Jowell & Randy are a Puerto Rican reggaeton duo composed of Joel Muñoz (born March 3, 1982) and Randy Ortiz (born July 16, 1983). The duo have been active since the early-2000s and have become one of the most popular acts in reggaeton.[1] They have released three studio albums, five mixtapes and twenty-three singles as of June 2017. They were also members of the short-lived group Casa de Leones alongside J King & Maximan and Guelo Star. They became the first reggaeton acts to perform in the Principality of Monaco and the first reggaeton duo to do so in Australia.
Joel Alexis "Jowell" Muñoz Martínez was born in Springfield, Massachusetts, U.S.A. on March 3, 1982[3] and was raised in Cataño, Puerto Rico, one of the island's poorest municipalities.[4] He began to take interest in music at the age of 7 through Puerto Rican rapper Vico C[5][6] and his 1989 cassette La Recta Final.[7][8][4] Vico C (born Luis Armando Lozada Cruz on September 8, 1971) is cited as a pioneer of underground rap music in Puerto Rico during the mid- to late 1980s, playing a very influential role in the development of the genre.[9][10] Jowell's first recording session was in 1996 for Los Fugitivos at a studio in Levittown, Puerto Rico alongside other rappers including Nicky Jam, Master Joe & O.G. Black, Camaleón, and Buru Fat Z.[7][8][4] During the 1990s decade, most reggaeton albums composed by various artists used to be recorded in one day because of the low-budget equipments producers had at the time.[4][11] Songs had to be recorded in one-take; any mistake meant having to restart the recording all over again.[11]
Circa 1996, Jowell met Giann Arias and began organizing parties at garages, where Arias served as DJ with Jowell rapping over the beat.[8] Jowell began building fame from his features in various reggaeton mixtapes.[6] Giann founded a low-budget studio called Live Music in 1997 in order to record his own mixtapes with Jowell and other artists.[8] Jowell's first commercial mixtape was The White in 1998, in which he took part with the song "No Has Encontrado" alongside Caimito-based rapper Baby Killer,[5] who was his duo partner for some months until his retirement.[8] Later that year, Jowell was featured on DJ Flavor's mixtape Megatron Sex with the song "Yo Tengo Una Notita",[5] which became popular in Puerto Rican nightclubs.[8] After that, Muñoz was tapped as opening act for fellow reggaeton performers including Ranking Stone, Falo, Alberto Stylee and Wiso G.[8][12][13]
Randy Ariel Ortiz Acevedo was born in San Juan, Puerto Rico on July 16, 1983[3] and used to take part on a choir in a Puerto Rican church, and was raised listening to rhythm and blues, blues and soul music.[4] He began his music career in 1998 and his first album appearance was on DJ Dice's mixtape In the House later that year.[14]
Jowell and Randy first met during a friends reunion at the former's house.[15] Randy was a friend of Jowell's younger brother at high school, which led to him being invited to Muñoz's house in order to watch a Felix "Tito" Trinidad boxing fight on television in 2000 alongside other friends and relatives.[8][15] Jowell's brother told him that his friend Randy was interested in collaborating, but intimidated by Jowell's rising reggaeton career.[8][15] Jowell invited Randy to record at his studio, believing in Randy's potential as a singer.[5][14][8] However, Muñoz noticed that Randy needed to improve his lyrics.[14][8] Jowell proposed a duo, inspired by other acts including Baby Rasta & Gringo, Héctor & Tito, Wisin & Yandel and Maicol & Manuel, with Randy singing melodies and Jowell writing the rap verses.[8] Randy's first solo album appearance was on Operación Sandunga with the song "Siéntelo Mujer",[8] which was going to be part of the mixtape's promotion through radio and television, but was cancelled after the producer's murder.
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