Sophia Michaels
Nicky Jam and Daddy Yankee — two reggaeton legends, both alike in dignity — have overcome their longtime beef to release new music once more as Los Cangris. Released late Tuesday night, their brand new song, “Muévelo,” recalls the rascally spark that first brought the two MCs together 20 years ago.
Produced by the Grammy-winning brothers Juan and Oscar Salinas, better known as Play-N-Skillz, “Muévelo” lifts the na na na hook of Ini Kamoze’s 1994 reggae classic, “Here Comes the Hotstepper.” The song gets even more souped-up by its chorus, which is simply the word “muévelo” — which translates to “move it” — repeated like a mantra.
In the Marlon Peña-directed video, Nicky Jam and Daddy Yankee lead a defiant perreo intenso through the streets of downtown Miami. Scenes of dancers facing off against riot police, whose defense shields are emblazoned with the word “SILENCE,” hark back to a very real time when reggaeton and its creators were criminalized in Puerto Rico.
As for the dissolution of Los Cangris, things can be summed up quite simply: while Daddy Yankee chose to work harder, Nicky Jam chose to play harder. So began Nicky’s harrowing battle with drug addiction, which he shed light on in his 2018 Netflix series, El Ganador. “Yankee is my battle brother,” Nicky Jam said in a statement. “The past does not define who we are today, and making our fans happy is the main driver of this collaboration.”
“We wanted to come back, and we wanted to do it big. Delivering our fans an explosive brand-new single,” Daddy Yankee added.
The new song is just one of many stellar, recent developments for Nicky Jam. Following the November release of his 2019 album, Intimo, the artist signed a multi-million dollar contract with Sony Music Latin. He’s also slated to play a villain in the upcoming film Bad Boys For Life, starring Will Smith and Martin Lawrence. “Muévelo” will feature in the original soundtrack to the movie, which is out January 17th.
Featured via: Rollingstone
