To celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month let’s shine the spotlight on how Latin music is one of the fastest growing communities on YouTube. 2017 is clearly marked as a breakout year for the genre which was sparked by the huge success of Luis Fonsi’s ‘Despacito’ which became the most-watched video of all time on YouTube this Summer (only recently dethroned by Taylor Swift’s highly marketed comeback video, ‘Look What You Made Me Do’). The Vydia platform is overflowing with amazing Latino and Hispanic creators that are breaking cultural boundaries and connecting fans all over the world. To celebrate the occasion, we would like to take some time to spotlight a few of them:
Pusho
Héctor Emmanuel Birriel, better known as Pusho, is a rapper, singer and producer celebrated for his dance, R&B, and reggaeton-infused sound. Born in Carolina, Puerto Rico, Pusho’s untraditional jump into the spotlight began on a Facebook page called ‘Freestyle Mania’. Initially, music was only a hobby for Pusho to pursue while he was working at a furniture store. However, his freestyle lyrics gained the support of thousands of fans on Facebook, and Pusho quickly stood out as one of the top talents on the “Freestyle Mania” group. He was even nicknamed “Mr. Like” because of all the Facebook likes he as receiving on the social network! Pusho’s popularity online caught the attention of Casa Blanca Records, who later signed him in 2014. Since signing with Casa Blanca Records, Pusho has dropped his first album Rookie of the Year and has collaborated with other top Latin talents including Farruko, Daddy Yankee, Cosculluela, J King and Maximan, and J Alvarez (just to name a few). Sticking to his roots, Pusho continues to build on his digital reach: his Vevo channel currently has over 572K subscribers and over 346M views. His next move to drop his highly-anticipated second album, El MVP, later this year which will include collaborations with Arcángel, De La Ghetto and the duo Zion and Lennox. While you patiently wait for the album to drop, check out its official music video, ‘La Realidad’, which already has over 11M views on Vevo!
J Alvarez
Considered one of the founders of “modern reggaeton”, Javid David Alvarez Fernandez, or J Alvarez, has laid the groundwork for some of today’s biggest Latin stars. The Puerto Rican born Dominican star began writing and performing songs at the age of 12. He established his love for reggaeton when he started working in the studio for his mentor DJ Nelson. In 2009, he launched his first professional mixtape, El Dueño del Sistema, however, his real success emerged after he debuted his solo album Otro Nivel de Música in 2011, which featured the hit single ‘La Pregunta.’ In total, J Alvarez has released six albums and has even created his own record label, On Top Of The World Music which is distributed by Sony Music Latin. Throughout his career, J Alvarez’s work has been recognized for a variety of awards including multiple nominations for Premio Lo Nuestro, Billboard Awards, Tu Mundo Awards, and the Latin Grammy. Although J Alvarez has already seen massive success, he hasn’t slowed down. His latest video “6 De La Morning” has generated 9.8M views in only a month, while his most recent album, Big Yauran was recently nominated for the Latin Grammy for “Best Urban Music Album.” Watch ‘6 De La Morning’ here.
Jon Z
Entering the scene in 2014, rap and reggaeton recording artist, Jonathan Resto Quinones, better known as Jon Z, started off his career by publishing his freestyles to his YouTube channel JonzTV. As his music gained more popularity online, Jon Z took to touring his native island, Puerto Rico, where he caught the attention of Boy Wonder and was later signed to his label, Chosen Few Emeralds Entertainment. His debut mixtape The Game is About to Change was released in 2015, and featured his first collaboration with Bebo Yau, ‘Pegao,’ followed by the popular ‘Mentirte.’ As a member of the Chosen Few, Jon Z has had the opportunity to collaborate with a variety of other Latin stars including Farruko, Almighty, Anuel AA, Arcángel, Ñengo Flow & Baby Rasta. Most notably, Jon Z’s biggest project to date is his hit ‘0 Sentimientos (Remix)‘ which features Noriel Darkiel, Lyan, Messiah, and Baby Rasta and was able to hit over 1M views in less than three weeks (the track currently has over 69M views). Watch as Jon Z once again kill it in ‘Viajó Sin Ver’ which currently has over 12M views on YouTube.
Grupo Exterminador
Residing from Guanajuato, Mexico, four brothers and a friend combined their creative talents in 1992 to form one of the longest lasting norteño bands in history, Grupo Exterminador. Lead vocalist, Juan Corona started the group at the age of 9, after winning his first televised children’s competition. Corona brought his brothers to Los Angeles where they formed Los Hermanos Corona and performed in a variety of smaller venues. After cutting a few self-recorded albums, the group decided to change their name to Grupo Exterminador, building on the popular Arnold Schwarzenegger movie, The Terminator. Quickly after the name change, the group was picked up by EGO Records who they only released one album with, Dos Plebes, Vol. 2 in 1994. In 1995, Grupo Exterminador found their home with Fonovisa and proceeded to release 15 albums including Corridos Perrones 1, Contrabando en los Huevos, and Duelo de Valientes: Corridos Endiablados. Their time with Fonovisa helped establish the group as the “prime purveyor of the new sound of narco-cultura 2.0.” 25 years since the band’s formation, Grupo Exterminador is still pumping out successful content. Check out their latest video ‘Tumba En Mi Pecho’ which has over 103K in two weeks!
While we may only have time to highlight a few of our favorite artists in this blog, we want to spread the love to all of our Hispanic and Latino creators that are making their mark on society with the videos they push out! Don’t forget to follow us on social media as we spotlight even more of our Hispanic and Latino creators throughout the rest of Hispanic Heritage Month!