Zion & Lennox

Zion & Lennox were early pioneers of the romantic lyricism that would win reggaetón space on the airwaves and ultimately a global profile—setting the template for generations of future reggaetón stars. The duo formed in 2000 in Puerto Rico. Félix Ortiz (Zion) and Gabriel Pizzaro (Lennox) grew up as neighbours who shared a love of hip-hop, reggaetón and dancehall. In the early 2000s, they tried their hand at music, contributing tracks to compilations including Luny Tunes’ deeply influential Mas Flow. Zion’s sweet tenor met its polar opposite in Lennox’s authoritative, gruff bass delivery, which hews satisfyingly close to the genre’s dancehall roots. (Lennox became an underground favourite thanks to an appearance on Hector “El Father”’s 2002 Godfather mixtape.) But having arrived in the wake of the ’90s, when censorship largely kept reggaetón off the radio, Zion & Lennox shied away from the tales of violence and gunplay that characterised the genre’s first wave. While their 2004 debut Motivando a la Yal embraced the rapid-fire flows and spare, bare-bones ferocity of early reggaetón, they tempered it with songs that drew on bachata (“Bachatéalo” and “Bandida”) and salsa (“Doncella”) and concentrated on love. After years of solo endeavours, they returned as a duo in 2010 with the well-received Los Verdaderos, followed by 2016’s cleverly titled Motivan2. The duo remain in the charts two decades after their start, collaborating with next-gen reggaetóneros who followed their lead, including J. Balvin and Ozuna.