Casa De Leones

The brainchild of producer and reggaeton impresario Elias de Leon (hence the play on words: Casa de Leones), this quintet gathers several charting reggaeton acts to create, in de Leon's conception, a Wu Tang-esque conglomerate. Despite de Leon's prominence -- the head of White Lion Records, he sold Daddy Yankee's first tapes out of the trunk of his car in the early '90s -- the comparison may be a bit of a stretch. The group doesn't seem to be united by a common mythology a la Wu, nor do the Casa de Leones members share the same cult status. But de Leon appears to have hit on something nevertheless: though none of the acts had crossed over internationally, their first single as Casa de Leones, "No Te Veo," leapt to the top of Billboard's Latin Rhythms charts in 2007, much to everyone's surprise. Whether emcees Jowell y Randy, Maxima, Guela Star and J King can keep up the heat remains to be seen.