Cosculluela


José Fernando Cosculluela Suárez, professionally known as Cosculluela, is a Puerto Rican singer and songwriter. In 2018, Cosculluela was caught up in a controversy after fellow Puerto Rican rapper Anuel AA released a diss track.

Early life and education

Cosculluela was born on October 15, 1980, to a Cuban father and a Puerto Rican mother. He came from an upper-class family and was raised in the gated community of Palmas del Mar. At a young age, Cosculluela became interested in tennis and eventually played for his high school, Colegio San Antonio Abad. He also developed passions for golf and surfing.

Career

At the age of sixteen, Cosculluela began producing underground mixtapes with his brother Jaime and his friends. After a few years of recording underground, popular Reggaeton producer DJ Buddha found out about Cosculluela's talents in a San Juan studio. Buddha was working with well-known Latin hip hop producer Echo at the time. DJ Buddha selected Cosculluela to replace rapper Tempo in the hip hop group Buddha's Family. Cosculluela gained national recognition in 2004 with his underground demo "Este Es Mi Momento" and for his frequent collaborations with Yomo. Echo eventually signed Cosculluela to his label, Invasion Music.
Cosculluela gained international recognition with the hit single "Te Va Ir Mal" from the album distributed by Machete Music/Universal Latino. Soon after, Cosculluela began working with famed producers Gocho and Alex Gargolas for multiple compilation albums. He also released a reworked version of his classic mixtape, "Este Es Mi Momento", in 2006.
After this, Cosculluela moved up in the ranks of Reggaeton, appearing on such albums as Los Bandoleros: Reloaded, Invasion, Gargolas, Los Bravos, El Pentagono, , Los Brother, Talento de Barrio, and many more. Cosculluela is known to many as "El Principe del Verso" because of his exceptional lyrical abilities as an MC.
Echo was unable to get Universal Latino to release an album from any of his artists and only saw his compilation album "Invasion vol. 1" distributed. This caused Cosculluela to leave Invasion in 2007 and sign a recording contract with the renowned executive producer Elias De León and his influential record label White Lion Records. After struggling with record executives to set a release for his debut album, which was originally meant to be distributed on Sony Latin, and after various delays in 2009, Machete Music was pressured into releasing Cosculluela's hit debut album, "El Principe". It was released thanks to Cosculluela's friendship with Wisin y Yandel, who had a partnership with Universal Latino for their record label WY Records and were very influential at the company due to their immense success and popularity.

''El Príncipe''

In 2009, Cosculluela released his first album, El Príncipe. The album was announced a year earlier and it was named after one of his nicknames.. It peaked at number three on the Billboard Top Latin Albums chart and spawned the hit singles "Na Na Nau", "Prrrum", and "Plaka Plaka". It also reached number eight on the Billboard Rap Albums chart. A few tracks were left out of the final production. El Principe was one of the most successful reggaeton albums of the year, becoming critically acclaimed due to its diversity in lyrics and style.

''El Principe: Ghost Edition''

In 2010, Cosculluela released his first album called El Principe: Ghost Edition. This album was a review of his first album, but with 5 new tracks. These 5 tracks were Cuidau Au Au, Humo, Prrrum Remix ft. Nardo Ranks, and Another Prrrum Remix. They were performed with Wisin & Yandel, and the last track was De Noche y De Dia feat. Yandel.

''El Niño''

El Niño comes with many romantic, hip hop and reggaeton lyrics. Collaborations that have been announced so far are Wisin & Yandel and Los Mafiaboyz. Two singles have been released so far, they are: "Blam Blam" and "Si Tú No Estás." The remix of "Si Tú No Estás" will feature Puerto Rican artist Farruko, Colombian sensation J-Balvin and the duo Ñejo & Dalmata.

War Kingz (2012)

War Kingz is the name of Cosculluela's first mixtape, which came out on December 11, 2012. This album helped new talents within the artist's company to apply themselves within the urban environment.

''Blanco Perla''

In 2014 Cosculluela left Universal Latino which lead to a bidding war among Latin labels to sign him, thanks to his success and much-publicized rap battle against Tempo. Warner Music Latina won the right to distribute Cosculluela's works through his Rottweilas Inc imprint and immediately began work on his latest album "Blanco Perla". Cosculluela released the hit single "Baby Boo" featuring renowned hitmakers Wise "The Gold Pen" and DJ Luian to prepare for his upcoming release.
Although he began 2015 with a domestic violence charge, he otherwise enjoyed major success that year. He released the smash hit "Te Busco" with Nicky Jam, the first single from his album Blanco Perla. In October 2016, he released the album, which features major hits such as "Te Busco", "Manicomio", and "La Boda", the latter of which is about his wedding, which occurred in November 2015; it features singer O'Neill as well as an intro by rapper Kendo Kaponi. The album also features collaborations with artists such as Daddy Yankee, Nicky Jam, Farruko, Arcangel, De La Ghetto, and Tempo.
Blanco Perla remains Cosculluela's most notable work in terms of popularity as the artist decided to leave behind his hardcore hip hop roots in favour of the modern mainstream reggaeton sound of artists such as J Balvin and Nicky Jam. Hit singles from the album such as "Te Busco" feat. Nicky Jam, Manicomio, "La Boda", and "A Donde Voy" featuring Daddy Yankee have garnered hundreds of millions of plays through various streaming platforms and become some of the most well-known songs of Cosculluela's catalogue.

Controversy

On September 15, 2018, Anuel AA released a diss track aimed at Cosculluela. The track was widely criticized due to its foul language and offensive remarks about homosexuality and HIV patients.
Two years later, amid the George Floyd protests around the world, the urban artist expressed through Instagram Live that Afro-Puerto Ricans are not descendants of Africa. This is contrary to the basic teachings of the Puerto Rican education system that educate on the history and colonization process of Puerto Rico which included the African slave trade that lasted almost 500 years, and the vast and evident African influence on Puerto Rican culture. Although he did not clarify where he believed the Afro-Puerto Ricans are originally from, in his insulting expressions of June 7, 2020, he also called for Puerto Ricans to not join in on protests, calling the demonstrations a "crap that affects the economy". Later that day, the urban artist issued an apology.

Discography

Studio albums

Cosculluela has collaborated with Daddy Yankee, Don Omar, Hector "El Father", Wisin & Yandel, Nicky Jam, Maluma, Darkiel Omar, Mexicano, Arcángel, De La Ghetto, Kendo Kaponi, Zion & Lennox, J Alvarez, Farruko, Ivy Queen, Ñejo & Dalmata, Pacho & Cirilo, Benny Benni, Pusho, Jowell & Randy, Ñengo Flow, Jenny "La Sexy Voz" and the singers Christians, Maso and Bima.

Singles/Featuring