DJ Nelson

Nelson Diaz Martinez entered the world on April 7, 1972, in San Juan, Puerto Rico, and later emerged as a driving force behind reggaeton’s evolution. An all-consuming interest in music gripped him during adolescence, prompting him to spin records at parties and clubs around town. At age 22 he aligned himself with The Noise, the 1992-established collective of DJs, MCs, producers, and club coordinators whose marathon San Juan residencies proved instrumental in fostering and spreading the genre.

Among the crew’s standout turntablists, DJ Nelson also shaped its recordings as producer and arranger. His first projects surfaced in 1997 with the mixtape-styled The Flow and Nel-Zone, releases that crystallized his signature sound and guided countless imitators. The following year he handled production on Ivy Queen’s The Original Rude Girl.

Thereafter Nelson shifted focus to his own trajectory, issuing mixtapes while also helming singles and albums for others. He produced Wisin & Yandel’s Los Reyes del Nuevo Milenio in 2000, his own Undertrack Collection, and Music in 2001, the last of which inaugurated his Flow Music label. He assembled a stable of rising talents that included Francisco Saldaña and Víctor Cabrera (collectively Luny Tunes) plus Noriega. Their pooled efforts delivered the 2003 mixtape Mas Flow, an international breakthrough whose influence has endured for decades. Flow La Discoteka arrived in 2004, followed in 2007 by Flow La Discoteka Vol. 2, whose Hot 100 single “Pasarela” became its centerpiece; that installment also carried the charting “Chica Virtual” with Arcangel. Additional credits from the period encompass The Kings Of The Remix, compiled with Rafy Mercenario, production on Ñejo & Dalmata’s Broke & Famous, and co-production (with Luny Tunes) of Arcangel’s 2008 debut El Fenomeno.

Studio commitments occupied most of 2009 through 2011, including sessions for Ñejo & Dalmata’s Still Broke & Famous: The Mixtape and the launch of an ongoing alliance with J Alvarez via the independent El Dueño Del Sistema. He co-produced the rapper’s El Movimiento Mixtape the next year, then Otro Nivel De Música and Otro Nivel De Música Reloaded in 2011. Nelson next gathered his roster for the 2012 compilation Presenta La Buya Vol. 1: Flow Music Hits and issued La Buya Vol. 2 the year after.

Five years of live dates, outside single productions, and construction of a new facility followed. He resurfaced in 2018 with the collaborative single “Bacalao” alongside MC Ceja and Alberto Stylee. In 2019 he produced mentee Jay Wheeler’s charting debut Platonicos, which performed strongly across Latin pop formats. That same year Nelson released his own charting album Inmortal, featuring Wheeler, Stylee, Rafa Pabon, and further guests; it peaked at number 17 on the Latin Rhythm albums chart and reached the streaming Top 20. After dropping a series of underground lo-fi mixtapes, he returned officially in 2022 with the star-studded two-volume De Camino a Palomino.