Noriega

Noriega ranked among the leading reggaeton producers as the genre gained mainstream traction and market weight. Born Norgie Noriega, he secured prominent production assignments starting in 2002 on projects that included Las Guanabanas’ Guillaera, Hector & Tito’s La Reconquista, and Magnate & Valentino’s Rompiendo el Hielo. The next year marked his breakthrough, as he supplied beats for Tego Calderón’s El Abayarde and Vico C’s En Honor a la Verdad, two artists then regarded as among Puerto Rico’s most esteemed voices. In 2003 he also shared billing with Luny Tunes on Mas Flow, an influential mixtape issued by DJ Nelson’s Flow Music imprint. While Luny Tunes extended the Mas Flow franchise and emerged as reggaeton’s foremost hitmakers, Noriega focused on his own debut solo mixtape, Contra la Corriente (2004), again commissioned by DJ Nelson and distributed through Universal Latino. That same year he received production credits across an extensive roster of releases, among them Eddie Dee’s 12 Discipulos, Guanabanas’ Collection Two, Tego Calderón’s Enemy de los Guasíbiri, Mikie Perfecto’s Evolucion Arrestada, Zion & Lennox’s Motivando a la Yal, and Baby Rasta & Gringo’s Sentenciados. Subsequent seasons brought shifts in his professional path; notably, he departed the Flow Music circle and reappeared in 2006 on the Univision roster with his second solo project, Sin Control (2006). He further established Noriega Music Publishing to secure greater oversight of his catalog and earnings.