Together and individually, DJ Nelson, MarioSo DeJesus, and Huey Dunbar played a vital role in the emergence, development, and, notably, the commercial success of this music, earning critical accolades and international awards along the way. As a co-founder and force behind the Puerto Rican collective known as The Noise, DJ Nelson cultivated reggaetón from the ground up, dropping definitive mixtapes and Luring Recording Engineer DeJesus and singer-songwriter Dunbar from New York to his vibrant studios on the island. Both in spirit and in practice, their past and present contributions to all manner of Spanish-language hip hop, R&B, and pop mattered, and continue to do so to this day as seasoned power players with a personal stake in furthering the movement.
After some chance encounters with Native Instruments during NAMM, the opportunity arose to capture these accomplishments and share them with the next generation of producers. In light of their participation in making bespoke Latin Sounds.com packs, we spoke with all three production and songwriting living legends about their come-ups and their craft.