Arcangel

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Biography

Austin Agustín Santos, aka Arcángel, is a Latin trap and reggaeton artist who was born in Harlem, New York, on December 23, 1985, to Dominican parents. His mother, Carmen Rosa, had been part of the merengue group Las Chicas del Can who were popular around the time he was growing up. He listened to a wide range of music through his childhood but began gravitating towards reggaeton around the turn of the millennium, becoming inspired by artists like Tego Calderón and Tempo. Santos got his start as one half of the duo Arcángel y De la Ghetto with the song “Ven y Pégate” - featured on the compilation Mas Flow: Los Benjamins in 2006. Later that year, however, the pair went their separate ways and Santos embarked on a solo career, starting a label of his own in the process. He guested on DJ Nelson's Flow la Discoteka, Vol. 2 with “Chica Virtual” in 2007, but it wasn't until 2008 that his full-length debut, La Maravilla, became public - and only then because it was leaked online. The album served to grow Arcangel's fanbase, but it also resulted in a decision not to officially release it. Instead, he made his full-length debut with El Fenómeno at the end of the year. The album mostly featured new material, but a few tracks originally planned for La Maravilla, including the hit “Paque la Pases Bien,” were included. The lead single, “Por Amar a Ciegas,” got to Number 34 on the Latin Airplay Chart and the album hit the Top 20 on the Top Latin Albums chart. A European tour and the mixtapes The Problem Child (2010) and Optimus A.R.C.A. (2010) followed, but it wasn't until 2013 that Arcángel released a follow-up album, Sentimiento, Elegancia y Maldad. Arcángel's 2015 album, Los Favoritos, was a collaboration with DJ Luian and a host of contributing artists including Nicky Jam, Farruko, J Alvarez, and J Balvin. A flurry of singles followed over the next few years, all of them seeing chart success before LP Ares was released in 2018, marking a move away from reggaeton towards trap and R&B. Further success ensued with the full-lengths Historias de un Capricornio (2019) and Los Favoritos 2 (2020), both of which reached the Top 5 on both the Top Latin Albums and Latin Rhythm Albums charts in the US. In 2021, Arcángel teamed up with Jay Wheeler and Myki Woodz for “Si Te Veo,” an infectious reggaeton tune that quickly racked up millions of plays on streaming platforms and entered the Spanish charts at Number 85.