Yampi
Jean Pierre Soto Pascual (born March 5, 1990), known simply by his nickname Yampi, is a Puerto Rican Diamond and multiPlatinum producer of Dominican descent. His musical styles are primarily reggaetón and trap, but he has also collaborated with artists spanning a variety of genres, including hip hop, latin trap, corridos tumbados and rap.
Hailing from a mixed family, Yampi was born in Santurce, Puerto Rico and raised between Santurce, The Bronx, New York and Gaspar Hernández in Dominican Republic. He made his musical debut at the age of 17, producing some of Puerto Rico’s legendary reggaetón hits and collaborating with artists such as Yaga & Mackie, Ñengo Flow, Arcángel and Farruko since the dawn of his career.Currently, he is the go-to producer for many internationally renowned Puerto Rican artists such as Anuel AA and Ozuna. Yampi produced Anuel AA’s first songs, as well as Ozuna’s award-winning “Única,” ”La Modelo,” and “Una Flor.”
EARLY LIFE
Yampi was born in San Juan, Puerto Rico to Dominican parents.
At the age of 14, he hosted a FruityLoops blog, showcasing tutorials he would create for other burgeoning producers.The forum, FL787.net, became a place where artists and producers in Puerto Rico could connect with each other, exchange techniques, and collaborate. Although no one in his family was a musician, Yampi credits his uncle, a sound technician, for his ability to access a computer and basic sound equipment.
Yampi grew up in La Calma, the same Santurce neighborhood as composer and salsa singer Ismael Rivera, and rapper Arcángel. His musical career began at an early age, when reggaeton producer Shadow la Sombra invited him one afternoon to accompany him to the Full Records studio.
A teenager at the time, Yampi asked his mother for permission to go to the studio in Bayamón and make his dreams come true, since Shadow was creating music for Lennox and Mackie as soloists. He became an instant celebrity in the studio.
From there on out, after school, Yampi would take a public bus to a Tren Urbano station, and then take a train to its last stop in order to continue working at the Full Records studio. Within about six months of beginning work there, he had helped produce two tracks and was paid $2,500–a jaw-dropping check for someone who, at the time, had yet to see $100 in cash altogether.
He attended school with one of the members of Mambo Kingz, Xavier Semper, and occasionally Arcángel would give them both rides to the studio from school.
His personal style was heavily influenced by the sounds of the three cities he grew up in, including 1990’s rap, bachata, merengue, salsa and old school reggaetón.
CAREER
2007-2009: Career beginnings and breakthrough
By the time he was 17 years old, his producing skills had matured & Yampi took his first steps into the music industry. Starting off his trajectory, some of his first collaborators included the Puerto Rican reggaetón duo Yaga & Mackie, for whom he created some of their well-known classics like “La Bellaquera,” “Veo, Veo” and “Pa’ Frontiarle a Cualquiera,” all of which became internationally acclaimed. By 2008, he had produced songs for artists such as Ñengo Flow, Arcángel, Gotay, Jory, Farruko, Ñejo, J. Álvarez and Yomo.
2010-2012: RG4L
Yampi has spent a lot of time in the Millones Records studio with Ñengo Flow’s music, and proved an instrumental collaborator for Ñengo Flow’s album series Real G4 Life, released in 2012. Yampi is credited with production on all three album editions, with solo production credits on eight tracks.
Yampi produced “Torturao y To Jodío,” “Déjala que Vuele,” and “Encendía,” and co-produced “Sinfónico Con Yampi” on the first Real G4 Life album.
On Real G4 Life 2, Yampi produced “Devórame,” “Yomo como Negro,” “The Flight Man,” and “Cuando Me Dirá,” and co-produced “Noche Para Adultos” with Onyx.
On Real G4 Life 2.5, Yampi produced “No Quiero Llegar A Casa.”
2013-2016: 24 Kilates and Anuel AA
In February 2014, he launched his first album “El Yamposo (24 Kilates)” independently, with the participation of renowned artists such as Arcángel “La Maravilla,” new talent Anuel AA, Ñengo Flow, and Farruko. 24 Kilates was the first album to premiere Anuel AA as an artist.
A year later, he formally introduced Anuel AA to the urban scene by producing several of what became Anuel’s and Ozuna’s first hits, including “La 69,” “La 69 Remix,” “Soldado y Profeta,” “No Forcen,” and “No Forcen Remix.”
Despite their independent production, these tracks received a great deal of attention from the mainstream media and the up-and-coming generation thanks to their new Trap sounds, reaching millions of plays on some of today’s most popular digital platforms.
“No Forcen Remix” was the most popular among them, reaching 20 million views on YouTube and 60 million streams, making history at the time.
2017: Odisea
In 2017, Yampi collaborated with Latin music star Ozuna on his Odisea album, creating an entirely new sound as well as hits such as “La Intimidad,” “Una Flor,” “Bebé,” “El Farsante,” “Tu Foto,” and “La Modelo” in collaboration with Diamond-status rapper Cardi B, among others.
Odisea was awarded Album of the Year by the 2018 Billboard Latin Music Awards. The success of this album has been very important to Yampi’s career, since the world now knows Yampi as a multi-Platinum producer, reaching 20 billion plays across many digital platforms.
2018: Aura
A long-time producer of Ozuna’s music at this point, Yampi produced both of the singles on Ozuna’s 2018 album Aura, “Única” and “La Modelo.” “La Modelo” was number one on Billboard’s Latin Airplay chart. “Unica” was nominated for Univisión’s Premio Lo Nuestro–Urban Song of the Year and Telemundo’s Premios Tu Música Urbano Song of the Year in 2019. Both singles won the BMI Latin Awards.
In 2018, Yampi also worked with Yung Beef for the first time, co-producing “Infierno” on Adromicfms 4 with Kiid Favela.
2019: Berner
In 2019, Yampi collaborated in the production for cannabis mogul and rapper Berner’s sixteenth solo album, La Plaza, which features such artists as Snoop Dogg, Wiz Khalifa y Eladio Carrión. Berner got a call that Yampi wanted to work with him; shortly after, Berner contacted Yampi, who was in Puerto Rico at the time, to work out their collaboration. Yampi flew out and had arrived the next day; and, according to Berner, “brought the best energy ever to the table for the album.” Yampi has returned the sentiment, saying to Berner, “With you, it’s not work, it’s passion.” Yampi produced four tracks for the album and is featured in the accompanying documentary La Plaza.
2020: ENOC, Emmanuel, Las 3 Torres
Yampi has been pivotal in the production of a new genre of music, corridos tumbados, which is a mix of regional Mexican music with rap and trap, coined by Natanael Cano.
Thanks to Yampi’s work experience in California, he met Ovi, whose father is from Fajardo, Puerto Rico, and who was working with Natanael Cano and Junior H. Having heard about the Las 3 Torres project through word of mouth, Yampi ended up producing the album, which was released in December 2020 by Rancho Humilde.
In 2020, Yampi also co-produced “Duele Querer” on Ozuna’s album ENOC with Kronix Magical. The album debuted at number one on the Billboard Top Latin Albums chart and at number 17 on the US Billboard 200.
CURRENTLY
Yampi is currently positioned as the music producer with the most songs on the Billboard Hot Latin Songs Chart. In recent years, Yampi has collaborated with some of rap and hip-hop’s biggest names, like Trippie Redd and Scott Storch, another multi-platinum artist. In 2021, Yampi produced “Entre Nosotros” by Ovi featuring Mariah Angeliq.
Yampi is featured in the 2021-2022 Youtube Originals documentary series 30 days with: Anuel, in which Yampi appears as an interviewee speaking to his friendship and professional relationship with Anuel AA.
Yampi is working on new musical projects and fusions for the English-speaking community, Corridos Tumbados (a mix of regional Mexican music with rap and trap) and Urban music.
Upcoming projects from Yampi include Trap Cartel and Trap Cartel New Generation.
ARTISTRY
Production
Yampi is a visionary producer who is passionate about music and lyricism. He has contributed to the careers of many of the great artists in the urban scene, notably Ozuna, who frequented Yampi’s recording studio during his early beginnings, circa 2011. Yampi worked on Ozuna’s firsts tracks, for which Ozuna became internationally renowned and awarded.
In fact, Yampi has been the connecting bridge between Anuel and Ozuna, who currently represent the highest rank of the Latin trap music industry. Yampi has been a principal figure in the music production for Anuel AA since his early days, producing rhythms for Latin rap songs like “Caracol,” “Soldado y Profeta,” and “Rifles Rusos,” in collaboration with Anuel AA and Tego Calderón.
Thanks to the continued development of his great artistic vision, Yampi continues to work with experienced artists with longstanding careers while coaching new, up-and-coming artists to achieve their dreams.
Art & Design
Along with being a Diamond and multi-Platinum Producer, Yampi also works with visual arts. He is currently co-designing a line of apparel under his homonym fashion brand and music label, Trap Cartel.
More of his creative concepts and work can be found on his successful album covers like Odisea, Aura, Nibiru, and Ozutochi from Ozuna.
