” both released in 2021.
Since, Chilean reggaetón tracks have increasingly appeared on the charts, including Cris MJ’s “Una Noche en Medellín” (2022), Polimá Westcoast & Pailita’s “Ultra Solo” (2022) and Jere Klein’s “Ando” (2024).
“I feel like we created our own sound,” Oscar Ibañez says. “We gave our own reggaetón an identity that we didn’t have before. What we did at first was replicate a sound that was playing elsewhere; it was very neutral. Our ‘Chilenismo’ wasn’t applied to it. We gave reggaetón music a more Chilean twist with our idioms, our phrases, and it often happens that almost nobody understands what we say, but that same cadence became the DNA of Chilean music. Just by the accent, you know when it’s a Chilean artist.”
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And even as the movement has grown beyond Chile, it has done so in large part because of the faithful and loyal audience for its music within the country itself. “The key to Chile today is self-consumption,” Josue Ibañez explains. “We have a lot of fans. I think it was the fandom that made us get onstage and out into the world. That has been the most beautiful thing of all, that our culture through music has been able to expand internationally.”
“It used to be very difficult for that to happen,” Cris MJ says. “So now the fact that Chileans themselves are supporting us is good for the movement. They trust us, the talent. It was hard, but it was achieved. Personally, I’m dedicating myself to creating music that can be heard outside of Chile.”
Now, with the global success of “Gata Only,” Chile is on the wider music industry’s radar. Earlier this year, Rimas Publishing expanded its services to the country, where through a strategic agreement with Wild Company it will provide A&R services, artist development, musical composition creation and more.
“Chile is a market that has impressed us a lot. The growth has been exponential,” Rimas Publishing managing director Emilio Morales says. “It is a phenomenon like what’s happening in Brazil, where they are very proud of their national artists. In Chile, the support for their artists has a lot to do with education and culture. It’s a market where numbers and consumption are very significant.”
“One of our dreams is for Chile to become a musical powerhouse,” Oscar Ibañez says. “We want to educate the industry in Chile so that music is a blessing and not a problem. I believe in giving Chilean culture a healthy and educated music industry.”
Chile’s New Urban Leaders
Meet some of the artists driving the country’s burgeoning music movement.
Clockwise from left: Jere Klein, Pablo Chill-E, Marcianeke, Polimá Westcoast
Illustration by Israel G. Vargas
Cris MJ and FloyyMenor
Though both started as solo acts, Cris MJ and FloyyMenor achieved their greatest chart success thus far collaborating on “Gata Only,” which reached No. 1 on Billboard’s Hot Latin Songs chart, spending 14 consecutive weeks there.
Jere Klein
Known for his distinct, high-pitched voice, Klein made his first Billboard chart appearance in January with “Ando” on the Billboard Global 200 and Billboard Global Excl. U.S. lists; his second entry came on Global Excl. U.S. in February, “Princesita De…” with Chilean acts Nickoog CLK, Lucky Brown and El Bai.
Pablo Chill-E
Another Chilean urban pioneer, the trap artist born Pablo Acevedo has his own label, Shishigang Records. In March 2020, he secured his first entry on Hot Latin Songs, joining Bad Bunny and Duki on “Hablamos Mañana,” which debuted and peaked at No. 22.
Marcianeke
Though he doesn’t have a U.S. chart history, the trap and reggaetón artist revolutionized the urban movement in Chile. Known for his raspy vocals, he was the first Chilean urban act to perform at local nightclubs back in 2019 — which encouraged the country’s listeners to begin embracing their own urban artists.
Polimá Westcoast
The artist with a trap-meets-rock-star attitude got to No. 9 on the Billboard Global Excl. U.S. chart in 2022 with “Ultra Solo” featuring Chilean act Pailita; that same year, Feid, De la Ghetto and Paloma Mami jumped on the remix. He’s now collaborated with J Balvin and Quevedo and in 2023 signed a global deal with Sony Music U.S. Latin.
This story appears in Billboard‘s Rumbazo special issue, dated Sept. 14, 2024.
Billboard Latin Music Week is returning to Miami Beach on Oct. 14-18, with confirmed superstars including Gloria Estefan, Alejandro Sanz and Peso Pluma, among many others. For tickets and more details, visit Billboardlatinmusicweek.com.
Over his nearly 20-year career, Arcángel has become one of reggaetón’s most influential and enduring artists, landing 10 No. 1s on the Billboard charts and collaborating with superstars like Daddy Yankee, Romeo Santos and Bad Bunny. So it came as something of a shock when, in an interview with the famed Puerto Rican radio host Molusco late last year, he called the genre “musically poor.”
“If we compare it to any other genre, it’s much more complex to make another genre than to make reggaetón,” Arcángel tells Billboard today, explaining his controversial comments. “We don’t need a real instrument. It’s not the same where musicians are needed and you must know how to write real music. I am not criticizing it; I am just telling you the truth.”
But as he looks forward to a year packed with potential new projects — a new album, a book and a docuseries are all on the table — he readily admits that it’s reggaetón, uniquely, that got him here: “This genre has made me rich. I don’t think that another genre would have given me everything that I have today.”
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Growing up, the artist born Austin Agustín Santos lived in New York with his father and Puerto Rico with his mother, Carmen Rosa Santos, who was once a member of the all-girl merengue group Las Chicas del Can. Music surrounded him, including the emerging reggaetón scene of the ’90s, even if he says that the burgeoning genre wasn’t his favorite — at least, until one CD changed his mind.
“When I was still in school, they gave me a CD called Planet Reggae, and when I heard Tego Calderón, I fell in love with urban music from Puerto Rico,” the 38-year-old says. “That’s when I thought, ‘Wow, I like this. I respect this. This is the future,’ and it motivated me to move to Puerto Rico and want to sing reggaetón.”
Arcángel finished high school and only had one job — dressing up as Elmo to entertain pediatric cancer patients at a local hospital — before he dedicated himself to music. In 2004, he formed the underground duo Arcángel & De la Ghetto and signed with Baby Records (owned by Puerto Rican artist Zion of Zion & Lennox). Two years later, he launched his own label, Flow Factory, where he released his debut solo studio album, El Fenómeno, in 2008 after going solo the year prior. (He and De la Ghetto, now a star in his own right, remain friendly and appeared together on Bad Bunny’s “Acho PR” in October of last year.) Today, he credits el bajo mundo (the streets) for jump-starting his career.
“I didn’t invest any money in music. I gave my music away for free at first. I put it on Myspace,” he explains. “I’m a guy who came from the streets, and I didn’t make commercial music. I don’t owe my success or my status to radio impact.”
But while he downplays the importance of record sales and radio airplay (“When I sing in front of thousands of people, and thousands of people repeat my lyrics, that’s much more powerful”), such success did soon come. Arcángel scored his first Billboard hit in 2006 with his feature on Jowell & Randy’s “Agresivo,” which peaked at No. 27 on the Latin Rhythm Airplay chart. But the song that really changed his career, he says, was his romantic 2008 track “Por Amar a Ciegas,” co-produced by Luny Tunes, Tainy and Noriega.
“I was already popular in the urban scene, but that song gave me a respect that went beyond just being a reggaetón singer or rapper,” he says. “It made a lot of people, not [just] fans of urban music, listen to me.”
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Slim and small in stature but with a powerful, raspy voice, Arcángel is perhaps best known for his strong-willed personality and unapologetic self-confidence — qualities that have both helped and hurt him over his career.
In 2012, he signed a record and management deal with producer Rafael “Raphy” Pina’s Pina Records, where he was co-managed by Pina and Omar “Omi” Rivera (the latter, founder of Omi Management, still manages him). While there, he released Sentimiento, Elegancia y Maldad, which conquered the Top Latin Albums chart in 2013 — still his only No. 1 album — and became his first entry on the Billboard 200.
But in 2018, Arcángel parted ways with Pina due to personal issues, negotiating himself out of his longtime contract. His career stagnated for a year — until he signed a deal with the then-emerging label Rimas Entertainment in 2019.
“We had two options: We go with a traditional major label, or we try it out with [Rimas’] Noah Assad and Jonathan ‘Jomy’ Miranda, who are visionaries, who are modern, who are creative,” Rivera says. “Besides, the era of physical was also changing to digital, and they had a lot of knowledge in that area. It was a risky decision at that time because it involved money, but on the other hand it gave us peace of mind because we knew that they would adapt to what we wanted to present in the project.”
Rimas helped Arcángel get back on track, including with a pair of No. 3-peaking singles on Hot Latin Songs: 2019’s “Sigues con Él” with Sech and 2022’s “La Jumpa” with Bad Bunny. He’s now released five studio albums with the label, including Sr. Santos — a tribute to his late brother Justin Santos, who died at age 21 in a 2021 car accident — which debuted at No. 3 on Top Latin Albums in 2022. He’s also become a major supporter of Latin music’s next-gen stars, teaming up with Feid, Peso Pluma, Bizarrap, Eladio Carrión, Young Miko, Grupo Frontera and more.
But huge hits and vibrant collaborations alone aren’t what’s kept Arcángel relevant for this long.
“Arca took risks at very crucial stages of the movement,” Rivera says. “He’s very peculiar and unique. He’s not afraid to speak his heart out. This whole industry is so complicated because you must please so many people, but by being himself, he has been able to earn the respect he has today.”
“I’ve fallen a couple of times and had to learn new tricks,” Arcángel admits. “I’ve won more when I lose than when I win, and I still managed to do what can truly make a human being happy: live off what you really like.”
This story appears in Billboard‘s Rumbazo special issue, dated Sept. 14, 2024.
Billboard Latin Music Week is returning to Miami Beach on Oct. 14-18, with confirmed superstars including Gloria Estefan, Alejandro Sanz and Peso Pluma, among many others. For tickets and more details, visit Billboardlatinmusicweek.com.
In early 2018, the future looked bright for corridos singer-songwriter Codiciado. Grupo Codiciado, the band he’d co-founded three years prior, was rapidly rising: After breaking onto Billboard’s Hot Latin Songs chart in 2017 with “Gente de Accionar,” the act reached No. 8 on the Regional Mexican Albums chart with Miro Lo Que Otros No Miran (I See What Others Don’t). And with its success, the group was helping define the urban style of Rancho Humilde, the Los Angeles-based label known for its modern take on música mexicana.
Then, on a cannabis possession charge, Codiciado’s visa was revoked at the U.S.-Mexico border that April. He’d migrated to the States in 2016, working in Southern California’s agricultural fields to support himself as he tried to get his music career off the ground. Now, the physical walls along the border of his native Tijuana — and the legal restrictions preventing his reentry — stood in his way.
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It was a devastating turn of events. “I really wanted to stop. I didn’t want to make music,” the 31-year-old artist (born Erick de Jesús Aragón Alcantar) admits today. “I had a hard time when I left. I had no work; I was making my whole career in the United States. I thought that something divine wanted me to leave, like someone didn’t want me here. Then I put on my pants and said: ‘Well, if I’m here [in Mexico], I have to give it my all.’ At the end of the day, I was very hopeful [about] getting my visa back.”
Instead of letting the visa revocation end his career, Codiciado built a new one. Driven by a reborn creative conviction and fans’ support, he split from Grupo Codiciado and went solo. “The people gave me encouragement to say that it wasn’t over, that it was just a stumbling block,” he says. “I had to keep going.”
Growing up in Tijuana’s Villa del Real III neighborhood — an impoverished place, but one rich in Mexican music — Codiciado absorbed the culture of his surroundings. Influenced by icons like Los Tucanes de Tijuana and Explosión Norteña, he began writing songs as a teenager and channeled his environment’s chaos into his music.
Codiciado’s first songs were inspired by the infamous drug kingpins of Sinaloa and written in part out of financial necessity. Drug lords often pay songwriters to have corridos written about them, and though Codiciado notes that he “didn’t know about cartels in those days, just what I heard on the street,” getting the work marked a career turning point for him. As he honed his musicianship, he teamed with longtime friend and drummer Giovanni Rodríguez to form Grupo Codiciado in 2015, recruiting four more members in Tijuana.
The group organized and recorded a concert by the end of the year, drawing millions of views on YouTube; one of those videos amassed 233 million views alone. Its frequent new releases helped it cultivate a loyal fan base, and soon the band was headlining festivals throughout Tijuana. The following year, Rancho Humilde signed the act and it came to the U.S.
“Erick was the first artist who brought this new style to Mexican music eight years ago with Grupo Codiciado,” says Fabio Acosta, who is part of Codiciado’s four-person management team. “They were pioneers in changing the genre’s style, shifting from very decorated suits with fine stones to incorporating streetwear.”
Codiciado’s sense of style, now common among modern corridos acts like Natanael Cano and Fuerza Regida, was ahead of its time. “I had disagreements with older colleagues,” he recalls. “Many took it as an offense, saying, ‘No, man, we’re the same, and you’re wearing do-rags, caps and sneakers, while we’re here with cowboy hats and boots.’ ”
“He was at the forefront of this new wave of corridos,” says Chris Den Uijl, another member of Codiciado’s management team. “He was one of the first to show up in Air Force 1s and have a more progressive style.”
Codiciado performing at Toyota Arena on May 3, 2024 in Ontario, Calif.
Lalo Gonzalez
Since late last year, Den Uijl has overseen Codiciado’s touring strategy alongside Aaron Ampudia, with whom he co-founded festivals including Baja Beach Fest and Sueños. In fact, Ampudia, who has roots on both sides of the border, was the first of the current management team to connect with Codiciado, through a mutual friend. Ángel del Villar, founder of corridos label DEL Records, rounds out the team. “[My managers] are helping me to give structure to my work, to my company, to my band, to my music,” Codiciado says. (He releases music independently and has a distribution deal with Warner.)
As Codiciado’s career blossomed and he debuted on the Billboard charts, his life took a sudden turn. In 2018, while crossing into the United States from Mexico, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement accused him of residing stateside on a nonresidential visa and sought to revoke it. “I kept saying I had a work visa and traveled back and forth frequently,” he says. “Then, upon checking my bag, they found less than a gram of marijuana that I don’t know how the hell got there. I was detained for 12 hours without [access to] a lawyer. They had me sign for voluntary deportation, renouncing my visa and rights. A lawyer would have told me not to sign and to go to court.”
Back in Mexico, Codiciado felt “frustrated and alone” as he watched música mexicana move on without him. Rancho Humilde founder and CEO Jimmy Humilde “started signing new acts like Fuerza Regida,” Codiciado says from his home in Riverside, Calif. “One year went by, two years went by, three years went by, and nothing happened [with getting my visa back].”
Finally Codiciado decided, he says, “to get my act together” — including formally separating from Grupo Codiciado, which disbanded in 2021 and released its last single as a band, “Maquinando,” in February 2022. He doubled down on his solo songwriting and in 2023 put out his first solo album, Golpes de la Vida (Blows of Life), distributed by Virgin Music U.S. Latin; he wrote and produced 17 of the set’s 20 songs himself.
The album kept the essence of his sound intact, while recent singles like 2024’s “Gabachas” have embraced the rising trend of electrocorridos — electronic music with corridos instrumentation woven and sampled throughout. As he’s chronicled the monumental shifts in his life amid his visa struggle (including becoming a father for the second time; he has a 10-year-old daughter and a 4-year-old son), his lyric writing has deepened as well. “The biggest lesson was that I had to keep pushing and not wait around. If I had waited, I wouldn’t have grown. Despite leaving the group, I can say I made it. I returned a different person.”
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With legal assistance and the proper paperwork, Codiciado returned to Southern California with a new visa (he declines to specify what type) in 2023. Earlier this year, he completed the aptly named — and very successful — five-date Ando Enfocado (I’m Focused) tour; Live Nation is producing a second, eight-date run that will take Codiciado from coast to coast in September and October.
“He’s touching the young corridos kids [with] this new generational sound,” Den Uijl says. “He has a large fan base of regional Mexican fans that are showing up in cowboy hats and are going up to him saying things like, ‘You helped me get through my hardest times.’ Grown men crying to him saying, ‘You gave me the strength to stick through it when I lost my job to find the next one.’ Things like that really touched me watching it at his first wave of his shows.”
Meanwhile, Codiciado has returned to the Billboard charts. He made his solo debut in February 2023 with “V.A.M.C. (Vamos Aclarando Muchas Cosas En Vivo),” which peaked at No. 31 on Hot Latin Songs; the track also reached No. 29 on Regional Mexican Airplay. And “Gabachas” debuted at No. 41 on Latin Airplay and hit No. 9 on Latin Pop Airplay.
“I’m an artist with eight years [of experience]. Maybe many have come up faster and achieved what I haven’t yet in less time. But I’m the only one who has done it this way,” Codiciado says. “Maybe I bring two, three, four hits a year, but they are hits that are staying with the people and have a message.”
But now, his ambitions go beyond achieving commercial success. Codiciado’s work with La Fundación UFW, founded by civil rights activist César Chávez, underscores his dedication to the immigrant community at large. “We as a society have to be more noble and empathize more with people who don’t have,” he says. In April, KNAI (La Campesina 101.9) Phoenix, the radio station Chávez founded in 1983, announced a collaboration with Codiciado to deliver hot lunches to local farmworkers. “We should help people if we have the means,” Codiciado says. “God gave [to] us to give back. The more I have, the more I help.”
And as his influence grows, Codiciado wants to effect broader change, too. “I want to change minds. I can’t change everyone, but [artists] do have the influence to make big changes, just like a politician,” he says. “Our audience is very large, and revolutionarily speaking, that’s what I aspire to be.”
This story appears in Billboard‘s Rumbazo special issue, dated Sept. 14, 2024.
Billboard Latin Music Week is returning to Miami Beach on Oct. 14-18, with confirmed superstars including Gloria Estefan, Alejandro Sanz and Peso Pluma, among many others. For tickets and more details, visit Billboardlatinmusicweek.com.
Regional Mexican music continues to surf a wave of unprecedented global popularity and expansion, with names like Peso Pluma, Luis R Conriquez, Edén Muñoz, Fuerza Regida and Grupo Frontera crowning Billboard’s global and U.S. charts.
Yet women in the genre are almost nowhere to be found. Just one female artist-led song appeared among the 50 on Billboard’s year-end Regional Mexican Airplay Songs chart: Yuridia and Angela Aguilar’s “Qué Agonía.” And among the regional Mexican acts dominating the Hot Latin Songs chart, only one female name comes up: pop singer Kenia Os as a guest on Peso Pluma’s “Tommy & Pamela.”
Behind the scenes, it’s a different story entirely. In what had long been a world of male dominance in the C-suite of música mexicana, women are now powerhouses. María Inés Sánchez, formerly head of marketing for regional Mexican indie label Afinarte, is now the West Coast vp for Sony Music U.S. Ana Luisa Gómez, who has worked with Alicia Villarreal and Sergio Vega, among others, now manages superstar Muñoz. Rosela Zavala manages Ana Bárbara, and Adriana Martínez manages rising trio Yahritza y Su Esencia.
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And they’re just a few among a growing group of women that also includes Ana Martínez (leading Fonovisa/Disa’s U.S. division), Delia Orjuela (head of creative for música mexicana at Warner Chappell) and managers for some of the most visible artists on the charts, like Ivan Cornejo, Xavi and Eslabon Armado.
Billboard gathered four of these executives for a candid conversation about how they’ve managed to make their marks in a complex genre they readily admit is “full of men” — and the unique skill set that it has taken.
“I’ve always said that I’m one person at home, and another when I leave my house and I become that other person that everyone says, ‘Oh, she’s super angry, super hysterical,’ ” Gómez says with a smile. “Yeah. I’m super all that because if I wasn’t, I think I wouldn’t have made it.”
Spanish singer-songwriter Natalia Jimenez (left) and Gómez
Courtesy of Ana Luisa Gómez
How did you get your start in the world of regional Mexican music?
Ana Luisa Gómez: I graduated from the University of Monterrey [in Mexico] in communications and started working in television, where I spent 14 years producing entertainment and musical programs. Fifteen years ago, I left that and started managing Sergio Vega, “El Shaka,” may he rest in peace. [Vega was murdered in 2010.] Then I started my advertising agency, offering a 360 model of booking, promotion, radio, television. Later I decided to focus more on management, and I’ve been with Edén Muñoz for three years.
María Inés Sánchez: I also started years ago at PolyGram, Sony, Universal, Machete, always in marketing, and when I moved to Los Angeles I started doing public relations. Later, [my client] Chiquis Rivera recommended me to run PR for DEL Records [in 2016], and that’s how I started in the Mexican music genre. I worked with Régulo Caro, Gerardo Ortiz, Ulices Chaidez, Los Plebes del Rancho [de Ariel Camacho].
Rosela Zavala: Like María Inés, I got my start through Chiquis. I came from the pop world, working with Paulina Rubio and later with Gloria Trevi. And from Gloria I went to Chiquis and landed in a completely different world, the regional Mexican music world. I co-managed Chiquis, and Ana Bárbara is the first artist I fully manage.
Adriana Martínez: I’ve only been doing this for two years. The role of manager fell on me. My brothers, Yahritza y Su Esencia, began to be recognized, and since they always turn to me, I had to get a lawyer and all that. When I said, “OK, now you can fly alone,” they said, “No, please don’t leave us.” The truth is I started in this with zero experience.
What has been the most difficult thing about being a manager?
Martínez: Being siblings, and then transitioning into manager mode. At first, the guys didn’t take me very seriously when I said, “We need to do this.” The seriousness of things was there, but it was easier for them to procrastinate because I was the one in charge and I was their sister.
Gómez: The most challenging thing for me is working with men. They’re all men. There are no women, at least not in the teams I have worked on, starting with Sergio Vega. It’s not easy for men to accept that someone is telling them what to do and how, although it’s not a mandate. But I understand. It’s machismo. So the most challenging thing is to deal with that and develop a strong character.
Zavala: I have found it difficult to get Ana’s music heard on the radio. We bring songs and they say, “Oh, the traditional mariachi isn’t playing now. It’s grupero.” So Ana says, “Let’s do grupero,” and they say, “Ah, grupero sounds old.” In Mexico we get played much more, but in the U.S., with so many men on that chart, it’s difficult to get in. Also, in the beginning with Ana, I wrote to a couple of concert promoters that I knew, and they weren’t interested in her tour. A few years later, those same people wanted to work with her. I love making that happen. But I always looked for the people who told me they believed in her, let’s do it. And there are many people, even men, who told me, “Yes, we will give it our all.”
Ana Bárbara (left) and Zavala
Courtesy of Rosela Zavala
Do you remember the first time you had to lay down the law to be taken seriously?
Gómez: With Sergio Vega, of course. I met him through Oscar Flores, a super-renowned concert promoter, and we clicked. But Sergio was a man without reins. He did what he wanted, how he wanted. He was a great talent looking for the right direction, but he didn’t know how to do it. When I said left, he said right. And one day, after an event in Sonora [Mexico], where everything I told him not to do, he did, I grabbed my suitcase, knocked on his hotel room door and told him, “That’s it. I don’t have to deal with you or your people or your party.” I took my bags and flew home to Monterrey. After five days, he came to see me and said: “I am in your hands. What do we do?” And from there, we became family.
Do you think of one moment in your career as particularly defining? María Inés, I remember meeting you when you were a junior publicist, and then seeing you become a powerful executive at the Afinarte label…
Sánchez: That’s where I started, from ground zero. When I began working at Afinarte, they didn’t have a company email, for example. The first year, they uploaded the music to TuneCore and I made the pitches to the platforms. They didn’t have a distributor. I came from working at multinationals, which of course are highly organized and have departments for everything. Here we had to assemble everything, and I was the only woman: The bosses, the musicians, even the photographers were men. So it was a challenge, but I thank them because not many companies would have given me that much autonomy.
Zavala: Working with Paulina was like getting a master’s degree. [Initially], I was the president of her fan club, and she gave me the opportunity to be her personal assistant. Then I finished my “master’s degree” with Gloria. I spent eight years with her. I saw her struggle at the beginning with her shows, and then saw her grow to play arenas. She gave me that opportunity to grow and learn more and do day-to-day management. It was scary at the beginning. When you go from being a fan to being an assistant, you are no longer the friend. Everything becomes much more serious.
Martínez: I graduated [with a degree] in psychology. I worked as an outreach coordinator [for a health provider], and I already had my life planned. [When I started working with my brothers], the most important thing was to make sure that the values that our parents had taught us — keeping our feet on the ground, not forgetting where we came from, manners — were maintained. But there have also been times where I’ve said, “This is as far as it goes; I’m their sister, but if they don’t have respect for me as their manager, then that’s it.” After that, things calmed down and thank God, we are all moving together. But sometimes you have to have those talks or pack your bags and leave. All these battles have made us realize that family is important but also the respect we have as business partners is important.
Yahritza y Su Esencia with their sister and manager Martínez (second from left).
Jesse Sandoval
Aside from the difficulty of being taken seriously, what is most challenging for you on a day-to-day basis?
Martínez: We work with a major label [Columbia] and an indie label [Lumbre Music]. It’s good to have the macro view and the micro view, but our work doesn’t end there. It’s always been super important for us to have that relationship with the fans, to reach a point where they know the artist as people. And we didn’t receive much support in that respect. We said, “If we show people who we are and where we come from, our hearts will connect,” and sometimes big companies don’t understand that.
Gómez: Above all, the people that surround the artist but aren’t part of the music industry and love to mess things up. Going back to something that María Inés said, the daily challenge to be validated.
Are there certain advantages you do have as women in this business?
Martínez: I think we have that emotional balance, and we can see that in our empathy. The balance we give our artists with that empathy is super important, and it helps them know that they can trust us and that we are here to play any role.
Gómez: I am neither Edén’s mother, grandmother nor cousin, but you have to be all of that for him. Understand if he’s had a bad day, if his child is sick that day. A man also understands, but I think that a man has less sensitivity than us, he doesn’t have that sixth sense we have where as soon as I see him, I know what’s up. I think that as a woman you can dig in a little bit further than a man would dare to.
Zavala: The sensitivity we have with them and putting ourselves in their shoes. Even if you’re having a bad day, you still have to get onstage, sing. So the ability to support them from behind, be a cheerleader and look them in the eyes and giving them that support they need at that moment is very important. Because although you’re not family, you become family.
From left: Sony Music Latin president Alex Gallardo, Mexican singer-songwriter Ramón Vega and Sánchez at Sony Music Latin’s 2023 Música Mexicana Celebration in Los Angeles.
JC Olivera/Getty Images
What advice would you give to anyone starting out in the music business?
Gómez: You have to be passionate. If you go for the money or for the “I’m the manager,” bye. The money will come. It’s about fighting to place the artist at the level [they are] and being clean and honest. And don’t be a fan. It’s one thing to admire your artist, but don’t fall into fandom. You won’t be able to help them.
Sánchez: Don’t give up and be patient. And be empathetic. Be attentive. Be a little more human and don’t look at artists as a money machine. And speak up. Before, I stayed back and swallowed a lot of things. You have to raise your voice in the moment. Go for it. If you don’t agree with something, say so.
Zavala: Don’t take things personally. I was 22 when I started. I was so very young. Now that I’m older, I think back to how sensitive I was. Because it’s not about you. You grow thick skin. And, I’d say, speak up. Present your ideas, articulate them and land them as they should be.
Martínez: Be patient. Love, passion for your work, is what will lead you to do a good job with your artist. And most of all, don’t throw in the towel so soon. And ask. I would always hold back. I would talk down to myself. Ask for help, ask questions. I always thought that they were going to see me as “How could you not know that?” But all questions are good.
This story appears in Billboard‘s Rumbazo special issue, dated Sept. 14, 2024.
On a balmy May evening in 2023, the Glasshouse — a neon-lit venue six stories above the Hudson River in Manhattan’s Hell’s Kitchen neighborhood — buzzed with excitement. A music-industry crowd of hundreds had gathered for a private Telemundo Upfront event and its featured performance by Nicky Jam. And from the moment the seminal reggaetón star stepped onstage, clad in his signature baseball cap and an athletic Amiri ensemble beneath a wool trench coat, he showcased why he’s not just part of the genre’s history but also a vital architect of its present and future.
As Nicky sang 2003’s “Yo No Soy Tu Marido,” a bold attendee leapt onstage to dance alongside him. “Oh, ella quiere perrear!” (“She wants to twerk!”) he exclaimed, happily engaging with his unexpected partner as she enthusiastically began to grind on him. For about two hours, Nicky commanded the spotlight with that kind of effortless swagger, cycling through his expansive catalog of hits, from his 2014 international breakout smash, “Travesuras,” to the pulsating beats of “Hasta El Amanecer,” to the pop-reggaetón banger “El Perdón,” to the groundbreaking collaborative track “Te Boté (Remix).”
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Two decades into his career, Nicky is still vital onstage — which made it all the more shocking when, last October, he told his more than 40 million Instagram followers that he was “retiring soon.” He paired his social media announcement with footage from his 2018 Netflix bio-series, Nicky Jam: El Ganador, which chronicled how he’d recovered from a turbulent past marked by drug addiction (and a stint in prison) to become one of Latin music’s most illustrious figures. “I’m not going to be a singer for the rest of my life,” he tells Billboard today over Zoom from his Miami home. “I think I’ll probably retire soon… Well, not retire. Singers never retire. You just tone it down.”
Nicky Jam will headline Rumbazo on Sept. 13 at the Downtown Las Vegas Events Center. For more information, go to rumbazofest.com.
Offstage, the 43-year-old born Nick Rivera Caminero certainly doesn’t look like he’s slowing down. He’s channeled his creativity into a burgeoning business empire, running a chic Miami restaurant, La Industria Bakery & Cafe, and a few boutique hotels in Colombian cities including Cartagena, Guatapé and Medellín. “I have another hotel in Tierra Bomba that we’re almost finishing. It’s on an island resort [in Colombia] that I bought,” he mentions casually, then adds with a grin: “I’ll probably come out with weed too.”
In addition to these ventures, he’s recently launched his own lines of vape products (NickyJam x fume) and energy drinks (Athon) and even dipped his toes into the media world as host of The Rockstar Show (which streams on his official YouTube channel as well as all podcast platforms), where he’s interviewed Latin music stars including Karol G, Rauw Alejandro and Tainy (not to mention Billboard’s own chief content officer of Latin/Español, Leila Cobo). “We’re coming out with the third season right now,” Nicky says. And he also just signed his first full management client, up-and-coming Bronx rapper Axel Leon. (Nicky is also part of the management team for Manuel Turizo.)
However, for the moment, Nicky continues to find music creatively fruitful. The artist has been open about his battles with addiction, but when speaking with Billboard, he also reveals that he’s grappled with anxiety and depression for the past two years. That emotional turbulence — and the sleepless nights that came with it — inspired his sixth studio album, one of his most personal to date. Insomnio, out Sept. 6, delves into his personal reflections and nocturnal musings, while musically blending the sounds of Afrobeats, soul, trap and reggaetón.
For the project, he enlisted a range of talent from all over the world including Jamaican dancehall veteran Sean Paul, Puerto Rican trap star Eladio Carrión, Italian DJ-producer Benny Benassi, Argentine rapper Trueno and Colombian reggaetón star Ryan Castro. “It’s crazy to collaborate with a person you grew up listening to on the stoops of your neighborhood, the cars blasting his music in your city,” says Trueno, who guests on the classically reggaetón single “Cangrinaje.” “It’s like being able to transcend the line from being an admirer to being able to collaborate with that influence. Nicky Jam, without a doubt, was one of those visions that has stayed with me.”
“Having a track with Nicky for his latest album is very special to me because I watched him perform in nightclubs in Medellín,” says Castro, who’s listened to Nicky since he was a kid. “Seeing him overcome everything he went through in life and achieve what he has is the ultimate inspiration for me. Nicky is a star, and since I met him, we’ve developed a great friendship. I feel like he’s one of our own in Colombia.”
KSUBI shirt, Amiri pants and Louis Vuitton glasses.
Devin Christopher
Before his resurgence in the mid-2000s, however, Nicky faced significant struggles on his native island. “In Puerto Rico, I wasn’t booking any shows. Nobody wanted to deal with me — I had a bunch of problems on the streets, I was into drugs, I was a mess. Back in Puerto Rico at that time, I was the embarrassment of reggaetón music,” Nicky told the podcast Drink Champs last year. “But in Colombia, I was a legend,” he added, noting that Colombians appreciated both his hits and the songs that weren’t popular back home.
When Nicky moved to Colombia in 2007, he experienced a rebirth. “He arrives from Puerto Rico to Colombia con una mano atrás y otra adelante,” says his longtime manager Juan Diego Medina, using the Colombian expression for arriving with nothing. “In Colombia, he went through an entire musical process. He says that he learned to be human there, in the city [of Medellín] and country.” (In July, the two amicably parted ways after 13 years but remain close friends.)
“Moving to Colombia gave me the mojo to do the music,” Nicky says. “I got to Colombia in a moment when I desperately needed to work. They were listening to my old songs; they said they were classics. It changed my way of thinking and my way of writing music. I just sat down and I said, ‘If I make a No. 1 hit in this country, that would mean a lot of views on YouTube.’ With 45 million people [back then in Colombia], I was motivated. So I did a No. 1 national hit in Colombia, then four, five more. I became the new Colombian sound.”
In Colombia, Nicky embraced local culture while leveraging then-emerging digital platforms to reach a wider audience. “He had his whole trajectory in Puerto Rico and went to Colombia to try to reinvent himself, to find that audience that would give him a second opportunity,” says Stephanie Carvajal, artist relations and development, Latin lead at YouTube. “What allowed him to break beyond was a platform like YouTube. Nicky Jam was one of the pioneers in understanding and harnessing the power of YouTube to extend his music to audiences worldwide.”
Released in February 2015, “El Perdón,” Nicky’s game-changing collaboration with Enrique Iglesias, was a pivotal moment in reggaetón’s evolution from crude barrio genre to global juggernaut. “Nicky Jam was blowing up in Colombia, and Enrique had just put out ‘Bailando,’ ” recalls industry veteran Gerardo Mejía, who had worked closely with the Spanish pop superstar at Interscope Records and remained in close contact with him. “I said to Enrique, ‘Bro, you got to do something with Nicky.’ Nicky sent us ‘El Perdón.’ I said, ‘Wow, this is a hit.’ We saw how the [reggaetón] crossover began to happen through Enrique’s pop strength. All reggaetón started becoming more [mainstream] — it wasn’t so street anymore.”
But Iglesias’ pop-oriented style initially gave Nicky pause when he first heard it. “I felt the song was too pop-ish,” he admits. “I was worried about my street community. My urban community. I thought they were going to criticize me, so I put out the song without him. Then the record label, Sony, was like, ‘Yo, bro, we need you to put Enrique back on that track because it will be the best move you would do.’ We did the video and the version with Enrique, and that became a global hit.”
Louis Vuitton glasses, Gucci belt, Amiri pants and Palm Angels shoes.
Devin Christopher
Almost a decade later, Nicky Jam is one of YouTube’s most watched Latin artists of all time, boasting seven videos in the platform’s Billion Views Club. On the Billboard charts, “El Perdón” began a run of nine entries on the Hot 100 for him, and two of his albums, 2017’s Fénix and 2019’s Intimo, charted on the Billboard 200.
His Insomnio singles have also fared well: The 2023 Feid collaboration “69” climbed to No. 41 on Hot Latin Songs, No. 37 on Latin Airplay, No. 18 on Latin Digital Song Sales and No. 10 on Latin Rhythm Airplay; “Calor,” with Beéle, reached No. 20 on Latin Airplay and No. 6 on Latin Rhythm Airplay; and the title track, released in August, soared to No. 9 on Tropical Airplay.
And as he prepares for Insomnio’s release and contemplates what might come after, Nicky is well aware of his influence. “I came out exactly at that moment where everything happened,” he says. “For some weird reason, me being an old-school singer, I started what’s going on right now. I’m lucky to say I’m from the old school. I did a lot of hits back in the days, but when it came to the new stuff and the new movement, I’m one of the creators and pioneers of that moment, too.”
Insomnio is an evocative title. What inspired it, and how does it relate to the music’s themes?
I’ve been having two crazy years. I was struggling with anxiety and depression. A lot of the problems from the past were catching up to me. It led me to drink a lot. I had problems with drugs in the past, but never with alcohol. Alcohol is something legal that you find anywhere you go. I started drinking a lot, and it took me to a dark spot where I was feeling like it wasn’t the Nicky people are used to. I was partying too much, going out and I wasn’t sleeping. The crazy thing is sometimes, out of bad things, good things come. I did badass songs for this album during this dark moment. The reason why the album is called Insomnio is because most of the songs [were written, recorded and] take place at night.
How did the nocturnal songwriting process influence the album’s overall tone and message?
Remember, music is the art of expression, and I’m expressing myself. I’ve always been that type of person who’s very transparent. I never hide who I am or what I do. If you listen to “3 a.m. y yo en la cyber truck, pensando cuando contigo me daba los shot” [from “La Cyber” featuring Luar La L], “Exótica” [with lyrics] like “ver el sol caer,” most of the songs talk about me in full self-destruction mode, partying and not giving a f–k about life and just going crazy. If you listen to “Insomnio,” the merengue song, it’s a very sad song [lyrically].
Louis Vuitton glasses, Gucci belt, Amiri pants.
Devin Christopher
Merengue is usually joyful, but “Insomnio” takes a darker turn. How did you balance its upbeat rhythm with its somber themes?
If you listen to “El Perdón,” it’s a sad song. But you put that beat [on it], it automatically becomes a happy song. I think that’s part of my magic. I can make a sad song sound happy. That’s part of my creation mode. I really like that people can sing a sad song not even known as a sad song. That’s magic! If I were to sing that with low, dark chords, you automatically would have been like, “Damn, this motherf–ker is sad as f–k.” The reality is I was sad when I wrote that song, but in the production moment, I said, “I am not going to make this a sad song, I want this upbeat.”
Every album has its own unique creation journey. How would you differentiate Insomnio from Infinity, Intimo or Fénix in terms of the creative process?
I’m going to be honest with you. Fénix is an album that you can realize is Nicky Jam in his prime, doing his comeback and very happy about life. It was a different moment in my life. These other two albums, it was just working. I was touring so much and I just did music and put the [album] name after. These other two albums have no meaning for me. Insomnio has more meaning than any of these albums because I’m telling the people how I felt in one of my darkest moments.
On Insomnio, you navigate between trap, merengue, reggaetón, Afrobeats and electronic music. Can you talk about exploring a wide spectrum of genres?
I’m not this guy that stays in one corner. I could sing R&B, hip-hop, trap, reggaetón, merengue, whatever. The merengue thing is something I’ve never done. That’s why I wanted to do it. That’s funny because I’m half Dominican. Merengue right now is doing really good. Karol G came out with a merengue, Manuel Turizo, and a couple of others. I wanted a part of it. But the whole trap song thing was because Eladio Carrión sent me the [beat]. Then the Afrobeats is something that’s really going on right now. Quería cubrir todas las partes — I wanted to have every corner block. That’s what I did with the album.
Alongside your music, you’ve ventured into business, investing and launching restaurants and hotels. How do these fit into your long-term plans?
I’m not going to be a singer the rest of my life. I’m 43 years old. In a [few] years, I’ll be 50. A 50-year-old reggaetón artist; I don’t know if that looks so good. Daddy Yankee retired at 47, 48. I think I’ll probably retire soon, too. Not now, but probably in seven to 10 years. Well, not retire. The word “retire” for a singer does not make any sense. Daddy Yankee said he retired, and he came out with a song [“Loveo”] a couple of months ago.
There are a lot of new kids, and you’re not going to compete when you’re almost 50 with a 20-year-old that has that brand-new sound, that new vibe that kids like. The reality is this is young people’s music. I’m not saying older people don’t listen to it, but if you see the list of the people, you’re going to see that it’s mostly the youth that listen to this music. You can’t compete with that. So I prepared myself businesswise.
When people say, “OK, Nicky, you’re too old for this,” I’ll be like, “All right, but I’m rich, baby. I got businesses that take care of me and [I] still live the lifestyle.” That’s what you want, to capitalize so many businesses that you don’t even have to perform and do music to live the lifestyle. I worked hard for it. That’s why I do businesses on the side, where I could profit enough that I can keep living that good life.
Faith by Luis hat.
Devin Christopher
How do your restaurant, La Industria Bakery & Café, and your hotels reflect your personal interests?
La Industria is mostly a brunch place. You get your pancakes and French toast. It’s that type of vibe. Here in Miami, I used to go to a lot of these spots, but I recognized there wasn’t a Spanish one. So I came out with the bakery, and it’s been a boon. It has my DNA everywhere. I was born and raised in Massachusetts, but I lived in Puerto Rico most of my life. At the end of the day, it’s a sweet pancake spot — but the bestseller is a hamburger called La Boricua. Everybody goes and gets that hamburger. They love it. You have a knife right through the middle.
You recently signed a management deal with hip-hop artist Axel Leon. What qualities do you look for in artists you mentor?
They got to be talented, disciplined, versatile and have a lot of charisma. That charisma goes crazy with the people. Just with that, you could conquer the world in the music industry. Talent is something, but if you have charisma and you’re hungry to work…
What led you to start The Rockstar Show?
I was in pandemic [mode]. Bored. I wasn’t doing anything. I was in my house and I said, “I got to work.” So I got a studio and I started interviewing artists. It started with a couple of interviews. From there, we went to The Rockstar Show. We’re coming out with the third season right now.
You took The Rockstar Show to Billboard Latin Music Week in 2023, and during your onstage interview with Ivy Queen you started beatboxing. What was that about?
I’m from the old school. Back in the day, we were MCs and we did everything. We’d rap, beatbox and dance. I used to breakdance. I used to [freestyle] battle in the corners like they do in the Red Bull Batalla. I’m very good. Believe me, ain’t nobody f–king with me.
As you continue diversifying your career, are there any other new avenues you’re looking to still explore?
Mostly hospitality, hotels. That’s what I’m really doing. I’ve done acting [in movies like 2017’s xXx: Return of Xander Cage and 2020’s Bad Boys for Life], I’ve done music, I’ve done it all.
Everything I do is to inspire people. Yes, it’s business, but at the end of the day, I come from a black hole most people don’t come out of. A lot of people that were raised with me, they’re dead right now. I’m not talking about one or two, I’m talking about hundreds of them. There’s a chance. There’s hope. If I did it, you could do it. That’s my philosophy.
This story appears in Billboard‘s Rumbazo special issue, dated Sept. 14, 2024.
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