Nio Garcia is a Latin dancer and world-class choreographer-turned-rapper and film actor. He is one of the pioneers of the reggaeton movement, as evidenced by his charting singles "Infinitely," "Soy Yo," and "Castigo." He is also known among dancers as "Che Robótico." 2018's "Te Boté" (featuring
Nicky Jam,
Ozuna, &
Bad Bunny) racked up more than 100 million views and placed at number two on the Latin Pop charts. Its 2019 official remix, with the aforementioned crew as well as
Casper Mágico and
Darell, registered over two billion views within its first two years of being available. 2021 saw
Garcia collaborate with Flow La Movie and
Manuel Turizo.
Garcia was born Luis Antonio Quinones Garcia in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Though he had been dancing most of his life, it had become an obsession by the time he was 15, so he pursued it professionally. Through his own work, he was already plugged into San Juan's thriving urban music scene, and he began creating choreography for a slew of artists. Within the year, he was touring internationally as both a dancer and choreographer. As a college student, he starred in the 2013 film Reggaeton: The Movie, and was already refocusing his talent by picking up the mike to add another dimension to his performances. His initial demos drew the attention of Flow Music label boss and entrepreneur
DJ Nelson, who signed the young artist and became his first producer.
Garcia's debut single, "Infinitamente," was released in the summer of 2015, followed by the video that racked up over 250,000 views, yielding promising results. In August of the following year, he issued "Borracho y Loco" both as a single and video, and doubled his views on YouTube. That December, he hit the charts for the first time with a remix of the track featuring
Bryant Myers and Randy, which hit even higher in the Latin urban charts. It was the first of seven charting singles.
Garcia spent most of 2017 touring, but managed to issue five singles, including "Mi Mujer" and "Loba." He also worked with a number of other artists, including
Franco El Gorila,
Ozuna,
Lito Kirino,
Anuel AA, and
Darkiel.
2018 proved to be
Garcia's breakthrough year. His April single, a remix of "Te Boté" featuring
Bad Bunny and
Casper Magico, charted all over the globe at streaming, while his videos garnered millions of views. Depending on his location, he managed to land in the Top Five at home and at number two in the Dominican Republic, while placing in the Top 200 in the United States.
Garcia took the success of "Te Boté" as license to flood the market. He issued no less than two-dozen singles and/or videos in 2019, including the best-selling remix of "Te Boté." "Mírame" (remix featuring
Myke Towers,
Casper Mágico, &
Darell) and "Llamé pa' Verte" (featuring
Ana Mena & Emilia) also ran up video and streaming charts.
In 2020,
Garcia kept up his feverish pace. Beginning with "Me Ignora" in February, he released a dozen singles during the year's first half, including the dancefloor and streaming smash "La Jeepeta" (featuring
Brray and
Juanka), followed by its remix in July, which added
Towers and
Anuel AA to the crew of the original single. It topped streaming and radio charts a week after its release. In July,
Garcia and
Mágico issued the long-playing duo outing
Now or Never. The 18-track set included solo singles by each of its creators as well as club-banging remixes of "Mírame," "Te Boté," and "La Jeepeta" (the latter a viral hit on TikTok). In addition to the older material, new songs such as "La Nota" (featuring
Yandel), and "Farandula" (featuring
Jowell & Randy) registered as standouts. His output remained prodigious heading into 2021 and featured a pair of Billboard-charting Flow La Movie collaborations in "A.M." and "Sin Panty," the latter of which also included
Farruko, along with the single "Resaca" with
Manuel Turizo. ~ Thom Jurek