During his nearly 20-year career, Arcángel has become one of reggaetón's most influential and enduring artists, scoring 10 No. 1s on Bulletin board charts and collaborates with superstars such as Daddy Yankee, Romeo Santos and Bad Bunny. So it came as a shock when, in an interview with the famous Puerto Rican radio host Molusco late last year, he called the genre “musically poor.”
“If we compare it to any other genre, it's much more complicated to make another genre than to make reggaetón,” says Arcángel. Bulletin board today, explaining his controversial comments. “We don't need a real instrument. It's not the same where musicians are needed and you have to know how to write real music. I'm not criticizing it. I'm just telling you the truth.”
But as he looks forward to a year filled with potential new projects — a new album, a book and a documentary are all on the table — he readily admits that reggaetón was, uniquely, what brought him here: “This genre has made me rich . I don't think any other genre would have given me everything I have today.”
Growing up, the artist born Austin Agustín Santos lived in New York with his father and in Puerto Rico with his mother, Carmen Rosa Santos, who was once a member of the merengue group Las Chicas del Can. Music surrounded him, including the emerging reggaetón scene of the '90s, even if he says the emerging genre wasn't his favorite — at least, until a CD changed his mind.
“When I was still at school, they gave me a CD with the name Planet Reggaeand when I heard Tego Calderón, I fell in love with Puerto Rican urban music,” says the 38-year-old. “Then I thought, 'Wow, I like this. I respect that. This is the future,' and it motivated me to move to Puerto Rico and want to sing reggaetón.”
Arcángel finished high school and had only one job—dressing as Elmo to entertain pediatric cancer patients at a local hospital—before turning to music. In 2004, he formed the underground duo Arcángel & De la Ghetto and signed to Baby Records (owned by Puerto Rican artist Zion of Zion & Lennox). Two years later, he launched his own record label, Flow Factory, where he released his debut solo studio album, El Fenómenoin 2008 after going solo the previous year. (He and De la Ghetto, now a star in his own right, remain friendly and appeared together on Bad Bunny's “Acho PR” in October of last year.) Today, he credits el bajo mundo (the streets) to start his career.
“I didn't invest money in music. I gave my music away for free at first. I put it on Myspace,” he explains. “I'm a guy who came from the streets and I didn't make commercial music. I don't owe my success or status to radio impact.”
But while he downplays the importance of record sales and radio (“When I sing in front of thousands of people, and thousands of people repeat my lyrics, that's much more powerful”), such success came soon. Arcángel scored his first goal Bulletin board hit in 2006 with his feature on Jowell & Randy's “Agresivo”, which reached No. 27 on the Latin Rhythm Airplay chart. But the song that really changed his career, he says, was the 2008 romantic track “Por Amar a Ciegas,” co-produced by Luny Tunes, Tainy and Noriega.
“I was already popular in the urban scene, but this song gave me a respect that went beyond just being a reggaetón singer or rapper,” he says. “It did a lot of people, no [just] Urban music lovers, listen to me.”
Slender and small in stature, but with a strong, raspy voice, Arcángel is perhaps best known for his strong will and unflinching confidence—qualities that have both helped and hurt him in his career.
In 2012, he signed a record and management deal with producer Rafael “Raphy” Pina's Pina Records, where he was jointly managed by Pina and Omar “Omi” Rivera (the latter, founder of Omi Management, still manages him). While there, he set free Sentimiento, Elegancia y Maldadwhich topped the Top Latin Albums chart in 2013 — his only No. 1 album yet — and became his first Billboard 200 entry.
But in 2018, Arcángel parted ways with Pina due to personal issues, negotiating himself out of his long-term contract. His career stagnated for a year – until he signed a deal with then-emerging record label Rimas Entertainment in 2019.
“We had two options: go with a traditional big company or give it a try [Rimas’] Noah Assad and Jonathan 'Jomy' Miranda, who are visionary, contemporary, creative,” says Rivera. “Besides, the physical era was also changing to digital, and they had a lot of knowledge in that area. It was a risky decision at the time because it was about money, but on the other hand it gave us peace of mind because we knew they would adapt to what we wanted to present in the project.”
Rimas helped Arcángel get back on track, including a pair of No. 3 singles on Hot Latin Songs: 2019's “Sigues con Él” with Sech and 2022's “La Jumpa” with Bad Bunny. He has now released five studio albums with the label, including the village of Santos — a tribute to his late brother Justin Santos, who died at age 21 in a car accident in 2021 — which debuted at No. 3 on Top Latin Albums in 2022. He's also become a major supporter of the next generation of stars of Latin music, collaborating with Feid, Peso Pluma, Bizarrap, Eladio Carrión, Young Miko, Grupo Frontera and others.
But massive hits and live collaborations alone aren't what's kept Arcángel relevant for so long.
“Arca took risks at very critical stages of the movement,” says Rivera. “He's very strange and unique. He is not afraid to speak his heart. This whole industry is so complicated because you have to please so many people, but by being himself, he's managed to gain the respect he has today.”
“I've fallen a few times and had to learn new tricks,” Arcángel admits. “I've won more when I lose than when I win, and yet I've managed to do what can really make a man happy: make a living from what you really love.”
This story appears on Bulletin boardThe special issue of Rumbazo, dated September 14, 2024.
Billboard Latin Music Week returns to Miami Beach October 14-18, with confirmed superstars such as Gloria Estefan, Alejandro Sanz and Peso Pluma, among many others. For tickets and more details, visit Billboardlatinmusicweek.com.
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