Jowell & Randy

Jowell & Randy are a Puerto Rican reggaeton duo composed of Joel Muñoz Martínez (born March 3, 1982) and Randy Ortiz Acevedo (born July 16, 1983). The duo have been active since the early-2000s and have become one of the most popular acts in reggaeton. They have released three studio albums, five mixtapes, and 23 singles as of June 2017. They were also members of the short-lived group Casa de Leones alongside J King & Maximan and Guelo Star. They became the first reggaeton acts to perform in Monaco and the first reggaeton duo to do so in Australia.

Joel Alexis "Jowell" Muñoz Martínez was born in Springfield, Massachusetts on March 3, 1982 and grew up in Cataño, Puerto Rico, one of the island's poorest municipalities. He began to take interest in music at the age of seven listening to Puerto Rican rapper Vico C and Vico C's1989 cassette La Recta Final. Vico C (born Luis Armando Lozada Cruz on September 8, 1971) is cited as being a pioneer of underground rap music in Puerto Rico during the mid- to late 1980s, playing a very influential role in the development of the genre. Jowell's first recording session was in 1996 for Los Fugitivos at a studio in Levittown, Puerto Rico alongside other rappers including Nicky Jam, Master Joe & O.G. Black, Camaleón, and Buru Fat Z. During the 1990s decade, most reggaeton albums composed by various artists used to be recorded in a day because of the low-budget equipments producers had at the time. Songs had to be recorded in one-take; any mistake meant having to restart the recording all over again.

Circa 1996, Jowell met Giann Arias and began organizing parties at garages, where Arias served as a DJ with Jowell rapping over the beat. Jowell began building fame from his features in various reggaeton mixtapes. Giann founded a low budget studio called Live Music in 1997 in order to record his own mixtapes with Jowell and other artists. Jowell's first commercial mixtape was The White in 1998, in which he took part performing the song "No Has Encontrado" alongside Caimito-based rapper Baby Killer, who was his duo partner for some months until Baby Killer's retirement. Later in 1997, Jowell was featured on DJ Flavor's mixtape Megatron Sex with the song "Yo Tengo Una Notita", which became popular in Puerto Rican nightclubs. Afterwards, Muñoz was tapped as an opening act for fellow reggaeton performers including Ranking Stone, Falo, Alberto Stylee, and Wiso G.

Randy Ariel Ortiz Acevedo was born in San Juan, Puerto Rico on July 16, 1983 and used to take part in a choir in a Puerto Rican church. As a child, he listened to rhythm and blues, blues, and soul music. He began his music career in 1998 and his first album appearance was on DJ Dice's mixtape In the House later that year.

Jowell and Randy first met during a friends reunion at Jowell's house. Randy was a friend of Jowell's younger brother at high school, which led to him being invited to Muñoz's house to watch a Felix "Tito" Trinidad boxing fight on television in 2000 alongside other friends and relatives. Jowell's brother told him that his friend Randy was interested in collaborating, but intimidated by Jowell's rising reggaeton career. Jowell invited Randy to record at his studio, believing in Randy's potential as a singer. However, Muñoz noticed that Randy needed improvement in the writing of his lyrics. Jowell proposed a duo, inspired by other acts including Baby Rasta & Gringo, Héctor & Tito, Wisin & Yandel, and Maicol & Manuel with Randy singing melodies and Jowell writing the rap verses. Randy's first solo album appearance was on Operación Sandunga with the song "Siéntelo Mujer", which was going to be part of the mixtape's promotion through radio and television, but was canceled after the producer was murdered.

In 2002, Jowell & Randy signed a three-year contract with Iván Joy on Diamond Music, his record label and their first album appearance was on The Majestic with the song "Todavía Recuerdo". The duo invested in a low-budget music video and managed to get the song played on Audio Activa 102.3, a radio station in western Puerto Rico, in exchange for recording jingles. In 2004, they were featured on Boy Wonder's album Chosen Few, which received a 2× platinum (Latin) certification for over 200,000 copies sold in the United States. Jowell still displays the award in his home as a tribute to the duo's first major commercial success. However, the group struggled to find attention in Puerto Rico. In 2005, Boy Wonder and Chencho Records organized a contest which consisted on an album composed by various new artists, titled El Draft. The duo R.K.M. & Ken-Y was announced as the contest's winner, chosen by fan votes. Frustrated at not being able to fulfill their goal of being famous, Jowell & Randy began to think about retiring from music.

During late 2005, while Jowell and Randy were trying to repair the former's car at a gas station, a luxury car passed by them. Randy noticed the driver was Elías de León, a well known producer in Puerto Rico, owner of White Lion Records and famous for discovering rapper Tego Calderón, duos Calle 13 and Zion & Lennox, and having executive produced various reggaeton albums since the mid-1990s. They approached de León with some of their demos. He listened to three songs and gave them his number, asking them to return his call the next day. In order to sign, the duo needed to end their three-year contract with Diamond Music. An angered Iván Joy asked for an unexpected high amount of money and some of the duo's unreleased songs. Jowell & Randy accepted and were able to sign with White Lion Records.

Jowell & Randy's first single released under their new record label was "Agresivo" featuring fellow Puerto Rican rapper Arcángel from the album La Calle, Vol. 1 in 2006. The promotion by White Lion led to the song being broadcast on all radio stations and music-related television channels in Puerto Rico. The single became the duo's first entry on Billboard, peaking at No. 27 on Latin Rhythm Airplay on September 19, 2006. On March 1, 2007, the song garnered two People Choice Reggaeton and Urban Awards for Best Collaboration of the Year and Best Song of the Year. They also won as the Revelation Duo of the Year and Randy's performance on "Soy Una Gárgola" received the Catchiest Chorus award.