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- El Ganador, a Netflix series about Nicky Jam’s life and career, premieres on April 21.
- Jam has created and collaborated on some of the biggest reggaeton hits of the last decade, including "Yo No Soy Tu Marido," "X," and "Hasta El Amanecer."
- Here are some of the Puerto Rican rapper and singer's his best songs to add to your playlists.
Nicky Nicky Nicky Jam. If you don’t know this Puerto Rican and Dominican artist by face, you’ve likely heard his tag line on some of the most popular reggaeton songs released in the last decade. And if you don’t know those songs, you’re in luck: Today, Netflix’s new biographical series based on Jam’s life and career, El Ganador (or The Winner in English), is available to stream. While Jam is known for his melodic sounds and frequent collaborations with some of the biggest Latin artists today—from Bad Bunny and J Balvin, to Ozuna—it wasn’t always that way.
Born Nick Rivera Caminero, Jam, 39, has been writing and making music since he was 13 years-old, when he would spit freestyle raps while working in a grocery store. After his family moved from Massachusetts to Puerto Rico in the 90s, he met now-legendary fellow rapper Daddy Yankee. Eventually, the two formed the reggaeton group known as Los Cangris—but as the duo became more successful, Jam started to use drugs and alcohol. It not only cost him his relationship with Yankee, but also his career. "I was making too much money,” Jam told Billboard. “I was too young. I didn't know how to deal."
Battling addiction and depression, Jam left Puerto Rico in 2007 for Medellín, Colombia, where he found he still had a loyal fan base and could perform for money. It was there that he was able to get sober and change his behavior, releasing his song “Travesuras” in 2014. But it was a year later when Jam recorded “El Perdón” with Spanish pop star Enrique Iglesias that he started to break back through. The song debuted at number one on Billboard’s Hot 100 Latin Songs, spending 58 weeks on the chart. The collaboration didn’t just mark a new way forward for Jam, but for the reggaeton genre as a whole.
“When Enrique Iglesias called me because he wanted to do a song with me, that’s when I knew I was going mainstream,” Jam told Rolling Stone.
Living in Colombia has changed Jam both personally and professionally. You can still hear some of the classic Puerto Rican reggaeton sounds in his songs, the signature blend of reggae and hip-hop that makes people want to dance. But his new style is influenced more by Colombian reggaetoneros, like Balvin, Maluma, and Karol G, softening "the perreo that had once ruled the charts," as Eduardo Cepeda wrote for Remezcla last year. Cepeda added that their sound has shifted from hard-hitting dembow—a musical rhythm that originated in Jamaica and is widely popular throughout the Dominican Republic—to more velvety rhythms and romantic lyrics.
It’s a different sound, for sure, but it’s still a damn good time. Whether you've just finished bingeing El Ganador on Netflix or you're just looking to update your playlists, here's a roundup of some of Jam’s all-time best songs:
"El Ganador"
Netflix’s new series gets its name from the opening song on Jam’s 2017 album Fénix, the first full-length album he released after a decade away from the spotlight. For the song’s video, Jam reimagines his troubled past and addresses his audience during a press conference. He acknowledges his fall from grace and how afraid he was—but that, through it all, he never lost his faith. “Ya mi tiempo llegó, le doy gracias a Dios,” he sings. “My time is here, I give thanks to God.”
"El Perdón"
This song, meaning "Forgiveness," was not only one of the most successful collaborations between a reggaeton artist and mainstream pop star—but it was a defining song of the 2010s, according to Billboard. On it, Jam and Iglesias are longing for a woman who has left them, unable to imagine how they could be happy without her.
"Travesuras"
Before “El Perdón,” Jam released “Travesuras,” which hit number two on Billboard’s Top Hot Latin Songs and helped him to get a new record deal with Sony U.S. He’s still chasing a woman, but the song is a little more mischievous as Jam candidly tells a woman he just met how she makes him feel.
"Hasta El Amanecer"
Jam told Rolling Stone this was his first song to hit a billion views on YouTube—1.4B as of publish time of this story, to be exact—and it’s a great example of the way Jam can expertly combine a sexy reggaeton sound with melodic hooks. In Hasta El Amanecer, he's just met a girl he wasn't expecting to, and the only thing he knows is that he wants to stay with her until dawn.
"X"
Pronounced “Equis,” J Balvin brought this song to Nicky Jam, who knew instantly that it would be a hit, he told Billboard. The reggaetoneros sing unapologetically about who they are and the woman they want—why they just want to dance and get carried away in the music. Come for the reggae dance beat, stay for the dance moves.
"Muévelo"
After a very public feud and a couple of diss tracks between the two, Jam and Yankee eventually made amends—and Los Cangris are back in action on this super-catchy song meaning “Move it,” which samples Ini Kamoze’s 1994 reggae hit, “Here Comes the Hotstepper.” It's also one of the Spanish-language songs featured in Bad Boys for Life.
Te Robaré
One of many collaborations between Jam and Ozuna, this song title translates to “I will steal you.” It's another sensual song, where each half of the duo wants to get hot and heavy with a woman whose heart they are determined to steal.
El Amante
Jam starts out this track by being over a relationship where he is constantly fighting with his partner. But as the song progresses—and as the woman may have moved on—he comes back for her even though he knows it’s wrong.
"En La Cama"
One of the earlier hits from Jam’s Los Cangris days with Yankee, this song is classic perreo (the word often used to describe how listeners dance to reggaeton), from the beat to the lyrics that tell a woman they want everything she has to offer.
"Yo No Soy Tu Marido"
Another song from Jam’s first foray into reggaeton, this song, which means "I am not your husband," is Jam reminding a woman that he's with of the nature of their relationship. It's not long-term or romantic, it's just for fun—and as viewers will see in El Ganador, it's the song that was particularly popular in Colombia that helped him earn his comeback.
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Stephanie is an SEO manager for Hearst Magazines, where she works closely with editors to help inform a unique content strategy for search. Previously, she was an editor for Time Inc’s news group, including Time, Fortune, and Money Magazine.
