Ramón Luis Ayala Rodríguez, better known as Daddy Yankee, is a Puerto Rican singer, actor, music 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 exponent, Daddy is today the most popular reggaeton artist, as well as one of the most influential and respected figures in the genre worldwide. Thanks to his established and successful artistic career and his numerous collaborations that have helped showcase other Latin artists in the genre, reggaeton has solidified its status as a musical variety known and listened to around the world.
The term reguetón (derived from the word reggae and the suffix tón) is attributed to Dady Yankee himself in Puerto Rico in 1992, where he first mentioned it 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 reguetón," is what Daddy Yankee can be heard saying in the mixtape.
Among his most famous songs is "La gasolina," which is part of his third album and the best-selling one by the artist, released in 2004, titled "Barrio Fino."
He has won 5 Grammy Awards, 1 Premio Lo Nuestro, and other prestigious awards that honor Latino artists. In 2009, he was recognized by CNN as one of the most important and influential Hispanics in the world.
For several years now, his collaborations with other rising musicians in the urban music scene have become a safe bet, turning the tracks he works on into guaranteed hits that dominate charts worldwide. In 2017, his song with Luis Fonsi, “Despacito,” reached the number one position in over 80 countries and became the most viewed song on YouTube. Additionally, he won four Latin Grammy Awards in 2017 for Best Song, Best Record, Best Urban Fusion/Interpretation, and Best Short Form Music Video.
His subsequent English version with Justin Bieber topped the Billboard Hot 100 chart. In the same year, Daddy Yankee became the most listened-to artist in the world on Spotify.
Among his collaborations are tracks with artists such as Anuel AA, Kendo Kaponi, Rosalía, J Balvin, Farruko, Sech, Zion, Lennox, Steve Aoki, Play-N-Skillz, Elvis Crespo, among others. He recorded "Azukita" with the last three, 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 by rapper Snow, "Informer."
In July 2020, he announced that he had prediabetes after feeling unwell during a tour in Colombia and being hospitalized urgently.
Recently, in 2020, an old interview resurfaced that took place during his visit to the television program Estudio Billboard, hosted by Colombian journalist Leila Cobo, in 2007. 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 create political chaos, so he preferred to leave things as they were and go when the right moment came.
En julio de 2018 Issac Delgado, que entonces ocupaba la presidencia del comité organizador del Festival de Varadero comentó que ya había hablado con el reguetonero y esa presentación se estaba concretando.
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 Cuban violinist Zamir Muñoz Hernández, who has amazed the singer with two versions of his songs played on his electric violin: Que tire pa' lante and Llamado de emergencia.
