Jonny Z

Latino rapper from San Diego, California. One of the true pioneers of Latino Hip Hop, Jonny first began working with eventual Grammy-winning producer Doug Rasheed in the mid 1990's. He scored His first Billboard Top 40 Dance Single with "Shake Shake"(Shake Your Culo)" Which gathered major club play and eventually crossover radio play, due to its popularity on the streets, and due to Jonny logging thousands of road miles to get his music heard. In 1996 came his breakthrough classic "Latin Swing" which was voted one of the top 100 bass records of all time. His debut album had another smash hit "No Senor (Drop Your Chonas)"and "Mamacita".He made a Latino version of Rodney O and Joe Cooley's classic "Everlasting Bass" featuring South Park Mexican a.k.a. SPM, which led to him starting his own label "One Lil Vato". A few marginal hits followed including "Ku-Ku" and "Te La Pongo" which never really got the label support they deserved. Jonny has truly been a pioneer in helping getting Latino Hip-Hop airplay before it was mainstream. Besides bass music, he also recorded some funk-influenced hip hop as found on his earlier albums. Among those early tracks, the Chicano anthem "Orale". On "Bass Balla", Mexico seems to be pictured as more of an exotic hinterland: "with this beat from south the border..." he raps on the "Mariachi Twist", and on the Latin-tinged hip hop track "Barrio Anthem", Jonny glorifies America and talks about "Latin players" like Rubén Blades and Pérez Prado, and speaks proudly of his Hispanic bloodline as his parents are 1st generation Americans. He truly came from nowhere to make a difference in Latino Hip-Hop due to his tenacious drive. In 2006 he is working on a new project "ViP"(Vatos in Progress) which is already getting radio play and setting the stage for "Z 1 N Only"!