This weekend Daddy Yankee He said goodbye to his audience in his native Puerto Rico. The artist intends to fulfill his promise and leave music for commit yourself to your faith. He confirmed this by quoting from the 16th chapter of Matthew in the Bible, which says: “What does it profit a man to gain the whole world if he loses his life? Or how much can a person pay for his life? For the Son of Man will come in the glory of His Father and with His angels, and then He will reward everyone according to the deeds he has done”.

At 46, having changed the Spanish music industry, Daddy Yankee thinks it’s time to say goodbye. And he does it from Puerto Rico, the place where he was born and never left, where he put Latin American music at its best. The artist believes that it was he he called reggaetonbut there is no doubt that he was responsible for taking the genre global.

Creator of reggaeton?

Like what happened to Julio Iglesias, Daddy Yankee intended to devote himself to sports when an incident put his life in danger and changed the course of his life. He was the victim of an AK-47 rifle shot during a shootout in his neighborhood, which hit him in the thigh and ruined his dream of becoming a professional baseball player. He was a teenager but saw opportunity in music and started working at parties.

When they say that Daddy Yankee was one of the forerunners of reggaeton., some people put their hands on their heads. The genre already existed, it was a mixture of reggae and marathon, and others attribute the beginning of this type of music to Your Pum Pum El General in 1988 or Design pump Vico S. in 1991. But when a Puerto Rican brought to justice Because, according to him, he was the first person to call him that in 1992, in Mixtape Playero 36 from DJ Playero, who he usually worked with.

Before becoming an artist, he was a producer, but his success came through his collaboration with Nicky Jam. Album El Kangri.comartist’s second, was first in the history of the genre to hit the Billboard charts And up from there. Petrol it is without a doubt Daddy Yankee’s most popular song, and it only appeared in 2004.

Petrol succeed

Nowadays it is rare to find a corner of the world where this melody does not sound familiar. “She turns on the turbines, doesn’t discriminate, doesn’t miss a single noisy party., he even puts himself in order around the corner, he looks so good that even the shadow suits him. He kills, he dominates me, he hangs out in cars, motorcycles and limousines. He fills his tank with adrenaline when he hears reggaeton in the kitchen,” the lyrics say. Petrolwhich we all once danced.

Considered the main representative of old reggaeton, as many call it now. Daddy Yankee quickly established himself as an icon.. Your drive Lovely area It became one of the best-selling Latin albums in the United States and was listed as the album of the decade in the genre by Billboard. Moreover, the American magazine claims that he has surpassed Shakira, Alejandro Sanz and other Latin American artists in terms of numbers in the United States.

In the 2000s reggaeton has faded into the background again. But he himself took it upon himself to reintroduce Latin music to the world in 2017, when the theme Slowlyalong with Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee himself, broke records.

Most Viewed Video on YouTube

Many people forget that Daddy Yankee today, in December 2023, most viewed video in YouTube history. Nothing has yet managed to surpass success Slowly And Your formthe second has almost 3 billion fewer views.

Another one of his songs Calmlyin collaboration with Snow, close to Top 10. In this case, the song that He also collaborated with Katy Perry. like Slowly The version was made with Justin Bieber and has 2.757 million views in four years since its publication.

Without a doubt, if Elvis is the most popular artist in music and the king of rock, then Daddy Yankee is the king of reggaeton.

Awards were not accompanied

Unlike Bad Bunny, the forerunner of modern Latin music, Daddy Yankee did not see his work be well received at award ceremonies. He has 8 Latin Grammys in a career spanning over 20 years. and, for example, Gas It never won the Record of the Year award for which it was nominated. It was only in 2018 that he was nominated in the American edition of the Academy of Music. Stuff happens, but Elvis only won three Grammy Awards despite being considered the greatest musician ever.

It remains to be seen whether the removal of music that Daddy Yankee announces that this will be reality. So far, his nearly 49 million Instagram followers have expressed their unconditional support for the artist as he navigates his new faith-led journey. “What beautiful words, I hope he remains firm in this thought,” writes one of his subscribers in the comments.