Anuel AA

From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist

Anuel AA is the stage name of Emmanuel Gazmey Santiago, born in 1992 and raised in Carolina, Puerto Rico. He is a rapper and singer, and he and other Latin American artists call him The God of Latin trap. His father worked at the Puerto Rican branch of Sony Music, and as a child he looked up to Tupac Shakur. He started recording at fourteen and put his music online in 2010. That caught the attention of Rick Ross, who signed him to the Latin division of Maybach Music Group.

Music and breakthrough

His mixtape Real Hasta la Muerte was released in February 2016 and received good reviews. In April 2016 he was arrested in Guaynabo and sentenced to thirty months in prison for illegal possession of a firearm. In prison he recorded his debut album, mainly by passing on his vocals over the telephone. That album, also called Real Hasta la Muerte, came out on 17 July 2018, the day he was released, and was a great success. Later came Emmanuel in 2020, Las leyendas nunca mueren and Los Dioses in 2021, and LLNM2 in 2022.

Influence

Latin trap mixes the heavy bass and harder rhythms of trap with Spanish-language singing and melodies from reggaeton. Anuel often uses samples and reworkings of songs that were popular in his youth. He is a controversial figure, but he gave Latin trap a face and helped bring the genre to the Billboard Hot Latin Songs charts.

Listening

• 
  Sola · Anuel AA, 2016
  Apple Music ↗

Discography

Studio albums

• 2018Real hasta la muerte
• 2020Emmanuel
• 2021Las leyendas nunca mueren
• 2021Los Dioses
• 2022LLNM2

Mentioned in other articles

• Latin trap GenreBad Bunny broke through in 2016 with Soy Peor and Anuel AA with Sola.

See also

• Real hasta la muerte