Zion

Puerto Rican reggaeton vocalist Zion (Felix Ortiz) was born in Carolina, Puerto Rico. He and his neighbor/friend Gabriel Pizarro formed the duo Zion & Lennox, who would shortly begin appearing on various compilations — a common proving ground for emerging reggaeton artists. Like contemporaries Wisin & Yandel, Zion & Lennox followed the vocalist-plus-MC pattern, with Zion handling the hooks and melodic side of their music. His vocal abilities earned him many opportunities for collaborations and guest spots in a lyric-heavy genre where skilled vocalists were few and far between. Their appearances on well-known compilations such as MVP, Mas Flow, Desafio, and Blin Blin, Vol. 1 quickly won them renown on their home island, and gained the attention of U.S. audiences. Their first full-length record, Motivando a la Yal was a great success, winning awards such as Best Rap Duo and People’s Choice Awards, easily achieving gold record status. Some time after, in 2006, the duo decided to split, leaving Zion, the more popular of the pair (his reputation for poor live performance notwithstanding), to pursue other avenues. He established Baby Records, to which he is both a signed artist and CEO. His interest in being a record mogul has turned into opportunities for previously unsigned artists like Arcangel and De la Ghetto. Baby was also the label for Zion’s solo debut, The Perfect Melody, which arrived in 2007. ~ Evan C. Gutierrez