JHAYCO
Jesús Manuel Nieves Cortés was born in 1993 in Río Piedras, Puerto Rico, and raised between the island and Camden, New Jersey, a split upbringing he credits for the many roots in his sound. He began as a teenage songwriter, catching the ear of Eddie Dee and penning tracks for acts like Zion & Lennox and Tito El Bambino before launching his own career, and broke through at the end of the 2010s with the melodic hit 'No Me Conoce.' Recording first as Jhay Cortez and, from 2022, as JHAYCO, he became one of the defining voices of modern música urbana by fusing reggaetón's golden era with hip-hop and R&B, most visibly on the Bad Bunny collaboration 'Dákiti' and the Skrillex team-up 'En Mi Cuarto.'
JHAYCO has repeatedly named Don Omar as the artist who made him want to make music, tracing his own melodic bent back to reggaetón's golden era; you hear it in his taste for sung, romantic hooks laid over dembow rather than pure rapping.
listen forThrow on Don Omar's aching, half-sung 'Pobre Diabla,' then JHAYCO's 'No Me Conoce' — both float a smooth, crooned melody over a steady reggaetón bounce, turning the track into a heartsick serenade rather than a hard-charging club record.
JHAYCO has cited Drake among the hip-hop and R&B artists who shaped him, and points to that lineage when describing his blend of Latin urban music with rap and R&B; it surfaces as an introspective, sing-rap delivery and moody, late-night confessional writing.
listen forPlay Drake's drunk-dial ballad 'Marvins Room,' then JHAYCO's 'En Mi Cuarto' — both trade the club for the bedroom, sliding between soft singing and murmured rapping over a hushed, after-hours beat built around loneliness and want.
JHAYCO is credited with citing Travis Scott among the influences behind his fusion of Latin urban music with hip-hop, and it reads in his taste for spacey, auto-tuned atmosphere and minimal, echo-heavy production over conventional reggaetón maximalism.
listen forCue Travis Scott's woozy, psychedelic 'goosebumps,' then JHAYCO's 'Dákiti' — both drape a heavily auto-tuned, reverb-soaked vocal across a sparse, hypnotic beat, so the hook feels less like a shout-along than a hazy, floating loop.