Ramón Luis Ayala Rodríguez, better known as Daddy Yankee, is a Puerto Rican singer, actor, record producer, radio host, and businessman born in San Juan, Puerto Rico, on February 3, 1977.
Regarded as one of the pioneers of reggaeton in the 1990s and its most prominent figure, Daddy is now the most popular reggaeton artist, as well as one of the most influential and respected in the genre worldwide. Thanks to his established and successful artistic career and his numerous collaborations that have helped bring attention to other Latino artists in the genre, reggaeton has solidified its place as a musical variety that is known and listened to around the world.
The term reggaeton (derived from the word reggae and the suffix ton) is attributed to Daddy Yankee himself in Puerto Rico in 1992, first mentioned in the mixtape "Playero 36" (alongside DJ Playero). "I want you to keep jumping and I want you to jump again because it's the phenomenal man who sings reggaeton," Daddy Yankee can be heard saying in the mixtape.
Among his most famous tracks is "La gasolina," which is part of his third and best-selling album, released in 2004, titled "Barrio Fino."
He has won 5 Grammy Awards, 1 Lo Nuestro Award, and other major accolades honoring Latin artists. In 2009, he was named by CNN as one of the most important and influential Hispanics in the world.
In recent years, his collaborations with other rising musicians in the urban music scene have become a safe bet, turning the tracks he collaborates on into guaranteed hits that dominate charts worldwide. For instance, in 2017, his song with Luis Fonsi, "Despacito," reached number one in over 80 countries and became the most streamed song on YouTube. Moreover, it won four Latin Grammy Awards in 2017 for Best Song, Best Recording, Best Urban Fusion/Interpretation, and Best Short Form Music Video.
Its subsequent English version featuring Justin Bieber reached number one on Billboard's Hot 100 chart. That same year, Daddy Yankee became the most listened-to artist in the world on Spotify.
Among his collaborations are songs with artists such as Anuel AA, Kendo Kaponi, Rosalía, J Balvin, Farruko, Sech, Zion, Lennox, Steve Aoki, Play-N-Skillz, and Elvis Crespo, among others. With the last three, he recorded "Azukita," which has nearly 200 million views on YouTube.
On January 24, 2019, he once again achieved the top spot with his single "Con calma," a reinvention of the 90s hit "Informer" by rapper Snow.
In July 2020, he announced that he was suffering from prediabetes after feeling unwell during a tour in Colombia and being hospitalized urgently.
Recently, an old interview from 2020 resurfaced, which took place during his visit to the television program Estudio Billboard hosted by Colombian journalist Leila Cobo in 2007. In that interview, Daddy was asked about the possibility of ever singing in Cuba. His response was that he would actually love to go to the Island, but he had great respect for the people of Miami and did not want to cause any political chaos, so he preferred to leave things as they were and go when the right moment came.
In July 2018, Issac Delgado, who was then president of the organizing committee of the Varadero Festival, stated that he had already spoken with the reggaeton artist and that the performance was being finalized.
In 2017, he created a remix of Bad Bunny's song "Tú no metes cabra," in which he compares the dictatorships of Fidel Castro and Nicolás Maduro with those of the Italian fascist Mussolini and the Soviet leader Stalin.
The Puerto Rican has shared twice on his Instagram the talent of the Cuban violinist Zamir Muñoz Hernández, who has amazed the singer with two versions of his songs performed on his electric violin: Que tire pa' lante and Llamado de emergencia.
