Yaga Y Mackie

• Genre: Reggaeton

About

Reggaeton artists are at least as promiscuous with their guest stars as rap artists -- if not more -- and nearly topping the list of collaborators are Puerto Rico's native sons Yaga y Mackie (aka Javier Martinez and Luiz Pizarro). Part of the first wave of Puerto Rican reggaeton artists to make it big outside of their home country, the duo came of age in the 1990s, just as reggaeton was beginning to obliterate pop and salsa for poor Puerto Rican youth. The two got into the reggaeton game independently in 1995, when Mackie began contributing tracks to such productions as The Noise 4, DJ Eric 3 and Nico Canada 3. Yaga first tested his vocal chops on productions including Getto Style, DJ Joe 4Time to Kill by DJ Frank and the Francotiradores 1. The duo teamed up for the first time on the disc Warriors 3, which led to more recordings for artists like DJ Blass, DJ Sandunguero and DJ Nelson. After guesting on Daddy Yankee's El Cangri.com and the Kilates series, they released two albums of their own: Sonando Differente (2003) and Clase Aparte (2004). Their 2005 debut on Univision, La Moda, saw them embracing cleaner production while maintaining hot grooves with help from all-stars like Tego Calderon, Don Omar and Nina Sky.

- Sarah Bardeen