Years ago before the word reggaeton had been created, many young Puerto Ricans would dance “perreo” or doggy style to the popular street music known at that time as underground. In high school guys like Raul “Alexis” Ortiz and Joel “Fido” Martinez would form groups so that they too would some day be creating music like the reggaeton producer and pioneer Playero and others like “Blanco, Maicol y Manuel, Wiso G, Big Pun, Mexicano,
well people who truly took the underground movement to its splendor,” said Joel Martinez better known as Fido of the reggaeton duo Alexis y Fido.
“We were in high school but at that time were recording mixtapes,” said Fido, “we used to sell these tapes in the streets, that’s how we started in this business.”
But the Alexis y Fido duo might not have been if it was not for the encouragement and help from those around them. At that time Fido was in a group with Yandel of Wisin y Yandel and Alexis was in a group with Wisin. Then Fido quit the business for 4 years because he got married and joined the army. During that time his friend and former band mate, Yandel, hooked up with Wisin to form the extremely popular reggaeton duo Wisin y Yandel. When Fido finished his duty in the army, Yandel encouraged him to get back in the reggaeton business and so hi did. Fido began as a solo artist as did Alexis. Their big break came when a position to be featured on a various artist compilation album called “Desafio” was available.
“There was one spot left and I had a song already recorded and Alexis, he had a song too and one of us would have to be left out because both songs would not fit,” Fido said.
The producer of the album suggested that the two do a track together so that both could be featured on the album in one track. In a true sign of what has made many reggaeton artists coming out of Puerto Rico successful, they decided to work together to help both their careers. They recorded “Dale Un Nalgazo” (The Spanking Song) and the people loved it. Soon after people wanted more of their club-banging sounds that earned them the nickname “Los Reyes del Perreo” (Kings of Doggy Style) due to the sexual overtones in their lyrics and music videos featuring the beautiful women on the beaches of Puerto Rico. They do admit that they are more subtle about the subjects they rap about since they realize so many younger audiences and families now listen to their music.
Since then, they recorded their first album “Los Pitbulls” in 2005 and have recently released “Los Reyes del Perreo” which includes 9 hits that put them on the map from and 5 new songs. This album was the first to come out from their new label Wild Dogs. Later this year they will release a new album where they will be working on “crossover” tracks with rapper Yung Joc, Akon and Elephant Man. With their new label they hope to grow as businessmen by featuring new up-and-coming artists like Diego y Gaby, Arcangel y De La Ghetto, and Carlos Diaz. The label will also feature different genres like merengue, bachata, and even boleros.
The duo is also looking to make some appearances on the big screen. In 2006 they shot a scene for the film “Reggaeton” which is produced by Jennifer Lopez’ Nuyorican Productions and is scheduled to be released later this year. In the movie they perform the song “Eso Ehhh” in a scene where R&B singer Omarion is teaching his onscreen girlfriend how to dance. This small role has opened the door to another movie that they describe being like “Scarface” and where they play a major role. They can’t say the name of it, but they can say it shoots this year and is scheduled for release in 2008.
“I think this role is taking us to the next level,” Fido says, “that we are representing Latinos how it should be!”