Music
Retirement marks the end of one of the most successful and influential careers in Latin pop
Daddy Yankee, the Puerto Rican star who helped make reggaeton a global phenomenon, has said he will focus on his Christian faith following his previously announced retirement from music.
The 46-year-old singer, whose real name is Ramón Rodríguez, told the audience about his plans at his final concert at the José Miguel Agrelot Coliseum in Puerto Rico. “I am not ashamed to tell the whole world that Jesus lives in me and that I will live for him,” he said in Spanish remarks translated by Variety. “For many years I tried to fill a void in my life that no one could fill. I tried to find meaning. Many times it felt like I was happy, but there was something missing to make me feel complete.”
He added that he intends to “use the tools I have in my possession, such as music, social networks, platforms, a microphone – everything that Jesus has given me – for his kingdom.”
Rodríguez performed four concerts at the Colosseum this week to round out a farewell tour that ran between July and December 2022 and in support of his latest album Legendaddy, also released in 2022.
It ends one of the most successful and influential music careers in Latin American history. Rodríguez grew up in the working-class Villa Kennedy neighborhood of San Juan and initially hoped to become a star baseball player. He tried out for the US MLB league, but his sporting career was cut short when he was shot in the leg. He moved into music, releasing his debut album No Mercy in 1995, born in the melting pot of San Juan, where US hip-hop vied with Caribbean dancehall in the city’s nightclubs and stereo systems, eventually combining to form reggaeton.
By 2002, he had refined the sound and honed his flow, which consisted of breathtaking runs with high-speed conversations. The driving single “Latigazo” also received airplay outside of Puerto Rico, and while colleagues like Tego Calderón and Don Omar also made it available to a wider audience beyond the country, it was Rodríguez who truly broke through.
Based on infectious beat drops and a chorus that even English speakers can easily sing along to, 2004’s “Gasolina” peaked at No. 5 in the UK and No. 32 in the US and remains, for many, the defining reggaeton anthem.
Rodríguez appeared on another big hit this year, “Oye Mi Canto” by American-Puerto Rican rapper NORE, and went on to record with US stars such as Snoop Dogg and will.i.am, as well as some of the biggest names in Latin music. Pop up like Bad Bunny, Ozuna and Marc Antony.
In 2017, he was an integral part of one of the most commercially successful songs of all time: Despacito by Puerto Rican singer-songwriter Luis Fonsi, for which Rodríguez delivered a typically melodic and energetic rap. Its popularity was further increased by a remix featuring Justin Bieber, and Despacito eventually reached number 1 in 47 countries, including the US and UK. Rodriguez’s subsequent reboot of Snow’s Informer, Con Calma, became a huge success in 2019.
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