He also received a Puerto Rican Walk of Fame star, special awards by People en Espa ol magazine, and the Presencia Latina at Harvard University. He has won 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. 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.Īs of 2017, Daddy Yankee has won 82 awards from 270 nominations since his rise to international fame in 2004.
The video for “Despacito” on YouTube received its billionth view on April 20, 2017, and became the most-watched video on the platform. It became the first Spanish-language song to hit number one on the Billboard Hot 100 since “Macarena” in 1996. In 2017, Daddy Yankee, in collaboration with Latin pop singer Luis Fonsi, released the hit single “Despacito”. Since then, he has sold around 20 million records, making him one of the best-selling Latin music artists.ĭaddy Yankee’s album Barrio Fino made history when it became the top-selling Latin music album of the decade between 20. In 2004, Daddy Yankee released his international hit single “Gasolina”, which is credited with introducing reggaeton to audiences worldwide, and making the music genre a global phenomenon. Ayala spent roughly a year and a half recovering from the wound the bullet was never removed from his hip, and he credits the shooting incident with allowing him to focus entirely on a music career. 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.
He aspired to be a professional baseball player and tried out for the Seattle Mariners of the Major League Baseball. He is often cited as an influence by other Latin urban performers.Īyala was born in R o Piedras and was raised in the Villa Kennedy Housing Projects neighborhood. Daddy Yankee is the artist who coined the word reggaeton in 1994 to describe the new music genre that was emerging from Puerto Rico that synthesized hip-hop, Latin Caribbean music, and reggae rhythms with Spanish rapping and singing. He is known as the “King of Reggaet n” by music critics and fans alike. In 2004, he released his first internationally distributed album, "Barrio Fino," and it is considered to be one of the best full-length albums ever released of this emerging musical genre.Ram n Luis Ayala Rodr guez (born February 3, 1976), known professionally as Daddy Yankee, is a Puerto Rican singer, rapper and songwriter. He has produced CDs and other songs for other reggaetón artists as well. One of his best friends is reggaetón artist Nicky Jam. He has also won other awards, such as Best Voice, Best Song/Lyric, and Best Artist. Daddy Yankee is also known as "El Rey de la Improvisación," and has won awards for this for 5 years in a row at the Street Jam Regaae Awards.
One of his first major appearances on record was on DJ Tony Touch's album "The Piece-Maker." Daddy not only sings and rhymes, he has his own record label, El Cartel Records, and, since his album "Cartel de Yankee" was certified for platinum sales in Puerto Rico, the second part of his life has been full of success.
One of the top reggaetón (Spanish-language dancehall reggae) artists, he started to rhyme and sing at the age of 13. Yankees success was so phenomenal in the wake of his 2004 mainstream breakthrough, Barrio Fino - and in particular the international hit single 'Gasolina' - that he transcended cultural boundaries and genre trappings. Daddy Yankee was born Ramon Ayala on February 3, 1976, in Villa Kennedy, Santruce, Puerto Rico. Daddy Yankee did more than anyone to establish reggaeton as a marketable music style during the early 21st century.