José Fernando Cosculluela Suárez (born October 15, 1980),[1] known professionally as Cosculluela,[2] is a Puerto Rican rapper, singer and songwriter. In 2018, he was caught up in a controversy after fellow rapper Anuel AA released a diss track.[3]
Early life and education
Cosculluela was born in Puerto Rico from Puerto Rican mother and Cuban father. 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 Buddha found out about Cosculluela's talents in a San Juan studio. Buddha was working with Latin hip hop producer Echo at the time. Buddha selected Cosculluela to replace rapper Tempo in the hip hop group Buddha's Family. Echo eventually signed Cosculluela to his label, Invasion Music.
Cosculluela gained international recognition with the hit single "Te Va Ir Mal" (feat. Getto) from the album Buddha'sFamily2 distributed by Machete Music/Universal Latino.[4] Soon after, Cosculluela began working with famed producers Gocho and Álex Gárgolas for multiple compilation albums. He also released a reworked version of his classic mixtape, "Este Es Mi Momento", in 2006.[5]
After this, Cosculluela moved up in the ranks of reggaeton, appearing on such albums as Los Bandoleros Reloaded, Invasion, Gárgolas, LosBravos, El Pentágono, El Pentágono: The Return, Los Brother, Talento de Barrio, and many more. Cosculluela is known to many as "El Príncipe del Verso" (The Prince of Verse) 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.[6] 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 Príncipe" (The Prince). It was released thanks to Cosculluela's friendship with Wisin & 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. .[7] It peaked at number three on the Billboard Top Latin Albums chart and spawned the hit singles "Na Na Nau", "Prrrum", and "Plaka Plaka".[8] It also reached number eight on the Billboard Rap Albums chart.[9] A few tracks were left out of the final production. El Príncipe was one of the most successful reggaeton albums of the year, becoming critically acclaimed due to its diversity in lyrics and style.
El Príncipe: Ghost Edition
In 2010, Cosculluela released his first album called El Príncipe: 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 Día feat. Yandel.
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.[10]
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.[11]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".[citation needed] Cosculluela released the "Baby Boo" featuring Wise "The Gold Pen" and DJ Luian[12] to prepare for his upcoming release.[13]
In 2015 Cosculluela released "Te Busco", featuring Nicky Jam, the first single from his album Blanco Perla.[14] 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, Arcángel, De La Ghetto, and Tempo.
2021/2023
In November 2021, Cosculluela signed an exclusive deal with ONErpm. The contract is also in partnership with his longtime label Rottweilas, Inc. and in the year 2023 released new album called Los Muertos.[15]
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.[16]
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.[17] 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 350 years, and the vast and evident African influence on Puerto Rican culture (along with European Spanish and indigenous Taíno influences). 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.[18]
