Speaker 1: Joseph Joseph Joseph, what do Doddy Yankee anti Swift having gone?
Speaker 2: Okay? I thought we were doing another pop quiz, but
Speaker 2: now you're throwing riddles at me.
Speaker 3: I got to mix it up. I gotta keep you
Speaker 3: on your toes.
Speaker 2: I hate you.
Speaker 1: Okay, here's a clue. It has nothing to do with
Speaker 1: their personal lives.
Speaker 2: Okay, other than being platinum selling artists. I got nothing
Speaker 2: unless you're gonna tell me Taylor got shot and never
Speaker 2: wrote a song about it.
Speaker 1: I'm pretty sure we would have like a triple anthology
Speaker 1: album if Taylor took a bullet.
Speaker 3: Okay, no, she did not.
Speaker 1: But did you know that both Daddy Yankee and Taylor
Speaker 1: Swift own all of their master recordings, and Doddy Yankee
Speaker 1: didn't have to rerecord his entire catalog to get it.
Speaker 2: All of Daddy Yankee's music is already a Daddy's version.
Speaker 2: How did you do that?
Speaker 3: Well?
Speaker 1: Since nineteen ninety, all of Daddy Yankee's music has been
Speaker 1: released through his own independent record label. It's called El
Speaker 1: Gartel Records. So whether it was his mixtape days through
Speaker 1: Gasolina and yes, even through Espasito Eland has had full
Speaker 1: bargaining rights over all of his recording.
Speaker 2: Damn, and he gets a fat cut from every.
Speaker 1: Cut he is printing bills? Literally, can we get some
Speaker 1: of that?
Speaker 2: By the way, I mean, plead sponsor.
Speaker 1: But here's the thing he did say, when you're independent,
Speaker 1: you're free. I mean, that's what he's told Rolling Stone
Speaker 1: last year during his farewell tour. And apart from obviously
Speaker 1: the financial freedom that you get from that, the freedom
Speaker 1: from major label expectations, that means that he has freedom
Speaker 1: to uplift and collaborate with producers and fellow rapperos that
Speaker 1: he found exciting both from his home in Puerto Rico
Speaker 1: and of course beyond.
Speaker 2: But at a certain point he became the star of
Speaker 2: the show. Despite all the mixtapes and the compilations, he
Speaker 2: was the one we all ended up talking about.
Speaker 1: Yes, one thousand percent, he was a rising star. And
Speaker 1: it's as true of the regaton scene as it is
Speaker 1: in the rap scene.
Speaker 3: That you don't get to the top without a little
Speaker 3: beef child.
Speaker 2: Way are we going to go into some Drake and
Speaker 2: Kendrick Schitt.
Speaker 1: We do not have the next week to talk about that.
Speaker 1: I mean, it's drama.
Speaker 2: Listen. Reggaeton has layers.
Speaker 1: I'm your host, Liliana Rosquez and I'm Joseph Carrio, and
Speaker 1: this is Becoming an Icon a weekly podcast where we
Speaker 1: give you the rundown on how today's most famous Latin
Speaker 1: V stars have shaped pop culture.
Speaker 2: And given the world some extra level.
Speaker 3: Sit back and get comfortable.
Speaker 2: Because we are going in the only way we know how,
Speaker 2: with buena vivras, agnasriesas.
Speaker 1: And a lot of opinions as we relive their greatest
Speaker 1: achievements on our journey to find out what makes them
Speaker 1: so iconic. We have followed Daddy Yankee's rise through the
Speaker 1: Puerto Rican reggaeton scene from the stage at the Noise
Speaker 1: to splitting a track with Brooklyn Royalty Nos.
Speaker 2: And we've covered lots of his pioneering reggaeton piers along
Speaker 2: the way. But there's one person we haven't quite touched
Speaker 2: on yet, Nicki Nicki Nikki Jam.
Speaker 1: Yes, and that is nick Rivera Kamineto aka Nicki Jam
Speaker 1: And he would come to be Daddy Yankee's right hand man.
Speaker 1: He was what you would call an indispensable part of
Speaker 1: Daddy Yankee's rise to greatness and their falling out is
Speaker 1: a sad, but it's a critical part of Yankee's overall story.
Speaker 2: He was born on Saint Patrick Stay all the way
Speaker 2: up in Massachusetts, to a Dominican father and a Puerto
Speaker 2: Rican mother.
Speaker 1: Can I tell you that besides from Mexa Rican, Mexican
Speaker 1: and Puerto Rican, which I am, Domi Rican is my
Speaker 1: other favorite?
Speaker 2: Oh? I love that now.
Speaker 3: From an early age, Nicki jam loved hip hop.
Speaker 1: His favorites Hello Cool Jay and Marky Mark and the
Speaker 1: fund Key Bunch, which I will not hold against him.
Speaker 2: Wait, maybe this is a confused kid.
Speaker 3: Listen.
Speaker 1: If you're Latino and your birthday party every year was
Speaker 1: a Saint Patty's Day parade in Massachusetts, you would be
Speaker 1: confused too.
Speaker 3: But he didn't stay there too long.
Speaker 1: At the age of ten, Nicki's family relocated to San Juan,
Speaker 1: Puerto Rico.
Speaker 2: Nicki's parents told him that they wanted to reconnect with
Speaker 2: his roots on his mother's side, but Nicki would later
Speaker 2: learn that his father was on the run.
Speaker 1: Both of Nicki's parents struggled with substance abuse, and Niki's
Speaker 1: father had duck to bail on a drug related charge.
Speaker 2: And so on. The cusp of adolescence, Nicki found himself
Speaker 2: in a completely new environment where he didn't speak a
Speaker 2: word of Espanoon.
Speaker 1: But over time, Nicki overcame this hurdle by following his
Speaker 1: love of hip hop. He listened to reggaeton and other
Speaker 1: Spanish language music to train his ear and learn the language.
Speaker 2: His starting music came at the age of fourteen, working
Speaker 2: as a bag boy. Hey, a bag I wonder if
Speaker 2: this is the same place where a bad bunny were.
Speaker 2: Working as a bag boy at a grocery store, he
Speaker 2: would make up rhymes about all of the items he
Speaker 2: would scan and bad, just.
Speaker 1: Like Daddy Yankee made of rhymes when his family went
Speaker 1: Christmas caroling.
Speaker 2: One day, Nicki cut the ear of a record.
Speaker 1: Producer and just like that, Nicki jam had a debut
Speaker 1: EP distinto Alo demas or Different from the rest Ooh.
Speaker 2: The Puerto Rican boy from Boston who loved Saint Patrick's Day.
Speaker 1: Right, Okay, okay, I know, I know. When you heard
Speaker 1: Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch, I was triggered.
Speaker 3: But let's go easy on Niki right.
Speaker 1: After all, he hardly saw any money from the recording
Speaker 1: because he signed the contract without reading it. Y'all stop
Speaker 1: signing contracts, Joseph, what have we learned from this.
Speaker 2: I have learned a lot. Let me tell you, let
Speaker 2: me tell you.
Speaker 3: Get a lawyer.
Speaker 2: Ya ya yeah.
Speaker 1: But his distinct voice did garner him an early reputation,
Speaker 1: even though he sounded like the littlest little baby.
Speaker 3: That baby could spit bars.
Speaker 2: The album would even catch the attention of Nikki's idol.
Speaker 3: When Nicki Jam started showing up at the Noise, he.
Speaker 1: Would go specifically to seek out Daddy Yankee, and for
Speaker 1: Daddy Yankee, Nicki Jam needed no introduction.
Speaker 2: Upon meeting Nikki, he said to him, I know who
Speaker 2: you are. You're that little kid who sings rap in
Speaker 2: a little Mickey Mouse voice. The shade right like, oh yeah,
Speaker 2: I've heard of your stuff. It's cute, but still, Yankee
Speaker 2: told Nikki he liked his style. The two became best
Speaker 2: friends and towards the end of the nineties close collaborators.
Speaker 1: Both Daddy Yankee and Nikki Jam appeared on Playeto forty one,
Speaker 1: another DJ Plaeto mixtape. Shortly thereafter, the two formally became
Speaker 1: a duo like us, I mean.
Speaker 2: That's cute, okay, So they called themselves Los Congris, which
Speaker 2: is the best of the best.
Speaker 3: Hear Mike Hungrie, Hmmm, I Love You and Yankee.
Speaker 1: Elgartel Productions became Los Gungri's Music Inc. Together Los Congrie's
Speaker 1: release hits that lit the underground on fire, like in
Speaker 1: La Gama and Legata.
Speaker 2: These are the tracks where Daddy Yankee really starts to
Speaker 2: sound like Daddy Yankee we know today, aggressive barking vocals
Speaker 2: and next level hooks.
Speaker 1: Not to mention the overwhelmingly sexualized lyrics that through the
Speaker 1: ire of the Puerto Rican authorities.
Speaker 2: So speaking of the authorities, like I literally just downloaded
Speaker 2: to day this moment. La Gata have you heard that song?
Speaker 3: I have that one? And then La Gamma.
Speaker 2: Those are so juice.
Speaker 1: Now do you think that they're juice because you understand
Speaker 1: the lyrics or do you think that they're juice because
Speaker 1: you just like the beat?
Speaker 2: I would say both because I feel well right now
Speaker 2: at the moment, I kind of feel like Soto single,
Speaker 2: like I'm vibing with the words because it's going to
Speaker 2: be summer for me, like you know what I mean,
Speaker 2: Hawk Girl Summer and my Houchi Daddy Era. So those
Speaker 2: songs are really here for me. And also it feels
Speaker 2: like it feels like a throwback so it's summery. It's
Speaker 2: summer for me right now at this moment.
Speaker 1: I also feel like it's really fun to watch the video.
Speaker 1: So listening to the songs is an experience, but you're
Speaker 1: talking to two kids that grew up with TRL and
Speaker 1: so for me, part of listening to a song and
Speaker 1: thinking back on it is also looking at the.
Speaker 3: Video because it's it's just captures.
Speaker 1: I think in this particular instance, it captures the friendship,
Speaker 1: the brotherhood, and the youth of these two guys kind
Speaker 1: of about to embark on, you know, a pretty massive
Speaker 1: journey together. And also, can we take a second to
Speaker 1: appreciate the bucket hats in these videos?
Speaker 2: I mean, it took me back.
Speaker 1: It's viby. It's vibaf You know that you could wear
Speaker 1: that now?
Speaker 3: Are you kidding?
Speaker 1: I just took a screenshot of them in the video
Speaker 1: and I'm going to amazon the outfit to myself later today.
Speaker 2: No, you have to.
Speaker 3: It's viby. It's so funny.
Speaker 1: The kids nowadays gen Z's sometimes think they're really original,
Speaker 1: but you just look like Nicky Jam and Daddy Yankee.
Speaker 3: In the end La Kama video.
Speaker 2: Nail on the head, I'm like, Nikki Jam literally just
Speaker 2: had that in nineteen ninety five.
Speaker 3: Big We've been here, we done did that.
Speaker 1: Like you think we're old, but like we actually were
Speaker 1: the originals.
Speaker 3: Yeah original, Oh jeez.
Speaker 2: Watching early videos of Daddy Yankee and Nicki Jam feels
Speaker 2: like watching two brothers. They dress like, they lean on
Speaker 2: each other, they hype each other up. Kind of reminds
Speaker 2: me of us, except I'm an extras march.
Speaker 3: No, what do you call like? What do you call
Speaker 3: smaller than this march?
Speaker 2: I'm a smart stretch.
Speaker 1: Oh if people could only see r dms, they would
Speaker 1: totally have a better insight into what we're talking about.
Speaker 3: Okay, I digress back to Daddy.
Speaker 1: So it's easy to imagine the kinship that Yankee felt
Speaker 1: with Nicki. They had a shared talent, a shared love
Speaker 1: of hip hop, and shared experience. Both had parents who
Speaker 1: had struggled with drug addiction.
Speaker 2: But while Yankee avoided the substance abuse that had gripped
Speaker 2: his own father, Nicki had unfortunately begun to use as
Speaker 2: early as fifteen years later.
Speaker 1: Nicki would explain, I thought to myself, why am I
Speaker 1: going to take care of myself? My dad didn't handle
Speaker 1: his drug problems my mom did drugs too, so why
Speaker 1: not me? I had drugs all around me. And the
Speaker 1: foundation of everything is your home. It's your family.
Speaker 2: And as most Gangai's musical impact grew so with a
Speaker 2: distance between them.
Speaker 1: Despite performing and doing business as a duo, Nicki and
Speaker 1: Yankee continue to build their respective solo recording catalogs. From
Speaker 1: two thousand and one to two thousand and two, Daddy
Speaker 1: was in the studio recording his second album, et gangri
Speaker 1: dot Com.
Speaker 2: Wait. I got to ask a question here? Was that
Speaker 2: really a website?
Speaker 3: Great question? I'm so happy you asked it was?
Speaker 1: And well, elgangriy dot com is no longer available online.
Speaker 3: You can see the old.
Speaker 1: Daddy Yankee and Nicki Jim fan site on the Internet archive.
Speaker 2: Should we do that right now? It's so jews hold please, omg?
Speaker 2: This site is great? Are these pop ups?
Speaker 3: This looks like MySpace?
Speaker 2: It's so jews and like the stuff that's on here,
Speaker 2: not a matchmaking website. Wow.
Speaker 1: What's so funny to me is that there's sidebars and
Speaker 1: banner ads and there's even a little poll which says
Speaker 1: who is basically the most popular Puerto Rican artists of
Speaker 1: the year?
Speaker 3: Is it? Hold?
Speaker 2: On.
Speaker 3: Here are the choices.
Speaker 1: Daddy Yankee, follow Litholaco, Hector Etito and Triple Echis. First
Speaker 1: of all, I don't know who any of these bitches are,
Speaker 1: so I'm going to Votedaddy.
Speaker 2: Yankee, I bet, and I bet you they did that.
Speaker 2: I'm purpose. I think that's just I think it's they're
Speaker 2: a random name.
Speaker 1: Also, not me, just kicking rados to find out who
Speaker 1: the people voted for.
Speaker 3: It's just really cool, you guys. You know, if you've
Speaker 3: ever wanted to go back and look at an old.
Speaker 2: Website, how did you find this?
Speaker 1: Well, I mean, we have amazing producers, But basically, there's
Speaker 1: an entire site called Internet Archive that will take you
Speaker 1: back to an old website that's no longer in existence,
Speaker 1: that's either been updated or been deleted. And it'll actually
Speaker 1: take you back to a snapshot in time. So if
Speaker 1: you want to go back to two thousand and nine,
Speaker 1: what was a Gangai dot com doing? You can actually
Speaker 1: see what it was doing. But it's really funny because
Speaker 1: it is like a trip down memory lane. And can
Speaker 1: I tell you that if you put a website out
Speaker 1: like this right now, gen Z would be like.
Speaker 3: This is so cool. It's sabby what it hits?
Speaker 2: Eh, you know why, because it's very complicated. There's so
Speaker 2: many things that's very like.
Speaker 1: It feels like a throwback to them because they weren't
Speaker 1: around when the Internet was invented, Like we were.
Speaker 2: Just wait, just wait till it comes back and then
Speaker 2: we're all going to be like MySpace.
Speaker 1: Okay, So besides a poll, what else caught your eye
Speaker 1: on here?
Speaker 2: Okay? Not a CD store section that like advertises that
Speaker 2: you get a free poster. So buy this CD which
Speaker 2: was probably crazy priced at that time, and you get
Speaker 2: a free poster, and like, obviously you want him in
Speaker 2: your house. Gosh, member posters. I'm not even we're not
Speaker 2: even going to start the whole posters.
Speaker 3: I love that. That is what caught your attention. Do
Speaker 3: you know what caught my attention?
Speaker 2: I know what? Not?
Speaker 1: An entire section of cheek Us called Las Gangris with
Speaker 1: girls and their bikini photos. By the way, this is
Speaker 1: basically just like pre Instagram Model.
Speaker 2: You know what.
Speaker 3: On Instagram there.
Speaker 2: Were the girls in the videos, right.
Speaker 1: Yeah, they're girls from the videos and there were girls,
Speaker 1: and I think we're looking to get attention. But before
Speaker 1: we had Instagram Model, we had Las neuvas Chicas, gangris.
Speaker 2: I love lust, I was part of them. I would
Speaker 2: have been that cur So.
Speaker 3: There you are.
Speaker 2: That's in a blue.
Speaker 3: In a blue tanga.
Speaker 2: All right.
Speaker 1: As fun as it is to travel back to the
Speaker 1: days of GeoCities, let's get back to Elgangrie dot Com
Speaker 1: the album.
Speaker 2: Although Yankee and Nikki Jam dominated the underground throughout the
Speaker 2: late nineties with mixtapes, compilations, and singles, Elgangrie dot Com
Speaker 2: was Daddy Yankee's first full length studio album in siete
Speaker 2: annos and.
Speaker 1: Trust me, you do not want to keep people waiting
Speaker 1: on an album.
Speaker 3: Yes, I Am talking to you, Rihanna.
Speaker 2: The streets theyby yakin.
Speaker 3: Yankee's true breakthrough.
Speaker 1: You know the one was yet to come, but at
Speaker 1: Gange dot Com was the runway for Yankee soon to
Speaker 1: come take off.
Speaker 2: The album features a sleeker glossier definitely higher budget sound
Speaker 2: than Yankee's previous material, including some of the most early
Speaker 2: two thousands orchestra since you've ever heard, like on a
Speaker 2: scale of one to ten, it's fifty seven.
Speaker 1: The entire album was produced by dire Blas, one of
Speaker 1: the fore runners of Berreo the Urn Sheier more Joseph
Speaker 1: style party music of regaton that Los Gngres had gravitated
Speaker 1: towards in the late nineties.
Speaker 2: And it has two tracks featuring Niki Jam. Both songs
Speaker 2: are classic Congate's club tracks, with both boys looking to
Speaker 2: get some Wayando and as.
Speaker 1: Yankee does, pull the East Coast hip hop flow back
Speaker 1: out towards the end.
Speaker 3: On the title track over a beat that's very murdering,
Speaker 3: like where is a Shanty?
Speaker 2: Levels of murder inc.
Speaker 1: He poeticizes his rise from the violence that plagued his
Speaker 1: gasadio and laughs in the face of those who wondered
Speaker 1: when the next album would drop.
Speaker 2: He also mentions Nikki by name, positioning themselves as key
Speaker 2: architects of the reggaeton scene classic hip hop BRAGGEDO show
Speaker 2: and hearned it.
Speaker 1: Elgandri dot Com was a hit in Puerto Rico and
Speaker 1: the Dominican Republic and in the US. The album reached
Speaker 1: number forty three on the US Latin Albums Chart, thirteen
Speaker 1: on the US Latin Pop Albums Chart, and ten on
Speaker 1: the US Latin Rap hip Hop Albums chart.
Speaker 2: Okay, El Gandria has reached the top ten.
Speaker 1: He sure did, and Yankee kept the momentum going with
Speaker 1: Los home Run ESS.
Speaker 3: A compilation of greatest hits from.
Speaker 1: Daddy Yankee's decade in the underground from the DJ Playeto
Speaker 1: mix tapes through Body Guagerero.
Speaker 2: Which is smart. It's two thousand and two and the
Speaker 2: only way that gringos are going to find that stuff
Speaker 2: is napster.
Speaker 3: But it's not just a greatest hits record.
Speaker 1: He also recorded every track and updated the instrumentals with
Speaker 1: new producers, so.
Speaker 2: He did do Daddy's version. Na M.
Speaker 1: Taylor literally took a page ride out of Daddy Yankee's book,
Speaker 1: and you know what. Los home Run US also featured
Speaker 1: four new songs, one of which Segudowski would score Daddy
Speaker 1: Yankee his first major airplay in the US.
Speaker 2: There was also Gotta Gangster featuring fellow Puerto Rican draggaeton
Speaker 2: Og Donald mar and most of Got Killer, which would
Speaker 2: turn out to be Daddy Yankee's last recording with Niki
Speaker 2: Jam for many years.
Speaker 1: Over the first few years of the New Millennium, Nikki
Speaker 1: Jam's reliance on drugs had grown worse, so too had
Speaker 1: his creative differences with Daddy Yankee.
Speaker 2: In short, Niki Jam was slipping hard cocaine alcohol and
Speaker 2: eventually Percoset were taking their toll on the quality of
Speaker 2: his work and on his relationships. Daddy Yankee's patience.
Speaker 3: Maxed their situation reached its peak. In two thousand and two.
Speaker 1: Nicki Jam was taking thirty Perkoset tabs a day, and
Speaker 1: in a hotel bar, he found himself in an altercation
Speaker 1: with another patron.
Speaker 3: Nicki pulled a gun and shot.
Speaker 2: This wasn't the first time Niki's drug use had driven
Speaker 2: him to violence. A similar fight went down in a
Speaker 2: club sometime earlier, and Nikki had pulled a gun that
Speaker 2: time too.
Speaker 1: The first time, Daddy Yankee had diffused the situation by
Speaker 1: paying off the victim, but this time Yankee couldn't bring
Speaker 1: himself to bail Nikki out.
Speaker 2: Niki was sentenced to six months in prison. Afterwards, a
Speaker 2: Yankee his fellow Gottli kept his distance and eventually booted
Speaker 2: Niki from the label. I would too, you know, because
Speaker 2: I feel like love is it is unconditional, but if
Speaker 2: you are making the wrong choices constantly, it's like at
Speaker 2: this point you don't love yourself, and I feel like
Speaker 2: it just you need to keep your distance so that
Speaker 2: person could see. I guess give them time to reflect.
Speaker 2: Does does that make sense? You know?
Speaker 1: Yes it does. And I'm going to make this really simple.
Speaker 1: Don't be messy.
Speaker 3: That's it. That's it, that's it.
Speaker 1: I mean, how many of those friends do you have
Speaker 1: that you're like enough, don't be messy because you're over
Speaker 1: here trying to really kind of elevate, get to the
Speaker 1: next level, like be in rooms that you are not
Speaker 1: often allowed in. And if your friend is bringing messy,
Speaker 1: whether it's Nicky Jam or like you know, your primo
Speaker 1: or your prima or your.
Speaker 2: Pia, no, I know exactly.
Speaker 1: Just don't be messy people, because there is not we
Speaker 1: are a else.
Speaker 3: Let's behave like grown ups.
Speaker 2: I agree with you, but you know, I guess considering
Speaker 2: on a mental health aspect. You know, now in twenty
Speaker 2: twenty four, Nikki Jam did grow up around that, and
Speaker 2: I guess that's kind of like one of those things
Speaker 2: where you you can't see out of that. And I
Speaker 2: think that you know, him keeping his distance and more
Speaker 2: people keeping their distance from him, you know, let him
Speaker 2: go to get better.
Speaker 3: Well, think about this though.
Speaker 1: Both of them grew up in homes where drug abuse
Speaker 1: was prevalent, and I think what you need to understand
Speaker 1: is as people are healing from trauma, Daddy Yankee healing
Speaker 1: from that trauma.
Speaker 3: Whether he knew it or not.
Speaker 1: In this day and age, there was something about what
Speaker 1: was happening that felt really uncomfortable for him. And so
Speaker 1: back then we didn't have the words that we have now.
Speaker 1: We didn't have words like boundaries and trauma and triggering,
Speaker 1: We didn't have any of that stuff.
Speaker 3: But Yankee kept his distance because.
Speaker 1: I actually think it was incredibly triggering for him, and
Speaker 1: we don't know what he was dealing with. We don't
Speaker 1: know what demons he was fighting in silent and to
Speaker 1: have Nikki around him doing all of this was probably
Speaker 1: very triggering.
Speaker 2: You're best friend, exactly.
Speaker 3: Check on your mental health people.
Speaker 1: Yeah, the two wouldn't exchange words for years, but Daddy Yankee,
Speaker 1: on his way to the top, would have some choice
Speaker 1: words for Niki.
Speaker 2: So are we finally going to talk about Gasolina? Hit
Speaker 2: me with the shocking facts.
Speaker 1: Well, the producers behind Gasolina almost didn't work with Daddy Yankee.
Speaker 2: Okay, that is the darkest timeline where Evie Queen never
Speaker 2: makes it to my Hucci Daddy playlist?
Speaker 3: Why have you not shared the Huji Daddy playlist. It's
Speaker 3: probably gatekeeping.
Speaker 1: I don't like it. I don't like it, and listen.
Speaker 1: That is not a world I want to live in.
Speaker 1: But we don't have to thanks to Franciscool, San Dania
Speaker 1: and Victor Cabrera aka Looney Tunes.
Speaker 2: Okay, I don't know what's going on in Massachusetts, but
Speaker 2: the Massachusetts born a Dominican blooded duo started crafting beats
Speaker 2: in the late nineties on the computer program Fruity Loops
Speaker 2: hence Loony Tunes, fru Lu lutu.
Speaker 3: You get it.
Speaker 1: By day they washed dishes in the Harvard University Cafeterira.
Speaker 3: I mean, like, when did they have time to make
Speaker 3: these beads?
Speaker 2: Well, exactly, by night they were remixing beats, dropping fire tracks,
Speaker 2: and introducing reggaeton to a whole new crowd.
Speaker 1: And it took them three separate interactions with Daddy Yankee
Speaker 1: for el Hefe del Henro to take note. The first
Speaker 1: was outside of New York bodega in nineteen ninety five.
Speaker 1: I mean, all the good shit happened in the bodega.
Speaker 3: I missed Bodega's.
Speaker 1: I did a whole rant the other day on instagratte
Speaker 1: I am so tired of the fact that there are
Speaker 1: no damn bodegas in La like erewhon is not a
Speaker 1: fucking bodega?
Speaker 2: I love you? Okay wait. Francisco Saldana aka Looney recognized
Speaker 2: him from one one of his earlier videos and called
Speaker 2: out to him.
Speaker 1: He must have been wearing a bucket hat. Anyway, he
Speaker 1: told Daddy Yankee that.
Speaker 2: He wanted to work with him, and understandably, jumpy Yankee,
Speaker 2: who remember got hit by a stray bullet a little
Speaker 2: over a year prior, gave Looney the side eye, but
Speaker 2: he told him to give him his number.
Speaker 1: Well, Looney didn't get a call, but a few years later,
Speaker 1: Looney had another opportunity and again approached Daddy Yankee about
Speaker 1: working together, and Yankee told him no thanks, but no thanks,
Speaker 1: probably wondering the reason, and it's because Yankee didn't want
Speaker 1: to work with music pirates.
Speaker 2: What Daddy Yankee the napster narc.
Speaker 1: Joseph Things change when you get big right. At the
Speaker 1: same time, tension had long simmered over up and coming
Speaker 1: hip hop producers sampling older work, despite sampling being foundational to.
Speaker 3: Hip hop and reggaeton by extension as.
Speaker 2: Well for Yankee to see or hear what he was
Speaker 2: going to say no to, Looney Tunes would have to
Speaker 2: gain approval from some other figures of the raggaeton royalty,
Speaker 2: Reggae Carderon and Evy Queen My boot.
Speaker 1: Looney Tunes would produce a track for Godliton's two thousand
Speaker 1: and two major label debut Elaboradem and Evie Queen's chart
Speaker 1: topping breakthrough album. In two thousand and three, Diva.
Speaker 2: Reggaeton was surging and Looney Tunes was elevating the scene.
Speaker 2: They proved themselves to be hit makers with tracks like
Speaker 2: Evie Queen's Gero Sare So this time Yankee came to them.
Speaker 1: He got on the mic for Looney Tune's own two
Speaker 1: thousand and three debut album, Mass Flow. Like so many
Speaker 1: of the Puerto Rican reggaton mixtapes that came before it,
Speaker 1: Mas Flow featured a who's who of reggaeton vocalist.
Speaker 2: But Mos Flow would put Looney Tunees production style at
Speaker 2: the forefront of reggaeton in the two thousands. Theirs was
Speaker 2: a hot new sound.
Speaker 1: So basically all Looney Tunes had to do to win
Speaker 1: Daddy Yankee over was get the attention of the entire
Speaker 1: international reggaton scene.
Speaker 3: I mean you know what I mean, not a big deal, no.
Speaker 1: Small fee, right NBD, But joking aside, Yankee read the
Speaker 1: room and enlisted Looney Tunes to get involved on the
Speaker 1: follow up to elgangri dot Com two thousand and four's
Speaker 1: Barrio Fino. Finally, as you can tell from the long
Speaker 1: road it took to get here, Barriofino was the product
Speaker 1: of years of hustling and grinding in the underground, not
Speaker 1: just for Daddy Yankee, but for so many of his collaborators.
Speaker 2: On the album, Barriocino introduced much of the world to
Speaker 2: reggaeton while also showcasing its reinvention in the new Millennia.
Speaker 1: Which is to say, you got to hear several different
Speaker 1: sides of reggaeton on Barriofino, from the more aggressive, barking,
Speaker 1: hardcore hip hop influence tracks that kick off the album
Speaker 1: to more melodic try tracks like Los and Principe.
Speaker 2: And Variosino brought sharper hooks, harder beats, and a wider
Speaker 2: variety of sounds than reggiton had ever seen.
Speaker 1: From Salsahorn's Worthy of Fania Records to Middle Eastern string flourishes.
Speaker 1: The sheer diversity of sounds on the new album was
Speaker 1: all tied together with that iconic reggiton rhythm known as dembo.
Speaker 2: And lyrically yankee handled to beat like a stunt driver
Speaker 2: handles a card.
Speaker 1: Yes, King, that impeccable sag brings to the track that
Speaker 1: needs absolutely no introduction.
Speaker 2: Are y lega da mosca solina? I mean, where were
Speaker 2: you when.
Speaker 3: This song came out in a club in Washington Heights?
Speaker 2: Oh perfect, you know, I was in Chapbas, Mexico at
Speaker 2: a wedding and I had never heard it and it
Speaker 2: was rowdy and crazy.
Speaker 1: I think Gosolina has to be the most iconic, the
Speaker 1: most epic, and I think the most recognizable reggaeton song
Speaker 1: in the history of pregaton like boom thal like period.
Speaker 1: Like the kids said, yeah, yeah, you know what was
Speaker 1: funny about this song is there's a couple of songs
Speaker 1: that really bridge I think the two cultures that I
Speaker 1: distinctly belonged to. One of them is obviously like the
Speaker 1: culture I'm so proud of, which is being Puerto Rican
Speaker 1: and Mexican and living in that world really authentically listening
Speaker 1: to the music, eating the food, spending time with my
Speaker 1: friends who also share a language with me.
Speaker 3: And then there's the other side of me, right, it's
Speaker 3: my non Latino friends. And this song for me, I.
Speaker 1: Think really bridged those two because I was living in
Speaker 1: New York at the time, and I heard this song
Speaker 1: because I was out partying with all of.
Speaker 3: My friends that I work with.
Speaker 1: I happened to work at a Latin advertising agency, so
Speaker 1: all of my friends were Latinos and we were out
Speaker 1: like literally like berriando to this song in Washington Heights
Speaker 1: and that was like on a Thursday. And then on Saturday,
Speaker 1: I was like downtown at Butter, which if you lived
Speaker 1: in New York in the early like two thousands, you
Speaker 1: know what Butter was was a club, and it was
Speaker 1: like the club to be at.
Speaker 3: And then all of my white friends were like Gasolina Gasoli, and.
Speaker 2: I was like, oh, okay, okay, okay, okay.
Speaker 1: The point is I was hearing the song all over
Speaker 1: New York, regardless of who I was out with, and
Speaker 1: it had been a long time since I had shared
Speaker 1: a song like that with my two very distinct groups
Speaker 1: of friends. Right with Gasolina Daddy Yankee Looney Tunes and
Speaker 1: co writer Eddie d had honed in on what so
Speaker 1: many rappers in the aughts had realized that a sing
Speaker 1: along hook can live in harmony with fast flowing rap.
Speaker 2: But that doesn't mean he's just flexing fast rhymes in
Speaker 2: the verses. The way he draws out the last word
Speaker 2: in the line, I know that it can mean by Marquessine,
Speaker 2: he's literally making the sound like little kids make with
Speaker 2: toy cars, like yeah yeah.
Speaker 1: It's basically like if Tokyo Drift came to the Bronx.
Speaker 1: This was rap that could put imagery in your head
Speaker 1: just as well as it could make you move.
Speaker 2: Plus, Yankee's lyrics were edgy as hell. Gosolina itself was
Speaker 2: a reference to barrio girls who would catch rights to
Speaker 2: parties with guys in flashy cars lambeau, but in the
Speaker 2: culture people started using the song as an ironic dig
Speaker 2: at the wars in the Middle East.
Speaker 1: Elsewhere on Barrio Finol, there's even a song that rhyme's
Speaker 1: no Loan with Taliban, and the song in question is
Speaker 1: about having sex against a wall.
Speaker 2: Like yan Key's records got too big for Puerto Rican
Speaker 2: police to censor, but this was definitely not a record
Speaker 2: you showed to your parents or listen to what their
Speaker 2: parents I mean.
Speaker 3: Oh my god, so embarrassing.
Speaker 1: No no, no, no, no, although not really because like,
Speaker 1: what's funny about parents hating Ondregaton? And my mom was
Speaker 1: one of the parents that hated Onregaton. You ever listened
Speaker 1: to the words and those salsa songs that our parents
Speaker 1: were dancing to?
Speaker 2: Maybe maybe wildly? Now let me tell you.
Speaker 3: Look, it's not to.
Speaker 1: Lay the entirety of music scene sexism on Daddy Yankee's head,
Speaker 1: but we have to touch on it because women had
Speaker 1: long been the subject of so many of Yankee's songs,
Speaker 1: and on.
Speaker 2: Bardio Fino, for the first time, the voice of a
Speaker 2: woman was the defining feature for his biggest tracks. The
Speaker 2: woman was Glow aka Glori mar Montalvo Castro. She's the
Speaker 2: one you hear on the chorus of Gasolina, as well
Speaker 2: as Dala Caliente and Nomeriejlo. Today, many like artists and
Speaker 2: fans have called for her to get her due recognition.
Speaker 3: But at the time she was uncredited.
Speaker 1: Barrio Fino was a group effort that brought reggaeton to
Speaker 1: a whole new echelon of public awareness and That's why
Speaker 1: within Daddy Yankee's desography, the album stands out just as
Speaker 1: much for who is absent.
Speaker 2: Absent from the credits and from the track list. One
Speaker 2: of the ogs of Puerto Rican reggaeton, don Omar, was
Speaker 2: slated to feature on a track, but creative differences drove Yankee.
Speaker 1: To scrap it, And of course, the most noticeable absence
Speaker 1: is that of the artists. We kicked this episode off
Speaker 1: with Nicki Jam.
Speaker 2: Like Omar, Nikki had originally been set to feature on
Speaker 2: the album, but, as we mentioned, after their falling out
Speaker 2: in the years leading up to Bardiofino's release, Yankee had
Speaker 2: booted him from his label.
Speaker 1: From Nicki's end, this meant Hella resentment. One night, Nicki
Speaker 1: made a surprise appearance on stage with Fat Joe. During
Speaker 1: lean Back, he spat bars about how Yankee owes him
Speaker 1: for his success, wo shots fired and claiming that without him,
Speaker 1: Yankee wouldn't know how to sing or wait.
Speaker 3: For it, how to dress ouch.
Speaker 2: But Nikki didn't fire the first shot. His lean Back
Speaker 2: verse was a response to the Brio Phino track Santificatus Escapolaios,
Speaker 2: which Yankee had clearly written for Nikki Jam the boom.
Speaker 1: Bap is back, and Yankee fires at everyone who can't
Speaker 1: handle seeing their friends and peers find success, but he
Speaker 1: does save his choicest bars for Nicki.
Speaker 2: He says that he used to be like brothers, but
Speaker 2: now Yankee has visions of himself growing old in a
Speaker 2: mansion watching his grandchildren play well. Nikki sleeps naked and
Speaker 2: pease the mattress like, ouch, you can't. I can't like
Speaker 2: if my best friend said that shit about me, I
Speaker 2: would be puddle devastations literally literally.
Speaker 1: A Yankee saves some room for humility, saying that for
Speaker 1: all his bragging rights, he isn't superhuman, but then comes
Speaker 1: the knockout line Nikki gets his courage from a pill.
Speaker 2: Even though Nikki's bars on lean Back were a response
Speaker 2: to this track, the rest of Santificatus Escapolaios makes it
Speaker 2: seem like Nicki might have this Yankee outside of the
Speaker 2: recordings before the album dropped.
Speaker 1: I mean, you and I know there is always out
Speaker 1: beat outbe then what we know and what's on the track.
Speaker 1: But as for who won this one, the numbers make
Speaker 1: it an open and shutcase. With distribution by Universal Music Group,
Speaker 1: Barrio Fino sold one point five million copies in the
Speaker 1: first month alone, making it the best selling Latin album
Speaker 1: of two thousand and five in the United States.
Speaker 2: Eventually, it would become the best selling Latin album of
Speaker 2: the decade on Record of the Year at the Latin Grammys,
Speaker 2: and Yankee's performance at the Billboard Awards that year was
Speaker 2: a clear standout. And remember, because of his independent label setup,
Speaker 2: Yankee made Capital B Bank.
Speaker 1: Nicki's debut album meanwhile underperformed, and his depression hit new debts.
Speaker 1: Nicki would eventually relocate to Columbia and eventually get sober
Speaker 1: and slowly but surely reinvent himself.
Speaker 2: Okay, but wait, wait, wait, spoiler alert. Everybody calm down,
Speaker 2: don't don't cry. Nicki gets better. We're not going to
Speaker 2: leave you hanging like that.
Speaker 3: But there's more to this beef than the juice.
Speaker 1: What it shows us is that when you walk the
Speaker 1: road to fame, you often have no choice but to
Speaker 1: leave people behind, even the people you call family.
Speaker 2: Badio Phenoes title is a nod to Dady Yankees Cassio.
Speaker 2: Yankee reps the BODYO hard and the Bodio represents more
Speaker 2: than to be at Kennedy, where he grew up.
Speaker 3: It's every barrio. It's the underground. It's the regathon scene.
Speaker 2: From voting in to New York City, the neighbors and
Speaker 2: the stick up kids, the MC's, the DJs, the producers,
Speaker 2: the promoters, the hypeman, the girls in the music videos,
Speaker 2: and everyone in between.
Speaker 1: And this is a big part of why a beef
Speaker 1: like Daddy Yankees and Nikki Jams can run deep and
Speaker 1: dragon for years. You can wrap the barrio that raised
Speaker 1: you all the way to the top, but sadly, you
Speaker 1: can't take everyone with you.
Speaker 2: On the next Becoming an Icon, Daddy Yankee turns from
Speaker 2: chart timing to legacy building Pasito Pasito.
Speaker 1: Becoming an Icon is presented by Sonoo and Iheart's Michael
Speaker 1: Guda podcast network. Listen to Becoming an Icon on the
Speaker 1: iHeartRadio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you get your podcasts.