Building a virile flow and affinity for punch lines on the battle-rap/freestyle circuit, Argentina's Ecko proved one of the leading figures in his country's rising trap scene, as well as one of its most talented MCs. As he transitioned his career outside of competitions, he synthesized his influences (Don Omar, Eminem, Residente) into genres including Latin trap, reggaeton, and melodic trap, landing a deal with Universal in late 2019.

Born and raised in Buenos Aires, rapper Ecko (Ignacio Matias Spallati) found early inspiration from across America -- listening to Puerto Rico's Calle 13 sparked a passion in music at the age of eight, before his admiration for Detroit-born Eminem encouraged him to hone his own rap talents. The freestyle circuit was an effective training ground through his early teens; his first battle was at the 2014 Red Bull Buenos Aires qualifiers, and the young MC moved into wider competitions as his MCing skills developed. Buenos Aires' El Quinto Escalón, a freestyle competition abuzz with domestic talent, became his proving ground. After a surprising semifinals run in 2015, Ecko found prolific success in 2016's competitions, besting artists including Trueno, Duki, Beelze, and Wolf across the year's various dates. Further showings at events such as Ego Fest, Cruce de Campeones, and the historic Big Bang Double AA Festival 2016 offered additional demonstrations of Ecko's strong wordplay and flow, before he put them to record on debut singles "D1sputa" and "Dealer de Skilles."

2017 provided further successes at shows including F-NIX Freestyle, Red Bull Nacional, and El Quinto Escalón, but also a substantial development in Ecko's recording career, with explosive trap anthem "Dorado" bringing his sound to millions of new ears. Inspired by this global success, he used 2018 to build up a trap-heavy catalog; among the year's 18 releases were the floor-stomping "Rebota," amped-up "Piso," and melodic "Bye," each of which garnered tens of millions of streams online. The rapper's 2019 run was equally prolific, this time with a slightly wider focus: alongside bouncy trap hits like "Zigzag" and '“Malportau," Ecko ventured toward reggaeton ("Besame," "Poca Luz"), and romance-driven material ("Como Le Digo," "Me Despierto"), as well as returning to his roots as one of the first artists on Bizarrap's freestyle platform.

After signing a deal with Universal in late 2019, Ecko showed no signs of stopping. 2020 saw him work with a wide range of collaborators -- among them Brytiago, Eladio Carrión, Brray, Cazzu, and Lalo Ebratt -- on another bold singles run, from which came many of the tracks on his debut EP, Young Golden. After kicking off 2021 with the Rei collaboration "West Side" and the Mariah Angeliq-featuring "Reggaeton de Antes," Ecko set to work on a full album. Titled Géminis, the rapper's June 2021 debut offered an eight-track variety of trap and reggaeton styles. ~ David Crone, Rovi