Speaker 1: Joseph, I think we're about to usher in a becoming
Speaker 1: an icon.
Speaker 2: First, wait, the first time that we've not had Margarita's
Speaker 2: before starting?
Speaker 1: Okay, stop, we do not drink Margarita's before we record
Speaker 1: the podcast. Okay, we don't. Don't listen to him, y'all,
Speaker 1: he's been drinking. The first time we've covered an artist
Speaker 1: who's currently retired.
Speaker 2: Whoa well, I mean, Nikki retired, Doja retired? Then they
Speaker 2: kept making music? How long is that gonna last?
Speaker 1: Facts? But this artist made a promise to Baby Jesus
Speaker 1: about it?
Speaker 2: Right? I believe it when I see it, or when
Speaker 2: I don't hear anything, I guess. But shouldn't we introduce
Speaker 2: who we're talking about?
Speaker 1: A good call? So today's icon is the King of
Speaker 1: Regathon a big Box, otherwise known as Daddy Yankee, who
Speaker 1: announced his retirement from the biz back in twenty twenty two.
Speaker 2: And then said it goodbye to a roaring crowd at
Speaker 2: his final clonsert in its native Puerto Rico. Last year.
Speaker 1: He said that he's stepping away from music to focus
Speaker 1: on his Christianity, which sounds a little surprising coming from
Speaker 1: the guy who wrote saban as Blancas along.
Speaker 2: We've countless other booty shaking bangers over the course of
Speaker 2: three whole decades and over thirty million albums sold.
Speaker 1: It's more than enough success to totally justify hanging it up.
Speaker 1: But you know us, we are never ready to say
Speaker 1: goodbye to our icons again.
Speaker 2: I will believe it when I don't hear it, all right,
Speaker 2: don't see it.
Speaker 1: Point is possibly more than I think any other icon
Speaker 1: we've covered. We're living in the world Daddy Yankee built
Speaker 1: right now. Irl.
Speaker 2: That is a very bold statement, Chica.
Speaker 1: I know, but think about it, Okay, just like stay
Speaker 1: with me here. There is the world before Reggaton and
Speaker 1: the world after Reggathon, and who was right there when
Speaker 1: we changed over?
Speaker 2: Who else but El exactly.
Speaker 1: And to be clear, it's not to say that he
Speaker 1: invented reggathon. We're going to have more on that in
Speaker 1: just a little bit for all you music historians.
Speaker 2: But basically, without Daddy Yankee, your weekly New Music Friday
Speaker 2: playlist would look very different.
Speaker 1: My workout playlist would basically be unrecognizable. I mean, like
Speaker 1: my get Ready remix Forgetting Done Done. So my point
Speaker 1: is this, Daddy Yankee brought Reggaton to the masses and
Speaker 1: played a massive role in shaping the genre.
Speaker 2: Let's take a look at how the King of Reggathon
Speaker 2: earned his thrown.
Speaker 1: I'm your host Lillianavasquez and I'm Joseph Carrio and this
Speaker 1: is Becoming an Icon Week, the podcast where we give
Speaker 1: you the rundown on how today's most famous Latin X
Speaker 1: stars have shaped pop culture.
Speaker 2: And given the world some extra couple.
Speaker 1: Sit back and get comfortable.
Speaker 2: Because we are going in the only way we know
Speaker 2: how with when I view us, when assays.
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: still iconic.
Speaker 3: Before we dive in, let's mix it up a little
Speaker 3: bit remake to understand how Daddy Yankee became the icon
Speaker 3: that he is today, you kind of need to understand
Speaker 3: when and where he came of age Puerto Rico's underground
Speaker 3: music scene of the nineteen nineties.
Speaker 2: Daddy Yankee didn't invent Ragaeton. Rayton is a product of
Speaker 2: the MC and DJ's remixing and experimenting with dancehall beats
Speaker 2: that originated in Jamaica and other largely Afro Caribbean islands.
Speaker 1: Hence the reggae part of Reggathon.
Speaker 2: I actually didn't know that really.
Speaker 1: See listen, always learning, always learning, forever a student. Okay,
Speaker 1: So from there you would think that the music just
Speaker 1: kind of like made its way across Haiti in the
Speaker 1: dr and landed smack dab in Puerto Rico. But it's
Speaker 1: a little bit more roundabout than that.
Speaker 2: Before we keep going, this is just going to be
Speaker 2: a quick primer for the non Regaton scholars. Listen. If
Speaker 2: you really want to go deep, you'll want to check
Speaker 2: out loud The History of Reggaeton, another great podcast hosted
Speaker 2: by Regaeton Roy y'll t lativ coween.
Speaker 1: And by the way, like I'm not asking you to
Speaker 1: turn off our podcast right now, but as soon as
Speaker 1: ours is over, goes straight to that immediately. What we're
Speaker 1: about to give you is just a little Regaton appetizer,
Speaker 1: just a little app you know, to give you a
Speaker 1: sense of the singular moment in musical history that Daddy
Speaker 1: Yankee was a part of. So before where too Rican reggaethon,
Speaker 1: there was reggae in Espanol and that came from Panama.
Speaker 2: What a twist, Okay.
Speaker 1: So here's how it happened. So, the famous Panama Canal
Speaker 1: was dug largely by West Indian and especially Jamaican immigrant labor,
Speaker 1: and after the canal was finished, the workers and their
Speaker 1: families settled down in Panama City and formed a really
Speaker 1: tight immigrant community.
Speaker 2: The clubs or dance halls all of this community played
Speaker 2: music that was similar to reggae, but a few ticks
Speaker 2: faster and with harder beats.
Speaker 1: And at these dance halls, young artists like DJ Renato,
Speaker 1: Reggae Sam and DJ Franchito hyped the crowd in Spanish.
Speaker 1: Thus reggae in Espanol was born.
Speaker 2: Soon they started recording Spanish language covers of popular dancehall
Speaker 2: songs along with original tracks, and just like that, reggae
Speaker 2: en Espanol found its way to Spanish speaking islands like
Speaker 2: Puerto Rico.
Speaker 1: Just as Ramon Ayala Junior, the boy who would go
Speaker 1: on to be known as Daddy Yankee, was beginning to
Speaker 1: develop an interest in American hip hop, which you might
Speaker 1: say is the second ingredient in Puerto Rican reggaton, but
Speaker 1: more on that later.
Speaker 2: So that's the short one.
Speaker 1: Was beginning to develop an interest in America.
Speaker 2: In Hi regaton will cross borders and become something else entirely. Now,
Speaker 2: without further ado, let's your turn to our leading man.
Speaker 1: Ramon Ayala Junior was born in San Juan, Puerto Rico,
Speaker 1: on February third, nineteen seventy six. Joseph, want to go
Speaker 1: like full flow Alder Mercado on this one for bodingen.
Speaker 4: Maybe okay ah Caia, you little rule breaker with your
Speaker 4: son in Aquarius, you're not afraid to push the envelope
Speaker 4: in the name of innovation.
Speaker 2: You want to do things your way, and your fullest
Speaker 2: surprise is hi berro mira la lunin pieces with your
Speaker 2: moon in Pisces. You're not above insecurity and passivity, but
Speaker 2: don't wait and see embrace your creativity and you'll reap
Speaker 2: the rewards of your imagination.
Speaker 1: The cape suits you, Joseph, it really does you know
Speaker 1: what I mean? I mean we're looking for two point zero.
Speaker 1: We're looking for two point zero now. Ramon Ayala's father,
Speaker 1: Ramon Senior, was a bongo player for salsa artists in
Speaker 1: the area, making Daddy Yankee. I think our third icon
Speaker 1: in a row this season to have a musician as
Speaker 1: a parent.
Speaker 2: Mm hmm. His mother Rosa. Meanwhile, was a beautician who
Speaker 2: also came from a family of musicians. Ramond Junior, aka
Speaker 2: future Daddy Yankee, would years later describe his mother as
Speaker 2: a fighter.
Speaker 1: And she's the one who actually introduced him to American
Speaker 1: pop artist of the nineteen eighties, most importantly, Michael Jackson.
Speaker 2: Perhaps even more than his music, the King of Pop's
Speaker 2: lavish cinema videos made a huge impression on Dramon Junior.
Speaker 2: He cites Jackson as an artist who showed him what
Speaker 2: it meant to be an entertainer, from his work ethic
Speaker 2: to his charisma.
Speaker 1: Just picture young little Daddy Yankee. Like that sounds so weird,
Speaker 1: Little Daddy Yankee. Okay, so the picture a young Ramon
Speaker 1: huddled around the TV set with his two brothers. This
Speaker 1: family of five lived in a small Gasaillon or housing
Speaker 1: project named Via Kennedy.
Speaker 2: Jac Kennedy was and is one of the many housing
Speaker 2: projects throughout someone.
Speaker 1: The Gasadiels tended to be heavily policed and subject to prejudice.
Speaker 2: Still, Ramon Junior's family managed to get by, but that
Speaker 2: doesn't mean they avoided all the pitfalls of poverty.
Speaker 1: At Ramond Senior struggled with addiction all throughout his son's childhood,
Speaker 1: turning to alcohol as well as illegal drugs.
Speaker 2: Eventually he would get clean, but his addiction would leave
Speaker 2: a significant impact on his son's life. An addiction wasn't
Speaker 2: the only way the shadow of poverty would darken Ramond
Speaker 2: Junior's child.
Speaker 1: Ramond Junior was a lover of the great American pastime baseball.
Speaker 1: As early as the age of six, he dreamt of
Speaker 1: playing for who else, the New York Yankees.
Speaker 2: He was just a peewee ball player in the middle
Speaker 2: of a game when suddenly a gunman strode from the
Speaker 2: stands to the home plate and shot Ramond's coach point blank.
Speaker 1: Reflecting on this experience as an adult, daddy, Yankee would say,
Speaker 1: I went to his burial and seeing him right there,
Speaker 1: I couldn't sleep. Back in those days, a manager or
Speaker 1: coach for a kid represents a role model, and you
Speaker 1: don't understand what really happened until you get to a
Speaker 1: certain age.
Speaker 2: Nonetheless, Ramon Junior continued to find joy and escape through baseball.
Speaker 2: More and more. He would show immense talent as a
Speaker 2: third baseman.
Speaker 1: And all the while he also showed he had a
Speaker 1: knack for music. When the family went caroling during the holidays,
Speaker 1: he would make up rhymes on the spot just for fun,
Speaker 1: which would probably they earned most Latino kids a strung
Speaker 1: pinch on the back on the arm from Abuela So
Speaker 1: I guess Yankee was lucky in some ways.
Speaker 2: Not surprisingly as a teenager, his natural talent for music
Speaker 2: and improvisation would lead to his next great love rap.
Speaker 1: Around the age of fourteen, Ramon fell in love with
Speaker 1: now Classic Queen's hip hop group Run DMC Run DMC.
Speaker 2: Michael Jackson. Obviously dadd Yankee spent his weekday afternoons glued
Speaker 2: to MTV. He's one of all us.
Speaker 1: But perhaps most importantly, Ramond Junior's biggest hip hop influence
Speaker 1: was one of Puerto Rico's own, Vico C. Born in
Speaker 1: Brooklyn and raised just ten miles from Daddy Yankee's barrion,
Speaker 1: San Juan, Vico C inspired a whole generation of Puerto
Speaker 1: Rican rappers.
Speaker 2: Before vicoc rap in Espanol wasn't really a thing in
Speaker 2: Puerto Rico. Vico C made home recordings straight to storebock
Speaker 2: cassette tapes and distributed him himself.
Speaker 1: Original mixtape Call It Right. Like the original mixtape Now
Speaker 1: When young Puerto Ricans like Ramond Junior heard Vigo see,
Speaker 1: it was a revelation. He showed them what they were
Speaker 1: capable of, and from there young DJs and empces spread
Speaker 1: like wildfire.
Speaker 2: Often the emceeeds would rhyme over beats reminiscent of hip
Speaker 2: hop from New York. By the nineties, the Brooklyn's boombob sound.
Speaker 1: Was a very on trend, which is to say that
Speaker 1: from early on, Puerto Rican's relationship with New Aricans and
Speaker 1: other Latinos in the northeastern US is a key part
Speaker 1: of the story. But remember, La Isla had beats of
Speaker 1: its own.
Speaker 2: By the time Daddy Yankee was wrapping, reggae Espanol had
Speaker 2: evolved throughout the eighties and was beginning to sound like
Speaker 2: what we now call reggaeton thanks to the iconic dem
Speaker 2: bo rhythm.
Speaker 1: The youth of poor barrios like Ramond Juniors couldn't get
Speaker 1: enough of it. But the authorities, well, they had some
Speaker 1: other feelings.
Speaker 2: Much like dancehall and Panama, Puerto Rican reggaeton and rap
Speaker 2: Espanol was quickly marginalized and heavily policed, and in the nineties,
Speaker 2: the police in Puerto Rico were super militarized.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, they conducted raids on music stores and confiscated
Speaker 1: reggaeton cassette tapes. With the backing of laws against obscenity,
Speaker 1: rapperos like Daddy Yankee were subject to fines and vilified
Speaker 1: on local TV and radio.
Speaker 2: But this didn't stop youth culture from doing its thing.
Speaker 2: That Raperos just took the culture further underground, recording music
Speaker 2: in garages with minimal equipment and selling music out of
Speaker 2: the trunks of cars.
Speaker 1: And even with Los Federals breathing down their necks, there
Speaker 1: was one place young regaton fans could gather, a now
Speaker 1: legendary club called The Noise.
Speaker 2: Located in La Perla, the poorest neighborhood in San Juan.
Speaker 2: The Noise was founded by DJ Negro, the producer who
Speaker 2: worked with Daddy Yankee's favorite Raperro Vicosi. See guys, It's
Speaker 2: all connected.
Speaker 1: It's all all connected. It's here at the Noise where
Speaker 1: Daddy Yankee, at sixteen, gets on stage and begins to
Speaker 1: make a name for himself, along with other pioneering reggaeton
Speaker 1: netos like Deego Calleron We see Nyandell and Spoiler Future
Speaker 1: front of me Nikki jam Jeoze.
Speaker 2: But every rapper needs a producer, and Daddy Yankee's man
Speaker 2: behind the deck was one DJ Plaeto.
Speaker 1: DJ Plato began releasing mixtapes of original beats that range
Speaker 1: from the boom up of the nineties Brooklyn to upbeat
Speaker 1: reggaeton of his own scene.
Speaker 2: These tapes also feature local rappers, and the standout was
Speaker 2: the teenage Daddy Yankee.
Speaker 1: If you guys have not taken a moment down music
Speaker 1: history lane, go back to this song right. This is
Speaker 1: called so fer Sigemn not de thingas and this truly
Speaker 1: is the first Daddy Yankee as we know him song.
Speaker 1: What did you think when you first heard it? And
Speaker 1: does it sound like today is regeton? Or does it
Speaker 1: sound like old people's ragaton.
Speaker 2: Not the old people's rageton? You know what, I'm not
Speaker 2: going to be able to tell you honestly what the
Speaker 2: first thing I heard? I naturally started moving my hips
Speaker 2: and gyrating in my seat, so like I just wanted
Speaker 2: to dance. You know. It kind of gave me this
Speaker 2: like Afrikaans dance, Like I just kind of wanted to
Speaker 2: like shake my body. So I wasn't necessarily listening, I
Speaker 2: could just feel the beat.
Speaker 1: Now, let's talk about what Daddy Yankee's actually saying in
Speaker 1: this song, because for reference, you guys, you might hear
Speaker 1: the song and think that he sounds like a mature man.
Speaker 1: Like you hear the song, you're like, oh, he's like
Speaker 1: in his twenties, or he's like twenty two or twenty
Speaker 1: four thirty. But Joseph, did you know that this is
Speaker 1: a teenage Daddy Yankee. He is fifteen years old rapping
Speaker 1: on this song.
Speaker 2: This is little Sun Yankee. Oh my god, he's fifteen?
Speaker 2: Wait is it is? That's not illegal? Right? Like fifteen?
Speaker 2: I don't know. How can you work? You can't do
Speaker 2: some You could do a whole bunch of shit.
Speaker 1: I'll tell you that these nineties kids, the people that
Speaker 1: are born in the eighties and nineties are wild. You
Speaker 1: and I are a testament. We were left at home alone.
Speaker 1: We were making our own Wow, we were making our
Speaker 1: own TV dinners. We were rapping on albums like come On.
Speaker 1: Children of the eighties and nineties are wild. But yes,
Speaker 1: Daddy Yankee was only fifteen years old when he recorded
Speaker 1: this song. But you can already hear how advanced he
Speaker 1: is lyrically, you could already hear the style that would
Speaker 1: become synonymous with his music. And we talked about what
Speaker 1: Daddy Yankee was saying in the song. Supposedly, and I
Speaker 1: don't want to get too deep in the weeds on
Speaker 1: this because there's a lot of controversy about this, but
Speaker 1: supposedly they say that this is the first time anyone
Speaker 1: ever used the word reggaeton ever in the history of music.
Speaker 1: But again, people get upset about it because obviously Daddy
Speaker 1: Yankee did not invent regaton. We're all saying that we
Speaker 1: can all agree, correct, right.
Speaker 2: Okay, But you know what, I'm going to tell you
Speaker 2: something with that. It's just funny because it doesn't mean
Speaker 2: that people said that before. Because I said the word
Speaker 2: shut your butt a long, long time ago, and all
Speaker 2: of a sudden, someone of the Kardashians, they said, shut
Speaker 2: your butt, And I'm just I'm using that as a phrase.
Speaker 2: But Chloe said, shut your butt. I been saying shut
Speaker 2: your butt for a very long time. In this recent season,
Speaker 2: she said shut your butt. So people say other words
Speaker 2: like reggaeton. They could say all those words before someone
Speaker 2: actually says it on a microsphone and it seems like
Speaker 2: it's the first time it's ever been heard exactly, do
Speaker 2: you know what I'm saying? So it's like, no, maybe
Speaker 2: reggaeton was used before. Do we think that he made
Speaker 2: up the word? No, right, we don't.
Speaker 1: Know if he was the first person or the guy
Speaker 1: that invented the phrase reggaeton, But previous to this, people
Speaker 1: were calling it reggae and espanol, which is a little cumbersome,
Speaker 1: like it doesn't quite roll off the tongue the same
Speaker 1: way that reggaeton does. So thank you Daddy Yankee for
Speaker 1: putting it in a song and for changing the title,
Speaker 1: because we don't need to be saying reggae and espanol
Speaker 1: like too long. Nobody got time for that. At the
Speaker 1: end of the day, we saw how gifted he was
Speaker 1: as an MC rap was neither Ramon Junior's only love
Speaker 1: nor his first love.
Speaker 2: And for as much attention as he was getting in
Speaker 2: the underground as a RAPPERO Ramon was also getting a
Speaker 2: reputation as a star athlete. Soon after Pa and Ta
Speaker 2: Cuadro dropped, Ramon was about to receive the opportunity of
Speaker 2: a lifetime Liliana.
Speaker 1: That's so formal. Why are you being so formal?
Speaker 2: Right? Now are you there? Okay, listen, I have to
Speaker 2: ask you something. What have you ever experienced a blessing
Speaker 2: in disguise?
Speaker 1: Oh my god?
Speaker 2: Yes, of course, like someone who's like shut the door
Speaker 2: on you and then it turns into something else. Yes.
Speaker 1: When I had just moved to Philadelphia, I auditioned to
Speaker 1: be a host on QBC stop. Yes I did, Yes,
Speaker 1: I did. And I went for weeks. It was rounds
Speaker 1: and rounds of interviews and auditions and live selling and
Speaker 1: training and fittings. And I got to the last round
Speaker 1: and I didn't get it. Wow, And I got the news.
Speaker 1: I was leaving the doctor's office. I was in a
Speaker 1: hallway about to get on an elevator, and I broke
Speaker 1: down in tears. I was like, my life on television
Speaker 1: is over. I will never be on TV. I will NET,
Speaker 1: I swear to God. I cooked like what I called Patrick,
Speaker 1: and I was like, this is it. This is the
Speaker 1: end for me. I will never have a career in television.
Speaker 1: And well we know how that worked out, so yes,
Speaker 1: for sure, I think. Listen, it's very much like old school.
Speaker 1: It's like sliding doors, right, I mean when one closes.
Speaker 2: Another one opens, right, Yeah, if not, you just go
Speaker 2: in through the window. That's what I did.
Speaker 1: And that's kind of what's about to happen to Daddy Yankee,
Speaker 1: because in nineteen ninety four, Ramond drew the attention of
Speaker 1: a scout from the Seattle Mariners. At the age of seventeen,
Speaker 1: he was on the verge of signing a contract to
Speaker 1: join the team's third baseman.
Speaker 2: Everyone who had seen him play knew that he was
Speaker 2: going places, and his dream of joining the major leagues
Speaker 2: was about to become a reality.
Speaker 1: Still, he continues to record with Playerro. One day, the
Speaker 1: two get together to work on a new mixtape in
Speaker 1: Dramond's neighborhood via Kennedy. It's January sixth, which is Three
Speaker 1: Kings Day for all of you non practicing Catholics.
Speaker 2: So Ramond decides to take a break and heads outside.
Speaker 2: He greets his neighbors and it seems like any other afternoon.
Speaker 1: When suddenly, gunshots split the air. Dramond sees bullets flying
Speaker 1: in opposite directions. Violence has erupted on his street. He sprints,
Speaker 1: desperate to get himself out of the crossfire. He's running, running,
Speaker 1: running as fast as he can, and in an instant,
Speaker 1: his leg crumbles underneath him.
Speaker 2: He's been hit by a stray bullet, which ends up
Speaker 2: being lodged in his hip. He stumbles to the ground
Speaker 2: and crawls underneath a parked van. To this day, he
Speaker 2: says the shelter of the van is the one thing
Speaker 2: that kept him alive amid the shooting.
Speaker 1: After the gunfire ceases, but Ramons hospitalized and it takes
Speaker 1: him over a year to recover from his injury. Over
Speaker 1: a year spent in a wheelchair and on crutches, steadily
Speaker 1: regaining his string, but he never fully regains his mobility,
Speaker 1: meaning he'll never dawn.
Speaker 2: An MLB uniform Lying in the hospital at Ramon fixates
Speaker 2: on his dash dreams. He had proven that he had
Speaker 2: what it takes. Everyone had been rooting for him, and
Speaker 2: his big chance was gone in an instant.
Speaker 1: Today, Daddy Yankee says he thanks God for that bullet.
Speaker 1: It remains lodged in his hip. Doctors have determined that
Speaker 1: it would be riskier to remove it than to leave
Speaker 1: it be. A metal pres thesis in his leg helps
Speaker 1: him walk, but his mobility has been limited since that
Speaker 1: fateful day.
Speaker 2: His dreams of playing the major leagues had slipped through
Speaker 2: his fingers, but in the years that followed he would
Speaker 2: find a new dream and grab on with both hands.
Speaker 1: Shortly after Ramon's recovery, he became a father. At nineteen,
Speaker 1: he married his high school sweetheart, Mireds Gonzalez, with whom
Speaker 1: he remains married to until this.
Speaker 2: Day, oh Wow, And upon the birth of his first daughter,
Speaker 2: yami Let, Ramon decided to put all of his focus
Speaker 2: on what he was good at, rapping.
Speaker 1: After years of mixtapes, he again got together with DJ
Speaker 1: Plaiero and put out a proper debut album in nineteen
Speaker 1: ninety five called No Mercy.
Speaker 2: The name of the cover simply reads a yank. At
Speaker 2: the time, Ramon went by names like Winchester Trentai Trienta
Speaker 2: and winchesta Yankee.
Speaker 1: The album features a couple of old school sounding rap
Speaker 1: tracks with boombab beats, but the overwhelmingly majority of the
Speaker 1: tracks are classic dance hall style reggaeton.
Speaker 2: After Ramon's injury, the album was an opening sobo for
Speaker 2: his commitment to music. Reggaton was quickly becoming the prevailing
Speaker 2: sound of the Sanjuan underground and Young Yankee and DJ
Speaker 2: Plaiero were staking their claim.
Speaker 1: And soon they would find themselves making noise outside of
Speaker 1: Puerto Rico.
Speaker 2: Ramon hustled selling cassette copies of No Mercy, just like
Speaker 2: his hero Vicosi had done. The buzz grew bigger and bigger,
Speaker 2: but he wasn't the only one hustling. In fact, a
Speaker 2: few key members of this scene were working to make
Speaker 2: ripples beyond the island.
Speaker 1: The same year, Daddy Yankee dropped his debut, formative Puerto
Speaker 1: Rican reggaton producer Nico Canada teamed up with New York's
Speaker 1: Tony Touch for nineteen ninety five's Watauba.
Speaker 2: It was a mixtape featuring Puerto Rican drapertos like Daddy Yankee,
Speaker 2: Alberto Style, and don Cezina, as well as New York
Speaker 2: rappers like Matt Lyon and Karas One.
Speaker 1: On a single disc, Reggaeton and nineties Boom Bob stood
Speaker 1: shoulder to shoulder. These were the most cutting edge sounds
Speaker 1: coming out of two different underground scenes that were more
Speaker 1: than fifteen hundred miles apart. He had somehow still connected
Speaker 1: because of the love between Neu Urrikans and their motherland.
Speaker 2: But for Daddy Yankee, wa would prove to be a
Speaker 2: warm up. Nineteen ninety seven's Bodicua Guerreno First Combat would
Speaker 2: up the antie with two full discs, one boombab one.
Speaker 1: Regaton Nkokanada linked up with DJ Playerro Yankee's longtime collaborator,
Speaker 1: and the pair spent two months in a hotel room
Speaker 1: in New York City for yet another crossover between Puerto
Speaker 1: Rico's top reggazoneros and New York's best and brightest.
Speaker 2: MCS Mexicano seven seven seven Eddie d Daddy Yankee Busta Rhymes,
Speaker 2: Q tip that Joe was even there.
Speaker 1: Everybody was there, but the biggest name of the bunch,
Speaker 1: the one that you're like gonna be like wit what
Speaker 1: he was there?
Speaker 2: Who Nas what?
Speaker 1: Uh huh? Nas was hot off the success of his
Speaker 1: nineteen ninety four debut Illmatic. His nineteen ninety six follow up,
Speaker 1: It Was Written, had sold a quarter of a million copies.
Speaker 2: Where hip hop was concerned, Nas was the artist to watch,
Speaker 2: and on Brigua Guerrero he split a track with Daddy
Speaker 2: Yankee titled The Prophecy.
Speaker 1: Yankee intros the track with a classic dancehall affect, wrapping
Speaker 1: the island and shouting out Knos, who shouts him back
Speaker 1: from New York, saying, Puerto Rico, we roll.
Speaker 2: In with you. NAS's verse is a hip hop anthem
Speaker 2: about surviving and thriving. He uses gangster vibes to show
Speaker 2: how he overcomes tough times and ends up on top
Speaker 2: of La Pablo escomar.
Speaker 1: But Yankeees verse turns that gangster imagery on his head.
Speaker 1: He calls out those who aspire to live large, only
Speaker 1: to be done in by their own deeds. He quotes
Speaker 1: his mother, your.
Speaker 2: Future depends on the sowing of your works. He continues,
Speaker 2: Live by the sword, Die by the sword. Another wordrds,
Speaker 2: make no enemies, trust no bitch, and I am not
Speaker 2: looking to make enemies with him. On Brigua Guerrero. It
Speaker 2: just gives me this dark and over policed sound, like
Speaker 2: I feel like this was definitely He's coming for you.
Speaker 1: You know what's fuddy is? I do think in my
Speaker 1: head there is a sound to Daddy Yankee. So when
Speaker 1: we were researching this episode and we're listening to some
Speaker 1: of these older discs, I don't associate that sound with him, right,
Speaker 1: It's really different, Like I know it pops up here
Speaker 1: and there but for the most part, like you like
Speaker 1: to always say, Regaeton is like music you can shake
Speaker 1: your ass too. I mean, I'm sure you could shake
Speaker 1: your ass to this song.
Speaker 2: But it'd be a little different, right, you know, It's
Speaker 2: funny hearing Daddy Yankee like, I mean, yes, it's kind
Speaker 2: of similar. But like if I heard this first from
Speaker 2: Daddy Yankee, I would be like, whoa, this is kind
Speaker 2: of from a dark place. Like I wouldn't associate this
Speaker 2: with the ass shaking Daddy Yankee. If you heard this first,
Speaker 2: like I would be like, oh, I'm not going to
Speaker 2: listen to his music. That's just not my vibe. So
Speaker 2: it's cool that he dabbled with this, but it's just very,
Speaker 2: very different.
Speaker 1: It is different, and I think it just shows you
Speaker 1: his range, right, and I think the entire project, I
Speaker 1: think what's so special about this, and we talk about
Speaker 1: this all the time, is that there is such a
Speaker 1: connection between Puerto Rico and New York City, right specifically
Speaker 1: like the Bronx, they just share so much. And obviously
Speaker 1: they share an island, but they share music, they share culture,
Speaker 1: they share you know, an underground hip hop scene. They're
Speaker 1: really both products of this kind of over police, underserved
Speaker 1: neighborhood vibe that you see in both of these places,
Speaker 1: despite being so far away from each other geographically. The
Speaker 1: first disc of Bricoa Guerero showed New York hip hop
Speaker 1: heads that Puerto Ricos rapperos could flow with the best
Speaker 1: of them.
Speaker 2: Then, on the second disc, Di and Nicocanada brought their
Speaker 2: reggaeton a game from start to finish, introducing New York's
Speaker 2: underground to the sound of Puerto.
Speaker 1: Ricos, and Daddy Yankee is there on both discs, first
Speaker 1: going toe to toe with hip hop's biggest rising star
Speaker 1: before showing how it's done down in the Tropics.
Speaker 2: This was crucial to Daddy Yankee's success and to the
Speaker 2: coming success of reggaeton as a whole. From Jamaica to Kanama,
Speaker 2: to Puerto Rico to New York and back again. It
Speaker 2: was clear that reggaeton wasn't a fact, but a part
Speaker 2: of something deeper.
Speaker 1: And by helping establish the genre's credibility in New York,
Speaker 1: Daddy Yankee had all but set the stage for himself
Speaker 1: to dominate but stardom.
Speaker 2: Kintestovitch, for example, could Daddy Yankee really make no enemies.
Speaker 1: On the next Becoming an Icon Daddy Yankees rise from
Speaker 1: the underground to the top. Becoming an Icon is presented
Speaker 1: by Sonoo and Iheart's Michael Duda podcast Network. Listen to
Speaker 1: Becoming an Icon on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcast, or
Speaker 1: wherever you get your podcast