Daddy Yankee

Ramón Luis Ayala Rodríguez (Latin American Spanish: [raˈmon lwis aˈʝala roˈðɾiɣes]; born February 3, 1976), known professionally as Daddy Yankee (Spanish: [ˈdaði ˈʝaŋki]), is a Puerto Rican rapper, singer and songwriter. Dubbed the "King of Reggaeton", he is often cited as an influence by other Hispanic urban performers.

Daddy Yankee aspired to become a professional baseball player, but following a shooting incident, he instead pursued a music career. In 1995, he independently released his debut studio album No Mercy. His follow-up, El Cangri.com (2002), was successful in the United States. His next studio album, Barrio Fino (2004), became the top-selling Latin music album of the decade of the 2000s. Its most successful single "Gasolina", was nominated for the Latin Grammy Award for Record of the Year. "Gasolina" has been credited with introducing reggaeton to audiences worldwide, and making the music genre a global phenomenon. His next album, El Cartel: The Big Boss (2007), peaked within the top 10 in the Billboard 200.

In 2017, Daddy Yankee collaborated with the Latin pop singer Luis Fonsi on the single "Despacito", which became the first Spanish-language song to top the Billboard Hot 100 since "Macarena" (1996). Its accompanying music video was the most-viewed video on YouTube from August 2017 to November 2020, and is the most liked music video on the platform. Its success led Daddy Yankee to become the most-listened artist worldwide on the streaming service Spotify in June 2017, the first Latin artist to do so. In March 2022, Daddy Yankee announced that he would be retiring from music after the release of his seventh studio album Legendaddy and its supporting tour. He retired on December 3, 2023 after completing his final stage performance on his "La Meta" tour in Puerto Rico, but later returned to music with the release of Lamento en Baile in 2025.

Daddy Yankee is one of the best-selling Latin music artists of all time, having sold over 30 million records worldwide. his accolades, including five Latin Grammy Awards, two Billboard Music Awards, 14 Billboard Latin Music Awards, two Latin American Music Awards, eight Lo Nuestro Awards, an MTV Video Music Award, and six ASCAP Awards. He also received a Puerto Rican Walk of Fame star, special awards by People en Español magazine, and the Presencia Latina at Harvard University. He was named by CNN as the "Most Influential Hispanic Artist" of 2009, and included in Time 100 in 2006.

Ayala was born in the Río Piedras district of San Juan, Puerto Rico, to Rosa Rodríguez and Ramón Ayala, who is a salsa percussion player. He was raised in the Villa Kennedy Housing Projects neighborhood. He aspired to become a professional baseball player and tried out for the Seattle Mariners of the Major League Baseball (MLB). Before he could be officially signed, he was hit by a stray round from an AK-47 rifle while taking a break from a studio recording session with reggaeton artist DJ Playero. Ayala spent over a year recovering from the wound, but the bullet was never removed from his hip. He later credited the shooting incident with allowing him to focus entirely on a music career.

Often considered to be one of the pioneers within the reggaeton genre, Ayala was originally going to become a professional baseball player but he was shot in the leg while taking a break from a studio recording session. The bullet was never removed and he credits this incident with allowing him to pursue a musical career. He first appeared on the 1992 DJ Playero's Mixtape, Playero 34, with the song "So' Persigueme, No Te Detengas". Daddy Yankee would then rise to prominence after his appearance on "Playero 37" which includes his first hits "Donde Mi No Vengas" and "Yamilette" which he continued to perform live in concert throughout his career until his recent retirement. His first official studio project as a solo artist was No Mercy, which was released on April 2, 1995, through White Lion Records and BM Records in Puerto Rico. Early in his career he attempted to imitate the rap style of Vico C. He went on to emulate other artists in the genre, including DJ Playero, DJ Nelson, and Tempo taking elements from their styles in order to develop an original style with the Dembow rhythm. In doing so, he eventually abandoned the traditional model of rap and became one of the first artists to perform reggaeton. Throughout the 1990s, Daddy Yankee appeared in several of DJ Playero's underground mixtapes which were banned by the Puerto Rican government due to explicit lyrics; these songs would later be among the first reggaeton songs ever produced.

In 1997, Daddy Yankee collaborated with the rapper Nas, who was an inspiration for Ayala, in the song "The Profecy", for the album Boricua Guerrero. He released two compilation albums with original material: El Cartel (1997) and El Cartel II (2001). Both albums were successful in Puerto Rico, but not throughout Latin America. Between those years, Daddy Yankee released a total of nine music videos, including "Posición" featuring Alberto Stylee, "Tu Cuerpo en la Cama" featuring Nicky Jam, and "Muévete y Perrea". In 2000, Daddy Yankee formed an unofficial duo called "Los Cangris" with Nicky Jam and released several successful singles together. Yankee and Nicky Jam fell apart in 2004 due to personal issues and creative differences. In 2012, Daddy Yankee and Nicky Jam reconciled and performed in various concerts together.

In 2002, El Cangri.com became Daddy Yankee's first album with international success, receiving coverage in the markets of New York City and Miami with hits including "Latigazo", "Son las Doce", "Guayando" and other songs like "Enciende", which talks about different social problems of the era, mentioning 9/11, corruption and religion. In 2003, Daddy Yankee released a compilation album named Los Homerun-es, which contains his first charted single ("Segurosqui"), five new songs and 12 remakes of DJ Playero's albums songs. that was later charted, "Seguroski", being his first charted single after six of them. In 2003, Daddy Yankee collaborated for the first time with the prestigious reggaeton producers Luny Tunes on the album Mas Flow, with his commercial success song "Cógela Que Va Sin Jockey" (a.k.a. "Métele con Candela"), and Mas Flow 2.