José Angel Hernández, better known as Flow La Movie, was obsessed with making hits. Coming up with the right hook, the right beat, and – perhaps as important — the right promotional vehicle, consumed him.
“I’m passionate about music,” he wrote in his bio. “I go to bed and I wake up thinking of ways to innovate and create the best possible content for fans of urban music. I’m not a musician and I don’t sing, but my years of experience have taught me about musical production, something I practice today with discipline and commitment.”
Flow La Movie died, along with his immediate family – including his wife, Debbie Von Jiménez García, 31, and their 4-year-old son Jayden — in a small plane crash in the Dominican Republic Dec. 15. He was 38.
He was, arguably, at the peak of his career after scoring major hits with songs such as “Te Boté” (originally recorded by Nío García, Casper Mágico and Darell, and later remixed with Bad Bunny, Ozuna and Nicky Jim) and “La Jeepeta.”
Flow’s many roles in these hits illustrate the shifting nature of the “urban genre,” as so many Puerto Rican producers refer to it, where he was sometimes a producer, sometimes a songwriter, sometimes an executive and sometimes all three.
Based in Puerto Rico, he was – as he openly said — not a musician. Initially, he was a promoter and investor in different events in the area, which led him to meet many of reggaetón’s most prominent names.
The stakes changed in 2016, when he met an up-and-coming artist named Nío García, who pitched him on supporting his fledgling career. Flow La Movie agreed and launched his own label, Flow La Movie Records.
One of his first projects was joining Kendo Caponi and Cosculluela in the single “El detective,” but his big breakthrough was 2018’s “Te Boté,” a monster hit that joined Nío García with Casper Mágico, a former backup singer for Anuel who also signed to Flow La Movie. Aided by a triple threat remix with Bad Bunny, Ozuna and Nicky Jam, the track spent 14 non-consecutive weeks at No. 1 on Billboard’s Hot Latin Songs chart and its video was the most-viewed of the year on YouTube.
Following “Te Boté” came “La Jeepeta” in 2020, a raunchy romp by García, Brray and Juanka, whose remix with Anuel AA and Myke Towers propelled it to No. 3 on Hot Latin Songs. Most recently, García’s solo hit “AM,” already successful on its own, was remixed with J Balvin and Bad Bunny, reaching No. 4 on Hot Latin Songs.
Flow La Movie was a diligent and astute student of the Billboard charts. “They’re the most important thing,” he told me a few months ago over lunch. It’s one of the reason he sought out such high-profile collabs and remixes for his young acts.
The fact that he was able to make them happen is a testament to his goodwill and cred in a complex industry. In his memory, here are four major hits on his label.
1. “Te Boté”
The remix videos has 3 billion views on YouTube.
2. “La Jeepeta”
This playful, raunchy song about men in jeeps got universal attention.
3. “Travesuras”
Flow La Movie had writing credit in this mlti-artist extravaganza.
4. “AM”
Nio Garcia had solo success (to the tune of 170 million YouTube views) before Bad Bunny and J Balvin jumped on the remix.
