Jowell & Randy know how to make old-school reggaeton better than anyone. Just ask Bad Bunny, who enlisted the duo for the 2020 masterpiece “Safaera,” or Rauw Alejandro, who harnessed their OG powers on “Ponte Nasty.” But if you ask Jowell & Randy themselves, they say the magic comes from their many years on the reggaeton scene.
“We learned early on how to do this,” says Jowell, who got his start rapping on reggaeton mixtapes in the mid-Nineties. “We’ve always been able to fuse our sound with new melodies, with new countries, with new flavors, but we’ve always done it with the foundation of the reggaeton we grew up with, and we’ve been able to transport people back to that time in our music.”
Randy, who has been Jowell’s gregarious musical partner since the early 2000s, has a more blunt way of putting it: “People need to seek us out because we’re the ones that have that flavor!” he laughs. “But we did grow up in that golden era and saw reggaeton from that time. The artists were super different, and their flow came from Panamanians and Jamaicans, and we adapted all that. And we always listened to the best, and we were inspired by the best.”
That could be why they’ve shown no signs of slowing down. Almost two decades into their career, Jowell & Randy have continued releasing raucous new albums that reinvent the genre while preserving the energy they’re known for. Their latest album, Mazorkeo.com, is no different, packed to the brim with club-ready perreo. “This is an intense album — it’s not for children,” Randy laughs. “This is Jowell & Randy, like we were born again.”
The only guest star is Myke Towers, who is featured on “Sin Panty Maria.” Besides that, the whole album is a show of the chemistry that’s brought Jowell & Randy this far. Jowell thinks the song that best exemplifies the vibe of the album is “X-100,” a song that blends a percussive beat with the duo’s sing-song flow. “It has that spirit that makes us who we are,” he explains.
Fans will be able to see the full effect of the duo when they close out the year with a series of mega-shows at Puerto Rico’s famed venue El Choli. They’ll take over the venue from Dec. 12 to Dec. 15, and then again on Dec. 20 and Dec. 21. “We’re excited to connect with fans and give them that journey through all of our years of making music together,” Jowell says.
When Rolling Stone catches up with Jowell & Randy, it’s just days after their reggaeton peers Zion Y Lennox announced a surprising split. “The duos are tired!” Randy says, laughing. He gets serious and talks about his respect for the longtime artists. “They started before us, and people change and they can do their own thing. They have their own goals; they’re both businessmen,” he says.
Does he ever see himself splitting from Jowell? Randy laughs again. “We’re still like little kids. We’re the same best friends we were when we first started, and we’ve always been that way. We really understand what the brand means to the other and we have that respect.”
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