Daddy Yankee Biography

Daddy Yankee is a Puerto Rican rapper, songwriter, and record producer and one of the best known and successful reggaeton artists.

Early Life

Ramón Luis Ayala Rodríguez was born in San Juan, Puerto Rico on February 3, 1977, was aspiring to become a baseball player before he got shot accidently in the hip. He was supposed to be signed to Seattle Mariners of the Major League Baseball. Rodríguez focused on music entirely as a result.

Career Beginnings

He became interested in the new mix of hip-hop and dancehall music that was beginning to flourish in the 90s. Yankee got his start with DJ and producer Playero, one of the early reggaeton artists. They worked on a mixtape and Daddy made his debuted on Playero’s project as a featuring artist. At only 18, Daddy was able to release his debut album No Mercy in 1995. He continued to work as an underground reggaeton singer until the end of the 90s.

Success

In 2000, his career was improved with the independent release albums El Cartel in 2000 and El Cartel, Vol. 2 in 200. El Cangri.com was the LP that garnered him attention from the US. Latigazo was the single that got airplay in Miami and New York. The independent project was number 43 on Billboard’s Top Latin Albums. Next, the top ten album Los Homerun-es was issued along with the hit single, Segurosqui. 

Breakthrough

Reggaeton was at its peak by the mid-2000s with successful acts like Don Omar and Luny Tunes. As a result, Yankee’s next release Barrio Fino debuted at number 1 on the Top Latin Albums chart, the first reggaeton album to reach that position. It dominated the chart for a year and sold a million units in the US only. The single Gasolina became a reggaeton classic and the definition of the genre. It managed to transcend language barriers, with English speakers becoming more familiar with the culture of latin music. All this success drew the attention from major labels. Interscope’s CEO Jimmy Iovine made a business offer to Yankee and founded a division label called El Cartel Records. Barrio Fino en Directo, a live album was released under the new venture, along with new material like the single Rompe. The song spent 15 weeks at the top of the Hot Latin Tracks chart.

US Popularity

Daddy was now starting to take full advantage of his popularity and used his image for other businesses like Reebok, Pepsi, Citroën, and ABC. He founded his own charity, Corazón Guerrero. Meanwhile, he was working on new material and released the high-profile El Cartel: The Big Boss with collaborations from will.i.am, Akon, and Fergie. In 2010 he released the Latin-inspired and less-poppy album Mundial plus the hit single Descontrol. The following year, Prestige spawned two successful singles Ven Conmigo and Lovumba. 

Present

In 2012 he was on the collaboration album Imperio Nazza, produced by El Cartel’s Musicologo & Menes. The following year he released the mixtape King Daddy. Singles from his upcoming record, Sígueme y Te Sigo, and Vaivén were Top Ten Hot Latin Songs. In 2016 Shaky Shaky reached mainstream success. King Daddy II: Elemento DY, was set for release in early 2017.

Photo credit: Latin Times