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 foremost representative, Daddy is now 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 introduce other Latin artists in the genre, reggaeton has firmly established itself as a musical style that is known and heard all around the world.
The term reguetón (derived from the word reggae and the suffix ton) is attributed to Dady Yankee himself in Puerto Rico in 1992, being mentioned for the first time 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 is heard saying in the mixtape.
Among his most famous songs is "La gasolina," which is part of his third and best-selling album, released in 2004, titled "Barrio Fino."
He has 5 Grammy Awards, 1 Premio Lo Nuestro, and several other prestigious honors that recognize 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 surefire bet, turning the songs he features on into guaranteed hits that dominate charts worldwide. For instance, in 2017, his track with Luis Fonsi, "Despacito," reached number one in over 80 countries and became the most played song on YouTube. He also won four Latin Grammy Awards in 2017 for Best Song, Best Record, Best Urban Fusion/Interpretation, and Best Short Form Music Video.
His later version in English 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 reached the top spot with his single "Con calma," a reimagining 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 was retrieved from Daddy's appearance on the television program Estudio Billboard, hosted by Colombian journalist Leila Cobo, in 2007. During the interview, Daddy was asked about the possibility of ever singing in Cuba. He responded 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 wait for the right moment to go.
In July 2018, Issac Delgado, who was then the president of the organizing committee for the Varadero Festival, mentioned 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 to those of Italian fascist Mussolini and Soviet leader Stalin.
The Puerto Rican has shared twice on his Instagram the talent of Cuban violinist Zamir Muñoz Hernández, who has impressed the singer with two versions of his songs played on his electric violin: Que tire pa' lante and Llamado de emergencia.
