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This convergence of hip-hop, dancehall, and freestyling proved popular in San Juan, most notably at The Noise, a long-running club night that spawned a collective of DJs and rappers. The "Yankee" moniker arose from the Puerto Rican slang for "someone tall, who is big in what he does" (according to a 2005 interview with Billboard magazine).ĭaddy Yankee got into reggaeton just as it was taking shape in the early '90s, when San Juan DJs would spin hip-hop alongside dancehall reggae while vocalists freestyled over the beats. As Yankee grew older, he took an interest in Spanish-language hip-hop, especially the socially aware raps of Vico C, and he became increasingly drawn into the street life of his neighborhood, the Villa Kennedy housing project in San Juan. His father was a bongosero (a salsa percussionist), his mother's family included numerous musicians, and he himself sang from an early age and had a knack for improvisation. Barrio Fino was also the first reggaeton album to reach number one on the Top Latin Album chart, a position it held for roughly a year while selling over a million copies in the United States alone.īorn Ramón Ayala (aka Raymond) on February 3, 1977, in Río Piedras, the largest district of San Juan, Puerto Rico, Daddy Yankee grew up in a musical family. Boasting a pair of fantastic hits, "Gasolina" and "Lo Que Pasó, Pasó," the record was a standard-bearer, influencing a legion of followers and establishing the production duo Luny Tunes as reggaeton's hottest hitmakers. Although the business side of Daddy Yankee threatened to overshadow his music, Barrio Fino stands tall as the definitive reggaeton album of its time. Daddy Yankee had indeed become a business empire, of which the primary asset - his music - remained independent from major-label control: he keenly operated his own independent label, El Cartel Records, and chose to partner with labels such as Interscope only for purposes of marketing and distribution. Daddy Yankee's name, image, and music were used to sell soft drinks for Pepsi and footwear for Reebok, as well as a syndicated show for ABC Radio Networks (Daddy Yankee on Fuego) and a feature film for Paramount Pictures (Talento de Barrio). He became more than just a reggaetoñero, having transformed himself into an international name brand by the time his 2007 follow-up album, El Cartel: The Big Boss, was released. Yankee's 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.
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Daddy Yankee did more than anyone to establish reggaeton as a marketable music style during the early 21st century.