No Will, No Music: Nío García’s Career Restarts After Settlement With Flow La Movie’s Estate

It’s been a little over a year since the Dec. 15, 2021 plane crash that killed Puerto Rican producer Flow La Movie along with his partner Debbie Von Marie Jimenez García and their children, aged 21, 18 and four.

Born José Angel Hernández, Flow La Movie was 38 at the time of the crash and is survived by a daughter, Keigelyan Hernandez.

He also left behind a catalog of hit recordings released under his indie label, AH Entertainment, including the star-studded “Te Boté,” which topped Hot Latin Songs for 14 weeks, and the entire catalog of rapper Nio García, including “AM” and viral hit “La Jeepeta.”

Those songs, along with García’s recording contract, have been ensnarled in a complex legal battle that has prevented García –at the cusp of his career– from releasing any further material.

Until today, with the release of “Yeska”, his first single in more than a year.

The track is out on Glad Empire, the Orlando-based indie entertainment company that used to distribute AH Entertainment, and also works with artists like Anuel. Glad is now in the process of negotiating a new distribution deal Garcia.

“For a while, I thought this moment would never come,” García said in a press release. “I was crazy to release new music for my fans.”

But García could not release music because his recording contract was tied to AH and Flow La Movie, aka Hernandez.

According to García’s lawsuit, filed last year, the problems started when Hernández’s mother, Ilianes Ruiz, claimed to be the sole heir to Hernández’s estate, via a will allegedly signed by Hernández. Because she controlled the estate, Ruiz did not allow García to release new music, as his recording contract was part of Hernández’s estate.

However, the signature on Hernández’s will was determined to be suspect. As a result, Hernández’s only living child, Keigelyan Hernandez, claimed the inheritance as hers, and joined the lawsuit that García had already filed against Ruiz.

Hernández’s estate went into probate, and all contracts and music tied to it came to a screeching halt until Dec. 13, 2021, when all parties signed a global settlement agreement that names Hernández the personal representative of her father’s estate. The agreement, shared exclusively with Billboard, also released García from any obligation with AH, allowing him to enter a new recording agreement with Glad Empire.

“The only thing we wanted to do was continue to release music and carry out Flow La Movie’s wishes and legacy,” says Camille Soto, CEO of GLAD Empire, who late last year, after the agreement was signed, released a compilation of Flow La Movie’s top hits, titled Flow Movie Remixes.  

“I am so happy his music can live on.”