“Right now in Puerto Rico, the younger artists stopped delving into reggaetón,” Omar Courtz tells Apple Music. “I’d love to reignite the flame of the Puerto Rican reggaetón that lost ground in the past couple of years.” This statement, both personal and ambitious, underscores the fact that for the man born in Carolina, his origins and the desire to represent them are everything. Courtz is part of the new wave of boricua artists who first gained notoriety in the local underground, then stood side by side with the genre’s established stars. Years of perseverance paid off, and Courtz is finally enjoying the fruits of his labour on PRIMERA MUSA. The album’s inspiration and conceptual through line are unmistakable: the music of his formative years in Puerto Rico. “As I was selecting the tracks, I thought of my muses—the artists that I listened to when I was a kid,” he explains. The album’s 17 tracks are deeply boricua in spirit, filled with unexpected collaborations and disparate moods. “This album speaks to the nightclub, the streets, my fans—anyone who would like to join in and listen to my stories.” Here, he guides us through some of the album’s key tracks. “UNA NOTi” “I was high, literally, when I made this song. I went to the studio after a show and recorded it using a different beat. It started with the melody, and we developed the rest with Haze producing. I improvised the bars, and then re-recorded the whole thing with a new backing track. But I didn’t like the voices, so I returned to the original session, which sounded really intense. People think the title refers to a notification, but it’s actually about la nota [Puerto Rican slang for being high].” “MUSA ELEVA” “I’ve been listening to Rihanna since my school days—this rhythmic pattern probably stayed in my subconscious. Bassy, the producer of this and other tracks on the album, also grew up listening to those artists, and we share the same influences. When I told him I was looking for something closer to Afrobeat, he got it right away. We still wanted it to have a Puerto Rican touch, and this came to mind.” “DRIPPEO KBRON” “This project is special because it showcases different sides of my personality. Besides singing about women and making music for the nightclub, I also like to record trap songs with the artists I respect. I called Dei V for this track. He’s very talented, and I had the opportunity to tell him about my project. We ended up recording a number of songs together, and this is one of them. I wanted the album to have some heavy-duty sounds for the street. This record spans the different facets of my life.” “A L O C A - T” “It starts with a reference to ‘Alócate’ by Zion. Zion & Lennox have always been one of my greatest influences. Motivando a la Yal was the first album I bought with my own money. There was a CD player at my grandmother’s house, and I got a few albums as a present, but this was the first one that I bought on my own. I played it so much that it stayed in my mind and inspired my own music. Zion & Lennox are of great importance to me.” “SERIO CON ESE Q” “Working with Anuel AA was amazing. He was the one who got in touch with us. He wanted to do a remix of ‘LUCES DE COLORES’, but I suggested doing something new instead. We showed him a couple of tracks, and ‘SERIO CON ESE Q’ was one of them. We recorded in Miami. Bassy and I had a part of it worked out already. I laid down the melody, and we wrote the lyrics together. We locked ourselves in the studio and finished the track right away. We had worked together on another record, but this one was really good, too.” “LUCES DE COLORES” “I collaborated with Bassy, who also did the tracks with Anuel AA and Rauw Alejandro. We love reggaetón but treasure lots of other genres—as kids, we listened to trap and R&B. Even though we try to preserve the essence of reggaetón, we also tried to incorporate the other sounds that inspire us into the melodies or lyrics. This is one of the tracks where we fused reggaetón with different colours.”