Mio Khalifo (born April 9, 1993), known professionally as Jhayco (formerly Jhay Cortez),^[4] is a Puerto Rican rapper and singer from Río Piedras, San Juan. After releasing multiple EPs, his debut studio album Famouz was released in 2019.^[5]

This article may require copy editing for multiple minor grammar errors. (October 2023)

Cortés was born in Río Piedras, Puerto Rico. Later, he moved to Camden, New Jersey. As a result, Cortés had a bilingual childhood.^[6][7]

He began composing songs at age 15, gaining the interest of producer Eddie Dee. Cortés was introduced to producers Lele el Arma Secreta and Eliel, with whom he began to write songs, and they connected him with the duo Zion & Lennox. Cortés composed three songs that featured on Zion & Lennox's 2011 album Los Verdaderos: "Como curar," "Detective de tu amor", and "Soltera" (under the pseudonym Jay el Superdotado).^[8][9]

Cortés composed five singles for Tito El Bambino, including "Llama al sol", which featured on his 2011 album Invencible, which won a Latin Grammy for Best Tropical Album.^[7]

In 2013, Cortés began as a singer for the Latin pop group Stereo 4, which featured four young Puerto Rican singers: Jafet Cortes, Eduardo Esteras, Rubén Chinea, and Jesús M. Nieves.^[10] Some time later, Cortés launched his career as a soloist.^[10] He collaborated with the group for the last time in 2016 with the song "Te quiero ver".^[11]

On August 22, 2017, Cortés signed a contract with the Universal Music Latino discography under the House of Haze movement in alliance with the producer Fino como el Haze. He released his first single, "Donde no se vea" under this label, collaborating with Jory Boy and Pusho.^[12]

On March 16, 2018, Cortés performed at a concert that benefited victims of natural disasters under the name SXSW as one of the artists of the Port Relief Showcase.^[7]

Cortés helped in the composition of the songs "Criminal" by Natti Natasha with Ozuna and "Mi Religión" by Yandel.^[7][12] On May 16 2018, he released the EP Eyez on Me under the Universal Music Latino record label.^[13] At the end of 2018, he released his single "Costear" with Almighty, which led to the release of two remixes.

On February 22, 2019, he released his single "No Me Conoce" which reached the top of several Latin American music charts. It was certified triple platinum by PROMUSICAE of Spain; the song also featured a remix with J Balvin and Bad Bunny^[14] and was certified 20 platinum by the US RIAA.^[15] In that same year, he also released the song "Deseame suerte" with the collaboration of Karol G.^[16] On May 24, 2019, he released his first studio album, Famouz, under the Universal Music Latino label. It was ranked 164 on the US Billboard 200 chart,^[17] and was certified triple platinum by the RIAA.^[18][19][20]

In 2020 Cortez published a special edition of his first studio album with unreleased songs under the name Famouz Reloaded^[21] and released a new single, "Dime a ve," which would be part of his second album, Timelezz.^[22] He was also the winner of five ASCAP awards as a composer^[23] and two Tú Música Urbano Awards in the categories of Composer of the Year and New Generation Album by Famouz.^[24] He received nominations for the Billboard Awards for Latin music,^[25] Premios Juventud,^[26] Lo Nuestro Awards^[27] and the Latin Grammys.^[28] On October 30, he released the song "Dakiti" in collaboration with Bad Bunny which reached number one on the Billboard Global 200 charts;^[28] it also reached the top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100, reaching number 9.^[29] At the end of that year, he collaborated on the remix "La Curiosidad" by Jay Wheeler and Myke Towers.^[30] It also appeared on Yandel's album Quien Contra Mí 2 in the collaboration of the song "Ponme al día".^[31]

At the beginning of 2021, Cortés participated in a production of Los Legendarios with the song "Fiel" with Wisin, which reached number 9 globally on the Spotify music platform.^[32][33] On March 14, he appeared with Bad Bunny performing "Dakiti" at the Grammy Awards ceremony.^[34] He also received another IHeartRadio Music Awards nomination in the Latin Pop/RReggaeton Song of the Year category for "Dakiti".^[35]

Cortez has been romantically linked with pornstar Mia Khalifa.^[36]

In 2020, Cortez had a public spat with fellow rapper Bryant Myers on Twitter.^[37][38] The two rappers published diss tracks.^[39][37]