Question 1

Does Arcángel write his own songs?

Accepted Answer

Yes. He is credited as a rapper, singer and songwriter, and he told Rolling Stone en Español that he first tried composing at 16 and has never needed a pen since: he builds the song in his head, keeps it there, and arrives at the studio already knowing almost everything he is going to record. The writing shows up on award ballots as well as on the records. He has taken the Winning Songs award four times at the ASCAP Latin Awards, for "Zum Zum" with Daddy Yankee and R.K.M & Ken-Y, the "Sigues Con Él" remix with Sech and Romeo Santos, "La Jumpa" with Bad Bunny and "ALV" with Grupo Frontera, and twice more at the BMI Latin Awards. None of that makes his records solo work. Reggaeton is built in rooms: the beats come from named producers such as DJ Nelson, DJ Luian, Chris Jedi and Dímelo Flow, and his biggest tracks are billed to three or four performers at once.

Question 2

How does Arcángel actually write a song?

Accepted Answer

In his head. He has said he took the memory he had as a child and trained it until he could compose without using his hands, storing the lyrics mentally instead of putting them on paper. By the time he books the studio the song is done and he only has to perform it. He dates the habit to age 16, when people he showed his writing to kept telling him it was good and he decided to do nothing else with his life.

Question 3

Who produces Arcángel's music?

Accepted Answer

It changes by era. DJ Nelson produced "Chica Virtual" on the Flow la Discoteka 2 compilation that broke him as a solo act. DJ Luian is the longest running partner, credited on Los Favoritos and on most of the "Feliz Navidad" diss tracks. Chris Jedi produced "Ahora Dice" with Ozuna and J Balvin. Dímelo Flow handled most of the production on Sentimiento, Elegancia y Más Maldad, and Bizarrap built the 54th of his Music Sessions around him.

Question 4

Who are his regular collaborators?

Accepted Answer

De la Ghetto comes first, going back to the duo they started in. Bad Bunny recurs across a decade, from "Original" on Ares to "La Jumpa" on Sr. Santos. Sech sang "Sigues Con Él" and "Amantes y Amigos". Myke Towers is on "Memoria Rota" and again on Sr. Santos. Ozuna, Daddy Yankee, Nicky Jam, Farruko and J Balvin all share credits with him.

Question 5

How are writing credits shared on a reggaeton hit?

Accepted Answer

Widely, and his catalogue shows it plainly. The "Si Se Da" remix is billed to him with Myke Towers, Farruko, Sech and Zion. "La Ocasión" puts him alongside De la Ghetto, Anuel AA and Ozuna over a Mambo Kingz and DJ Luian production. "Ahora Dice" carries producer Chris Jedi's name first, with Arcángel, J Balvin and Ozuna featured. Even a single under his own name often has three or four other artists on the front of it.

Question 6

Which of his own records does Arcángel rate highest?

Accepted Answer

Sentimiento, Elegancia & Maldad from 2013. He has called it his masterpiece. It gave him his first number one when it debuted at the top of the US Top Latin Albums chart, and he went back to it ten years later with the sequel Sentimiento, Elegancia y Más Maldad.

Question 7

What happened to his first album?

Accepted Answer

It leaked. La Maravilla was announced in 2008 as his debut and cancelled once the tracks got onto the internet. One of them, "Pa' Que la Pases Bien", became a hit on Latin urban radio in the United States anyway, and half of El Fenómeno at the end of that year came from the same sessions. He now says the leak was one of the best things anyone ever did to him, because it let him fill arenas with songs no label had released.

Question 8

Why is Arcángel called influential?

Accepted Answer

He is one of the names most often given as a founder of the Latin urban sound and a pioneer of Latin trap. Rolling Stone described him in 2023 as one of the most influential artists in the urban genre, and Billboard placed him that same year on its list of the 50 most essential rappers in Spanish.

Question 9

What are the "Feliz Navidad" songs?

Accepted Answer

A run of tiraderas, or diss tracks, released around Christmas since 2007, most of them produced by DJ Luian. Farruko, Wisin and Tito El Bambino have each been named in at least one. He has said he only answers artists who came at him first, and that what the form is good for is technical: whoever writes the sharpest bars, makes the most sense and delivers them best.

Question 10

Why did Arcángel & De la Ghetto never release an album?

Accepted Answer

A dispute with their label. The duo signed to Baby Records, and their recordings only ever surfaced on compilations or as internet leaks because the company would not put out a record of their own. He says he spent $150,000 producing an album called K-Libre that never reached the market. He left the company in December 2006 to start his own label, Flow Factory, and filed a lawsuit against Baby Records for $1,000,000 in 2007.