Tainy

Tainy is a charting, Grammy-nominated, BMI award-winning producer, songwriter, and beat creator at the forefront of the New Latin Wave. He is credited with rewriting the script on reggaeton, infusing it with breezy, whimsical electronica, pop melody, R&B, and trap. Before his arrival, singing was rare in reggaeton. He produced or co-produced some of Latin music’s biggest hits during the early 21st century. These include Daddy Yankee’s “Impacto,” Wisin & Yandel’s “El teléfono,” Cardi B’s “I Like It,” J Balvin’s Vibras full-length, and Bad Bunny’s smash debut album x100pre. Tainy made his recording debut on the Luny Tunes’ compilations Mas Flow 2 and the chart-topping Los Benjamins while still in his teens. His trap production of Anuel AA’s groundbreaking single “Sola” legitimized Latin trap at radio and record labels which had been wary until then. It paved the way for more focused attention on other trap artists, and Tainy’s popularity and ubiquity only increased. His appetite for innovation made him a choice collaborator for new and veteran artists alike. During the first eight months of 2019, his productions registered six chart hits, including the infectious “Adicto” in collaboration with Ozuna and Anuel AA. Tainy kicked off the next decade with 2020′s collaborative Neon16 Tape: The Kids That Grew Up on Reggaeton. In 2021 he collaborated with Yandel on the full-length Dynasty. Hist star-studded debut solo album, Data, appeared in 2023.
Tainy was born Marco Masís in San Juan, Puerto Rico, in 1989. Music and basketball were his driving passions growing up, but the former won out. Through his church, he met producer Nely (Josias de la Cruz). Tainy began sending him homemade beats created with Fruity Loops computer software. Nely coached him and eventually sent a demo to Luny (Francisco Saldaña, half of the production duo Luny Tunes with Victor Cabrera). Luny liked what he heard and signed Tainy, providing him full use of his Miami production studio to better learn his craft. Tainy observed the artists who passed through the Luny Tunes production lab, and was given various assignments, an instrumental passage here, an a cappella vocal there, until getting his first big break on his solo intro to Mas Flow 2 in 2005. A voracious listener, the young producer began considering the different ways reggaeton could be expanded by adding layers of polyrhythms, catchy vocal melodies, jagged electronic effects, and smooth ambiences, multi-tracked basses, etc., all while keeping the genre’s rhythm intact. His innovations paid off. In 2007, Tainy got co-billing with Luny Tunes on Los Benjamins: La Continuación, co-producing nearly half of its 21 tracks including Arcángel’s “Distancia” and a remix of Don Omar’s “Beautiful.” He co-produced Wisin & Yandel’s Grammy-winning, platinum-certified Los Extraterrestres in 2008, and scored his first number one with the duo on the “Pam-Pam” single the following year.
As the second decade of the new century commenced, Tainy was busier than ever. In 2010 alone he co-produced albums by Dyland & Lenny (My World), Jowell & Randy (El Momento), Ivy Queen (Drama Queen), and Zion & Lennox’s Los Verdaderos, which entered the chart at number two. Tainy worked with Desmond Child on Ricky Martin’s hit album Música + Alma + Sexo in 2012, and co-produced Romeo Santos’ electro-pop hit “Magia Negra,” from the singer’s debut long-player, Formula, Vol. 1. While Tainy either produced or co-produced the solo efforts of Wisin & Yandel, including Yandel’s solo hit De Líder a Leyenda, he also provided invaluable harmonic and rhythmic assistance to Arcángel on his chart-topping 2015 debut, Sentimiento, Elegancia & Maldad. The lyricism inherent in Arcángel’s writing was underscored and brought out by Tainy on the album’s first single, “Hace Mucho Tiempo.” He stayed busy working on albums by Wisin and Yandel, and found time to co-produce Plan B’s number two album Love & Sex, Don Omar’s The Last Don, Vol. 2, and “Bella y Sensual” (featuring Nicky Jam & Daddy Yankee) for Santos’ Golden.
While Tainy was the choice for many LatinX artists, his co-production work on the vast majority of J Balvin’s Vibras paid off handsomely: The 2018 album went to number nine on the Top 200 and topped the streaming global charts. The year proved massive for Tainy given his work and appearance on Cardi B’s megahit “I Like It,” which remained on the chart for more than a year. It topped the U.S. hip-hop charts, scored number three in the Top 40, and was nominated for more than 34 awards, winning eight. Further, on Christmas Eve, his co-production on Bad Bunny’s X 100PRE added immeasurably to his fortunes and stature. The single “Estamos Bien” shifted the entire balance of reggaeton by offering itself as a haunting Latin trap ballad full of lilting lyricism, dubwise rhythm, and of course, Bad Bunny’s sung and rapped voices through Tainy’s economical use of Auto-Tune and pitch shifting. The track went to number nine on the Hot 100, and the album registered at 11 on the Top 200.
2019 proved no less successful. In February, Tainy appeared next to Benny Blanco, Selena Gomez, and J Balvin on the gold-certified single “I Can’t Get Enough.” In the spring he announced a solo album, with his production and beats fronted by a host of top-flight singers. As a teaser, he released “Barbaro” with Mozart La Para as a video single in March; it racked up more than 12 million views. He also co-produced Oasis by J Balvin and Bad Bunny. It went to the top of the Latin Albums chart and hit number nine on the Top 200. Tainy issued two more charting singles as previews: the number two “Callaita” with Bad Bunny in June, which went to number two, and “Adicto” with Anuel AA and Ozuna, which entered the charts at 12 in early September.
In March 2020, Tainy released the EP Neon16 Tape: The Kids That Grew Up on Reggaeton, which featured guest appearances from Dalex, Kali Uchis, Sean Paul, and others. That same year, he topped the Billboard Latin chart alongside J Balvin, Dua Lipa, and Bad Bunny with the song “Un Dia (One Day).” He and J Balvin scored another hit in 2021 with “Agua” from the soundtrack to The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run. He also teamed up with Yandel to release the collaborative full-length Dynasty, which charted two days after its July 23 release.
More singles followed that year, including the Latin Grammy Award-winning “Lo Siento BB,” another collaboration with Bad Bunny also featuring Julieta Venegas, and “Oh Na Na” with Myke Towers and Camila Cabello. After taking home the 2023 BMI Award for “Contemporary Latin Songwriter of the Year,” Tainy gave listeners a sneak peek at his debut solo album with the Jhayco-assisted single “Fantasma/AVC.” The full-length Data, which included guest spots from Bad Bunny, Arca, Four Tet, Skrillex, J Balvin, Sech, and Daddy Yankee, arrived later that June. ~ Thom Jurek