The Rise And Fall And Rise Of Nicky Jam

Born in the USA, catapulted to teen fame in Puerto Rico and practically washed up by his 20s, Nicky Jam went to Medellín, Colombia — a city haunted by its drug kingpin past — to find sobriety, love and greater-than-ever success. Billboard spends 48 hours with the reggaetón superstar in his adopted home as he prepares for his wedding — and, oh yeah, scores a No. 1 Latin album

- Jesse Katz

BEFORE HE CAME TO MEDELLÍN, Colombia — before Latin America’s most notorious city rescued his career and, quite possibly, his life — Nicky Jam believed the hype. The Massachusetts-born, Puerto Ricoraised reggaetón singer- songwriter knew Medellín mainly as a caricature: land of Pablo Escobar, onetime murder capital of the world, the kind of place for finding trouble, not escaping it.

“I had pretty much the same mentality that everybody has before they come here,” says Nicky Jam, who is 35. “I didn’t know it was this nice.”

He is at the wheel of a gleaming black Mercedes-Benz SUV, a six-figure whip on streets clogged with midget two-doors, as a member of his security detail murmurs from the back seat: “Go straight, papi. Turn here, papi.” We have left Nicky Jam’s penthouse condo in the hushed, leafy Conquistadores neighborhood for an industrial pocket along Medellín’s principal highway, where graffiti artists have spray-painted a tribute to his rebirth as a global superstar.

Mile-high bluffs the color of parakeets tower over our route, the equatorial sun playing hide-and-seek through a nappy crown of thunderclouds. A banner announcing a February bullfight flutters in the afternoon breeze as the syncopated pulse of reggaetón — Medellín has four radio stations devoted to the genre — spills from beer halls and fitness centers. At a stoplight, a wizened old woman jumps in front of the car and makes a show of juggling three circus balls.