Nicky Jam

Nick Rivera Caminero (born March 17, 1981), known by his stage name Nicky Jam, is an American singer.

Nick Rivera Caminero was born on March 17, 1981, in Lawrence, Massachusetts to a Dominican mother and Puerto Rican father.

Having been born on Saint Patrick's Day, he enjoyed attending parades for the holiday as a little boy.

While in Massachusetts, he developed an affinity for hip-hop, specifically East Coast acts Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch and LL Cool J.

When Nicky Jam was ten years old, his family moved to the Río Hondo suburb of San Juan, Puerto Rico, in an attempt to reconnect with the family's Puerto Rican roots.

However, in an interview with Billboard, Nicky Jam explained that his father had become embroiled in a drug-related case and escaped bail, necessitating the move to Puerto Rico.

Nicky Jam initially experienced culture shock upon moving to Puerto Rico, having never spoken Spanish before arriving to the island.

Despite the difficult start, he quickly made friends in his neighborhood and after spending time in the streets as a middle schooler, became inspired to pursue a musical career.

He also used Caribbean hip-hop and reggaeton as a way to help him polish his Spanish-language skills.

He originally went by the moniker "Nick MC", but changed it to Nicky Jam after a neighborhood homeless man gave him the unsolicited comment, "You ain't Nick MC, you're Nicky Jam".

While working at the Pueblo Xtra discount grocery store at age eleven, he passed time by rapping about the items he was bagging, which impressed a customer who invited him to record with a local indie label.

He subsequently signed a contract without reading it and received no advance money for his recordings.

The two formed the group Los Cangris, which was active from the late 1990s to 2004.

The pair split acrimoniously and Nicky Jam's career quickly took a sharp decline, followed by a period of legal struggles and substance abuse.

He began recording music at age fourteen with his first EP ...Distinto a los demás (1995), and eventually caught the attention of Daddy Yankee.

He recorded and released his first EP ...Distinto a los demás in 1995 at age fourteen.

He endured a difficult breakup with his girlfriend shortly after the album's release and the emotional pain of the experience led him to try cocaine for the first time at age fifteen.

Nicky Jam reflected on the experience by saying: "[I thought], 'why am I going to take care of myself? My dad didn't handle his drug problems. My mom did drugs too, so why not me?' I mean, I had drugs all around me, and the foundation of everything is your home. It's your family."

Despite his drug use, he managed to gain popularity in Puerto Rico as a hip-hop artist, and eventually met his idol, Daddy Yankee.

Nicky Jam recalled that Daddy Yankee was familiar with his work, explaining, "He looked at me and said, 'I know who you are. You're that little kid that sings rap in a little Mickey Mouse voice. I like your style.'" The two artists then formed a duo called Los Cangris.

The duo achieved success in Puerto Rico through hit singles such as "En la Cama", "Dónde Están las Gatas", and "Guayando".

While in the group, he went on to release the solo albums Haciendo escante (2001) and Vida escante (2004).

However, Nicky Jam struggled to adjust to his new lifestyle and began using drugs and alcohol to an extent that concerned his musical partner.

Having used cocaine on and off since age fifteen, he later began using percocet.

Daddy Yankee began to criticize Nicky Jam's behavior and alluded to his bandmate in songs, including the lyric "your courage depends on a pill" from the 2004 song "Santifica Tus Escapularios".

This led an incensed Nicky Jam to release a diss track in response that same year.

Nicky Jam quickly regretted releasing the song, explaining, "That wasn't a good choice, because he came with [2004 Billboard Hot 100 hit] 'Gasolina.' [I] looked stupid. He went his way, I went my way -- and obviously my way didn't go very well."

Los Cangris separated in 2004 after a falling out between the two musicians.

After the breakup of Los Cangris, Nicky Jam struggled personally and professionally, calling himself the "embarrassment of the Latin Caribbean music industry".

Deeply depressed, Nicky Jam gained a significant amount of weight, eventually reaching 300 pounds (136 kg).

He also experienced legal troubles, including a police chase in his car that was in the process of being repossessed.

He took a job in a hotel, performing lounge music for tourists.

He then moved to Medellín, Colombia, where he rejuvenated his career and developed a more melodic style of music, which proved to be popular through the release of the singles "Voy a Beber" and "Travesuras" in 2014.

His success was furthered by the 2015 single "El Perdón" and his 2017 album Fénix.

He is best known for hits such as "X", "Travesuras", "En la Cama", "Te Busco", "El Perdón", "Hasta el Amanecer", and "El Amante"; the later three are from his 2017 album Fénix.

He has frequently collaborated with other Latin artists such as Daddy Yankee, J Balvin, Ozuna, Plan B and Anuel AA.

While his early music exemplified traditional fast-paced reggaeton, his newer compositions place more emphasis on sung vocals and romantic lyrics.

Born in Lawrence, Massachusetts to a Dominican mother and a Puerto Rican father, his family moved to Puerto Rico when he was ten years old.

Nicky Jam has also acted in the films XXX: Return of Xander Cage (2017) and Bad Boys for Life (2020), and starred in and executive produced the Netflix biographical series Nicky Jam: El Ganador (2018).

He released the album Íntimo in 2019, which was a critical and commercial success.