Los Yetzons: A Journey To The Stars

Many artists come from talented families. La Toya Jackson, Dannii Minogue, Ray-J, and Miley Cryus to name a few. Usually the family connection gets you in the door, but makes it that much harder to prove yourself as your own artist. Los Yetzons members Anthony and Small are related to Alexis of the popular reggeaton duo Alexis Y Fido, with Anthnoy being Alexis’s cousin and Small being Anthony’s cousin. It was Alexis Y Fido who hit it big first with their album The Pitbulls in 2005, along-side long time friends Wisin & Yandel., but they never forgot their family, Small and Anthnoy, who were included on various tracks included on their albums. Now with their debut single “Nadie Como Tu” (Nobody Like You) out tearing up the air waves and getting major play on MTV3, it looks like the boys of Los Yetzons may zoon light years beyond the competition.

Not only are there the connections and opportunities to be made from having famous family, but also Los Yetzons picked up a lot of value lessons from Alexis Y Fido. “We learned a lot, especially from the studio, they are really strict when it comes to making a song. There’s a magic in the studio that not a lot of people know to make in the studio, and we learned a lot for our shows, their shows are the most explosive shows” The group finally got their chance to shine on record. “We wrote a song with Alexis Y Fido, and it was “Desacontrol” which was on their Los Reyes Del Perreo and that was our first single with them,” according to Small.

Los Yetzons, pronounced “Los Jetsons,” is a different kind of name for a reggeaton duo, who usually label themselves as a “singer & rapper” type name. When it came to think of a name for their group, “That was Alexis y Fido's {idea}, when they heard our first song, they came up with our name and at first I laughed but we went with it,” says member Small.

Also learned from Alexis Y Fido, is not to flood various reggeaton compilation albums with lesser tracks, as many artists do. “ I don’t wanna sound tacky, but we haven’t come out with a song that we aren’t comfortable with, we learned that from Fido, that’s why we don’t have a bunch of songs out.”
Their upcoming album, which is currently untitled, has already spawned the hit single “Nadie Como Tu,” with its hot accompanying video. When it came to writing their first single without Alexis Y Fido, they looked into their own life. “Nadie Como Tu” was Anthony’s idea. Almost every song he writes is based on something that happened to him or me, or somebody else and that happened to him and he just wrote that.”

Their sound mixes Reggeton, Hip-Hop, Bachata, and R&B. Something of a rare fusion in today’s music. “I get inspired by the hip-hop music, American music, I get inspired by that. Anthony is more R&B…but we wanna have a sound that’s not similar to anybody,” Small says.

Many reggeaton artists began their career humbly. Daddy Yankee, Wisin Y Yandel, and Tito “El Bambino” all made several albums before hitting it big. Inspired by their contemporaries, yet still full of high hopes for this record, Los Yetzons are a bit more optimistic for their debut. “My goal is to travel the world, and no limits you know? I wanna see myself walking on the red carpet, win a Grammy, you know? says Small.”

When it comes to the various reggeaton, various compilations and one-hit wonders have spread like wild-fire over the years, something Small is not to happy with. “I’m not gonna diss anybody, but I personally don’t like when people do reggeaton, or 'get on the bus' just because, you know? There are people that have it, and they don’t and I don’t like that because they don’t have style, but they have the money. They are a bad representation of our genre you know?”

No matter how successful their album gets or any awards they win, Los Yetzons, like all artists, had to make their way from humble, yet inspirational beginnings. Small remembers it well. “I was 14 years old, when Wu-Tang Clan, Busta Rhymes and Tribe Called Quest, and then there started to be the Spanish rap in Puerto Rico and I just started writing my own songs. Alexis is my brother, and we both get inspired by all of them and started writing songs together.”

Remembering the mid-1990’s, reggeaton was not were it is today, according to Small. “The only thing, is back then reggeaton was not like now, it was more like a hobby. Then we realized we had to make money, do we started taking it seriously.” Then reggeaton began to make it’s mark on the music world with hit albums by Daddy Yankee and Wisin & Yandel. “Wisin & Yandel helped {Alexis Y Fido} out. I never stopped writing songs or making music, and I presented all my stuff to Alexis and he loved it. “ With their single “Nadie Como Tu” set to zoom up the charts, and their second-planned single, the Bachata-flavored “Cuando se acaba el amor” (“When the Love is Over”), set to be released early 2009. For Los Yetzons, the future holds no limits. With dreams as distant as space, but the talent and skills to back it up, the duo Anthony and Small’s journey can only go up.