Speaker 1: I feel like I need to hear you sing. Why
Speaker 1: don't we start today's episode with a few lyrics?
Speaker 2: Okay, Uh, she could be rich, but I'm rich. She
Speaker 2: could be thick, but I'm thick of no.
Speaker 1: No no no no no no no no no no no.
Speaker 1: I meant Daddy Yankee.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, yeah, of course of course that. Oh and
Speaker 2: I'm keto to that.
Speaker 1: Oh you know how hard I can't?
Speaker 2: You know what? I really can't sing like that. So
Speaker 2: we're going to leave it to him.
Speaker 1: So hard to sing a Daddy Yankee song because you
Speaker 1: just don't have that flow. And that's okay. It doesn't
Speaker 1: mean that that song doesn't get stuck in your head.
Speaker 1: And for me, that song has been in my head
Speaker 1: since the last episode, but I had another song in mine.
Speaker 1: Pass fucks.
Speaker 2: Oh so analog.
Speaker 1: Yeah, because we're not fucking around with the bluetooth in
Speaker 1: my car. All right, imagine this, Okay, we are rolling
Speaker 1: Toonse Okay or San Juan, wherever you're from, blasting Daddy
Speaker 1: Yankee's twenty fourteen single Palavras consinfido or words with meaning.
Speaker 2: We can get that barrio singy mohem.
Speaker 1: Okay, So here's how the words go, I will not
Speaker 1: sing because clearly Joseph has proven how hard it is
Speaker 1: to sing a Reeton song.
Speaker 2: Yeah no, seriously, here are the words.
Speaker 1: Riquerdom yere getan solo esta musica, ta criminal the arestaban
Speaker 1: violando tu derichos translation.
Speaker 2: Joseph, he's telling it like it used to be. He says,
Speaker 2: I remember like it was yesterday that just for listening
Speaker 2: to this music, they treat you like a criminal. They'd
Speaker 2: even arrest you.
Speaker 1: In the here and now of twenty twenty four, bragaton
Speaker 1: is the stuff of big ticket festivals Hello Coachella, and
Speaker 1: major ad campaigns. So Daddy Yankee might remember it like
Speaker 1: it's yesterday, but for.
Speaker 2: Us, noo machinad. But we learned a couple of episodes
Speaker 2: ago the police raided music stores and threw shade on
Speaker 2: Rereguetondo's on the nightly news.
Speaker 1: That shift from state censorship to corporate sponsorship did not
Speaker 1: happen overnight, and just a decade ago. Ten years ago,
Speaker 1: Dottie Yankee was still fighting for Reggaeton's reputation.
Speaker 2: But he's not just calling out the cops in Puerto Rico.
Speaker 2: He's saying the politicians, the media, the preacher man. All
Speaker 2: of them blamed Regaton for their own.
Speaker 1: Feelings exactly, and he fires back that Perreo actually lifted
Speaker 1: him out of poverty and not only gave him a job,
Speaker 1: but created jobs for other people. That video has school
Speaker 1: kids and young Gregatondo's singing the chorus and telling all
Speaker 1: these authorities before you talk about me, look at yourself.
Speaker 2: You could be helping the island. You could be helping
Speaker 2: the barrio. To be honest, it's a little what have
Speaker 2: you done for me lately? Crossed with I'm not even
Speaker 2: gonna try the greatest level all.
Speaker 1: I really appreciate your restraint there.
Speaker 2: I wasn't I couldn't. I couldn't do it, and.
Speaker 1: I promise well bless Whitney and Janet on the streets
Speaker 1: of San Juan or punts it as well. But first
Speaker 1: we need to get to the B side of this track.
Speaker 2: Is this a new Baby Jesus song?
Speaker 1: No, it's his old baby Cheese's song. Now, if you
Speaker 1: could summarize or pray for me in one sentence, I
Speaker 1: think it would be something like It's lonely at the top.
Speaker 2: Of course, heavy is the head that wears the reggaeton crown.
Speaker 2: Even with his wife and kids and all of Puerto
Speaker 2: Rico rooting for him.
Speaker 1: But see that's the thing on this one. He says
Speaker 1: that sometimes it's easier to deal with an outright enemy
Speaker 1: than to navigate friends and brothers who need something from you.
Speaker 2: You think maybe Nikki jam wasn't the only one.
Speaker 1: Well, like we did say in the last episode, when
Speaker 1: you're walking the path to stardom, you're likely to be
Speaker 1: losing friends all along the way. As hard as you
Speaker 1: might try to put the community first and avoid making enemies,
Speaker 1: money and fame make things Hella complicated, But.
Speaker 2: The top wouldn't be lonely for long. As Dandy Yinki
Speaker 2: continued building an empire and growing the Regeton Sin, he
Speaker 2: would also find himself mending bridges.
Speaker 1: That's today on becoming an Icon.
Speaker 2: Okay, now give me the ox back so I can
Speaker 2: play you in a new ice Spice Bitch.
Speaker 1: I'm your host, Liliana oscaz 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 LATINX
Speaker 1: stars have shaped pop culture.
Speaker 2: And given the world some extra level.
Speaker 1: Sit back and get comfortable.
Speaker 2: Because we are going in the only way we know how,
Speaker 2: with whenas us whenas some cheese, and a lot of opinions,
Speaker 2: as we relive their greatest achievements on our journey to
Speaker 2: find out what makes them still ic on it.
Speaker 1: By the end of the two thousands, it was clear
Speaker 1: Daddy Yankee was out from the underground.
Speaker 2: Barriofino topped the charts not just in the US, but
Speaker 2: in Mexico, Chile, the Jamaican Republic, Honduras, Argentina, and Colombia,
Speaker 2: home to the next generation of reggaeton eros.
Speaker 1: It was the first reggaeton album to ever debut at
Speaker 1: number one on Billboard's Top Latin Albums.
Speaker 2: Charts, and that wasn't the only first. The year after
Speaker 2: Barriofino dropped, Yankee became the first Latin artist to sign
Speaker 2: a deal with reeboch For the kids listening, it's like
Speaker 2: a collabo exactly.
Speaker 1: He was the og influencer before we had a name
Speaker 1: for influencers. His accessory line dy included sporting goods, shoes,
Speaker 1: and so much more.
Speaker 2: Okay, let's see the kicks they're.
Speaker 1: Giving a confused air Force one.
Speaker 2: You know, it's so weird that you say that because
Speaker 2: for me, they're giving like knockoff Tolo Cortes. But if
Speaker 2: they try to add a flare, that's it. I said,
Speaker 2: I said it like that, I said, how it is.
Speaker 1: I did like the soul though, because I feel like
Speaker 1: if you were walking in this, like if you were
Speaker 1: walking at the beach in Puerto Rico, you would be
Speaker 1: stamping the sand with Daddy Yankee signature and I'm here
Speaker 1: for that.
Speaker 2: And you know what, And there was a little bit
Speaker 2: of a design to the bottom. It wasn't like straight.
Speaker 2: It was kind of like it's like squiggly, you know,
Speaker 2: it has like a design at the bottom of the soul.
Speaker 1: He had a little bit of everything. He had some
Speaker 1: camo when you were feeling like, you know, like a guerrero,
Speaker 1: like you wanted to like be out there fighting for
Speaker 1: the community. He had your like and white, yeah, the
Speaker 1: black and white when you wanted to dress up to
Speaker 1: go to the club and Perrie like. He had a
Speaker 1: little bit of everything. He had a wardrobe. It was
Speaker 1: a shoe wardrobe. Thank you, Daddy.
Speaker 2: Ye.
Speaker 1: I don't know if they would be you know what,
Speaker 1: I bet if I went on stock X right now,
Speaker 1: these bitches are probably selling for a thousand dollars a pair.
Speaker 2: Oh my god, because he's retired.
Speaker 1: Retired limited edition.
Speaker 2: Oh I didn't think of that. But like, also, I
Speaker 2: could just never ever ever see anybody that I know
Speaker 2: on planet Earth wearing them.
Speaker 1: Joseph, don't be a hater because you don't have a
Speaker 1: shoe collapse.
Speaker 2: Don't be a hater. It's coming now.
Speaker 1: The deals for him didn't stop there. In two thousand
Speaker 1: and seven, Yankee started in a campaign for Pepsi titled
Speaker 1: With Us. The ad showed Yankee revisiting the scene of
Speaker 1: his youth by walking through a series of doors.
Speaker 2: He looks around the body he grew up in. He
Speaker 2: visits his first recording studio. Then we see him getting
Speaker 2: his first music award and playing a stadium show. So
Speaker 2: it's basically the spark notes for this podcast.
Speaker 1: It's the mythologizing of a gangri And it didn't stop
Speaker 1: with Pepsi. Although Pepsi is like the pinnacle. I mean, like,
Speaker 1: if you get a Pepsi ad, like you're you're golden, right.
Speaker 1: But did you know, Joseph that Daddy Yankee got the
Speaker 1: eight mile treatment. Wait, Mom's a spaghetti more like Mammy's Mofongo.
Speaker 1: In two thousand and eight, Daddy Yankee started the film
Speaker 1: Talento de Barrio. The story follows edgardinto a young ast
Speaker 1: firing rapper who must overcome the gang warfare of his hometown, Gaguas,
Speaker 1: Puerto Rico.
Speaker 2: There were a lot of these little rap biopics back
Speaker 2: in the day. No like Kuslim Flow was one I
Speaker 2: Think and Get Rich or Die trying.
Speaker 1: It was definitely a genre that was popping at that moment,
Speaker 1: and while Valento de Barrio might not rank among the
Speaker 1: best of them, it was a hit with audiences in
Speaker 1: New York and across Latin America, yet more proof that
Speaker 1: people identified with Daddy Yankee's story. They were rooting for.
Speaker 2: Him, and Yankee rooted for them too. In two thousand
Speaker 2: and eight, he founded the Fundacion Guerrero, a charitable organization
Speaker 2: in Puerto Rico helping people in prison.
Speaker 1: That same year, Harvard College's Presidencia Latina student organization named
Speaker 1: him Latino of the Year, and at the Latin Billboard
Speaker 1: Music Awards, he won the Spirit of Hope Award for
Speaker 1: his work with La comonidac Our Guys.
Speaker 2: Getting his props from every corner of society. The brands
Speaker 2: the award shows all the way down to at Pueblo.
Speaker 1: Daddy Yankee was also inspiring a new generation of reggaeton nero's,
Speaker 1: and not just creatively mm hm.
Speaker 2: The Carteil Records model became the strategy for reggaetonetto's throughout
Speaker 2: the whole scene.
Speaker 1: Up and comers used independent labels with major label distribution
Speaker 1: deals to retain ownership of their music and their profits,
Speaker 1: just like Daddy Yankee did. He was showing the kids
Speaker 1: how to do it right.
Speaker 2: Honey, honey. He was in the driver's seat for his career.
Speaker 2: What do you think he played on the OX.
Speaker 1: Oh easy, Pussycat Dolls?
Speaker 2: Mm? Wait what Yeah?
Speaker 1: Yankee closed out the two thousands with a follow up
Speaker 1: to Barrio Fino and with the soundtrack to his eight
Speaker 1: mile Style Kindness sort of not really.
Speaker 2: Bio, and one of those albums had.
Speaker 1: Nick Bull Scherzinger of Pussycat Doll's fame, along with Acon
Speaker 1: Will I Am and Fergie.
Speaker 2: Uh. Clearly I'm two thousand and late to Daddy Yankee
Speaker 2: because I was not aware. What about the soundtrack album?
Speaker 1: That one was almost all Yankee except for a couple
Speaker 1: of features by fellow Briareos Aganhel and Randy Ortiz So.
Speaker 1: At the same time, Yankee was topping the Billboard charts
Speaker 1: and trol thinks the part to Fergie.
Speaker 2: We owe hurt so much.
Speaker 1: He continued to uplift up and coming artists in the Regaeton,
Speaker 1: Sin and beyond, and we owe him so much. Exactly
Speaker 1: years later, as Daddy Yankee was approaching retirement Icon in
Speaker 1: the making, Carol G. Would tell Billboard, you never perceived
Speaker 1: the guy as old because he collaborates with the hottest
Speaker 1: acts but also with the hottest new acts. It's something
Speaker 1: new artists are grateful for.
Speaker 2: Prince Royce, Oh sooner, Carol G. Becky G, Nahi Natasha.
Speaker 2: These are just a few of the artists Daddy Yankee mentored, featured,
Speaker 2: and collaborated within the twenty tens. He wasn't just passing
Speaker 2: the torch, he was fanning the flames.
Speaker 1: Speaking of torches, Joseph, I've got a little more trivia
Speaker 1: for you, but you're.
Speaker 2: Doing this in the middle of the episode. Now, listen.
Speaker 1: We got to keep these listeners on their toes. Okay,
Speaker 1: I am changing shit up all right. Here's an easy one.
Speaker 1: At the twenty seventeen Winter Olympics, which I know you
Speaker 1: watched to no less than three separate figure skating contestants
Speaker 1: performed routines to one Daddy Yankee song, Joseph, can you
Speaker 1: name that song?
Speaker 2: Okay, hold on, I have to think it's twenty seventeen. Yes,
Speaker 2: the world says a load of roomy in sir Hi,
Speaker 2: Oh my god, the Kendall Jenner pepsi at it makes
Speaker 2: everyone spill their koffifi and Sosha Blore wins the crown.
Speaker 2: Oh dang was Game of Thrones? Still on? I'm really
Speaker 2: trying to figure out what the song could be.
Speaker 1: Okay, you're taking this so far off topic in twenty seventeen,
Speaker 1: and while I do appreciate sate the pop culture rewind,
Speaker 1: quit playing with the listeners.
Speaker 2: It's just fun to look back sometimes, you know. Anyways,
Speaker 2: it can only be de spasito ding ding.
Speaker 1: By twenty seventeen, Yankee had been beating the drum about
Speaker 1: reggaeton's coming dominance for years.
Speaker 2: Despite his success, skeptics of the genre in the media
Speaker 2: and in the label offices didn't think the genre had
Speaker 2: staying power.
Speaker 1: And Yankee per Rolling Stone told them, with all due respect,
Speaker 1: you guys, don't know. You guys, don't go out. You're
Speaker 1: not going to the clubs. What people listen to on
Speaker 1: the streets and out everywhere is reggaeton. That's a direct quote.
Speaker 2: Again, it's so hard to imagine anyone would be as
Speaker 2: wrong about reggaeton as these execs. It almost feels like
Speaker 2: he wrote the esposito just to prove them wrong.
Speaker 1: Well, actually, Luis Fonsi had been working on this pasito
Speaker 1: with songwriter Erica Ender for a few months before calling
Speaker 1: in Daddy Yankee.
Speaker 2: So they had the melody, they had a beat, they
Speaker 2: had the guitar line, and they brought in Yankee to
Speaker 2: supply the reggaeton.
Speaker 1: Dorisma, and as we all know, Daddy Yankee proved his point.
Speaker 1: Let's get into some charts, shall.
Speaker 2: We, Before you know who jumped in the remix. This
Speaker 2: posito debuted at number two on the US Hot Latin
Speaker 2: Songs chart on February fourth. After two weeks, they climbed
Speaker 2: to number one.
Speaker 1: On the US Hot one hundred. The original version debuted
Speaker 1: at eighty eight climbed to forty four. But of course
Speaker 1: that's not where things ended.
Speaker 2: Enter the beaps, believe it or not, justin Bieber getting
Speaker 2: in the mix was completely organic. Three months after this,
Speaker 2: Posito dropped Bieber Baby heard that track at a nightclub
Speaker 2: in Colombia and couldn't get enough.
Speaker 1: The track was an international chart topper, and as we'll
Speaker 1: discuss in just a minute, Colombia was becoming the epicenter
Speaker 1: of Regathon's new wave.
Speaker 2: Okay, so here's the tea. So Beabs called up is
Speaker 2: able to get on the track, but he was in
Speaker 2: Ba so they had to fly in his vocal producer
Speaker 2: for help. Because Baby Beebes had to sing in Espanol
Speaker 2: for the very first time.
Speaker 1: Over just two hours, Biaber learned his verse fanatically and
Speaker 1: overcame the biggest hurdle for any gringo learning how to
Speaker 1: pronounce the letter R in Spanish. Actually, let's try it now, Joseph,
Speaker 1: do your best r.
Speaker 2: Erre carrio.
Speaker 1: Erre. Why is that so hard for people?
Speaker 2: You know you can't really shake your tongue fast.
Speaker 1: Well, clearly, Justin Bieber has skills.
Speaker 2: Dude, say what you want about Bebes. That is truly
Speaker 2: an accomplishment. And they say that after a lifetime of
Speaker 2: gringo's mutilating my last name.
Speaker 1: Carillo, Joseph Carillo, I'm sorry you had it so rough,
Speaker 1: and FYI it is gotfrio.
Speaker 2: Mm hmm, it's good. I'm good, I mean whatever. Anyways,
Speaker 2: the remix super charged Esposito's chart performance, topping the Billboard
Speaker 2: Hot one hundred for sixteen consecutive weeks. It also spent
Speaker 2: a total of fifty six weeks in the US Hot
Speaker 2: Latin Songs chart.
Speaker 1: All in all, this Spasibo would become the best performing
Speaker 1: track of all time on Hot Latin Songs and the
Speaker 1: thirty third best performing on the Hot one hundred. It
Speaker 1: ruled the charts of forty seven different countries and at
Speaker 1: the time was the most streamed song of all time,
Speaker 1: and Daddy Yankee became the most streamed artist in Spotify's history,
Speaker 1: and it.
Speaker 2: Would be the most watched video on YouTube if it
Speaker 2: wasn't for Baby Shark.
Speaker 1: Do Do Do Do Do Doo.
Speaker 2: I'm kidding.
Speaker 1: I have tried to get that song out of my
Speaker 1: house for years. Luckily, luckily my son does have goodtists
Speaker 1: in music, so we only lived in that phase for
Speaker 1: like a month. Anyway, this facito is proof of what
Speaker 1: Carol g had said about Reggaeton's reigning king. He kept
Speaker 1: his collapse for fresh and as a result, his dominance
Speaker 1: and evolution and reggaetons by extension was secured.
Speaker 2: Case in point, at the Latin Songwriters Hall of Fame induction,
Speaker 2: this Posito was hailed as transformative. Songwriters Desmond Child and
Speaker 2: Rudy Bettez said, not since Ricky Martin's Live in La
Speaker 2: Vida Loca has there been a song in any genre
Speaker 2: that has had the global impact of Desposito changing the
Speaker 2: course of pop music forever. And it did.
Speaker 1: This Pasito set off a global surge in Latin music
Speaker 1: Listenership music critics would even call this the this Fasito effect.
Speaker 1: By the way, thank you. That is so much better
Speaker 1: than the Latin explosion.
Speaker 2: Oh my god, Wait when you said the Desposito effect,
Speaker 2: I literally thought you were talking about the Ashton Kutcher movie.
Speaker 1: How did I know you would say that? And also
Speaker 1: never the year this Pasito dropped, six out of the
Speaker 1: ten most viewed YouTube videos were songs performed in Spanish
Speaker 1: by Latino artists, and here in twenty twenty four, I
Speaker 1: think it's safe to say that this Pasito effect has
Speaker 1: only continued to ripple through the charts and across streaming services.
Speaker 2: We said, we're living in the world Daddy Yankee built.
Speaker 2: This Fasito was basically the last piece.
Speaker 1: And the world Daddy Yankee built had grown far beyond
Speaker 1: Puerto Rico and New York. You need only look at
Speaker 1: the other reggaeton hit that smashed the charts in twenty
Speaker 1: seventeen to see where else it had grown.
Speaker 2: The summer of twenty seventeen was also the summer of
Speaker 2: Mihente j Balvin and Willie Williams Beyonce boosted Mumbaton Bank.
Speaker 1: Mihenthe was the sound of the next generation of reggaeton,
Speaker 1: and that generation was being cultivated in Colombia and in the.
Speaker 2: Same place where Reggaeton's the next generation was revving up.
Speaker 2: Daddy Yankee's adoptive brother was mounting a company.
Speaker 1: It's twenty fifteen and Daddy Yankee is boarding a flight.
Speaker 1: It's before this bus Egal, but Yankee has already been
Speaker 1: perfecting the viral hit formula with songs like Limbo and
Speaker 1: with Shaky Shaky soon to follow.
Speaker 2: What he doesn't know is that he's boarding the same
Speaker 2: plane as the man he once called his Edmano Niki
Speaker 2: chan Nicki looks a.
Speaker 1: Lot different from when he and Yankee parted ways about
Speaker 1: a decade prior. For starters, he's inked out all the
Speaker 1: way up to his neck, but more importantly, he's older, wiser,
Speaker 1: and clear eyed.
Speaker 2: A few years before, in twenty eleven, Nicki had come
Speaker 2: face to face with death and he was still in
Speaker 2: the spiral of addiction.
Speaker 1: Had issued him stern warnings about his drug use, but
Speaker 1: that night he overdosed. The following morning, he woke up
Speaker 1: partially paralyzed.
Speaker 2: As the doctor's assessed brain scans, Nicki took in a
Speaker 2: view from the bottom. His career was at a standstill.
Speaker 2: All of his money had gone to maintaining his drug habit.
Speaker 1: He had gone from making music to working odd jobs,
Speaker 1: first since En Juan and then in Medellin, Colombia in
Speaker 1: two thousand and seven. He would flirt with recovery but
Speaker 1: struggle to commit. Four years later, in the hospital, thinking
Speaker 1: about all that he had left to lose, Nicki jam
Speaker 1: with the help of his manager, decided to kick the
Speaker 1: habit once and for all.
Speaker 2: It would take years of recovery before Niki decided to
Speaker 2: step back in the booth, and that recovery took place
Speaker 2: amid the Reggaetncin and Medeyin Home to j Balvin, Carol
Speaker 2: Gi and Maluma. The scene was on the cusp of
Speaker 2: blowing up, and there Niki found redemption and reinvention.
Speaker 1: In twenty fourteen, Nikki Jammerly's two singles Bienceas and Me
Speaker 1: and Roya de Vel. The two tracks highlighted Nicki Jam's singing,
Speaker 1: a quality that now had a chance to really shine
Speaker 1: thanks to reggaeton's more melodic turn in the twenty tens.
Speaker 1: Niki was shining in a way he hadn't before, and
Speaker 1: the listeners were loving it.
Speaker 2: So the Niki Jam who stepped on the plane that
Speaker 2: day was a new man, or maybe he was the
Speaker 2: man he always could have been without drugs.
Speaker 1: By chance, Nicki and Yankee caught each other's eyes. The
Speaker 1: two reggaetono gs made their way to each other from
Speaker 1: across the aisle, and immediately both of them apologized for
Speaker 1: everything that had happened, and.
Speaker 2: It wouldn't be long before those Gungais were back in action.
Speaker 1: That same year, Yankee joined Nikki Jam on stage during
Speaker 1: Nicki's concert at the Coliseo Puerto Rico, his first live
Speaker 1: performance since moving to Colombia.
Speaker 2: Niki Jam's comeback album, Phoenix, released in twenty seventeen to
Speaker 2: worldwide acclaim and success. The cover of the album features
Speaker 2: a mire of Nikki painted and medine by local artists.
Speaker 2: Literally everyone was rooting for his comeback.
Speaker 1: Here was the now global reggaeton community recognizing one of
Speaker 1: its all time greats, not just for his storied past,
Speaker 1: but the bright future ahead of him.
Speaker 2: The album's lead single, at Betazon or Forgiveness, would spend
Speaker 2: thirty weeks at the number one spot on the Billboard
Speaker 2: Latin Song Chart, and it would win him his first
Speaker 2: ever Latin Grammy.
Speaker 1: In some ways, it shouldn't be so much of a
Speaker 1: shock that Daddy Yankee is so public about his faith.
Speaker 1: These days, He and his closest at mnols have experienced
Speaker 1: life changing moments where all seems lost, only to find redemption.
Speaker 2: Question, do you think Daddy Yankee goes fool Papito and
Speaker 2: sends his kids long text with Bible.
Speaker 1: Versus one hundred percent? And we're about to get why?
Speaker 1: The year after he patched things up with Nicki Jam,
Speaker 1: Daddy Yankee would experience a true blue born again moment
Speaker 1: in twenty six sixteen, just before taking the stage at
Speaker 1: a concert in Colombia, he collapsed. He narrowly avoided a
Speaker 1: heart attack from a combination of hypoglocemia, dehydration, and high
Speaker 1: blood pressure.
Speaker 2: The doctors diagnosed him with pre diabetes and told him
Speaker 2: that he had one foot in this world and the
Speaker 2: other one in the afterlife.
Speaker 1: So once again, Daddy Yanki was lying in a hospital bed,
Speaker 1: faced with the possibility of losing everything, and this time
Speaker 1: he says he thought of God and swore that he
Speaker 1: made it out alive. He would serve him.
Speaker 2: Which brings us finally to Daddy Yanki's retirement. He would
Speaker 2: release one last album, Legend Daddy, in twenty twenty two,
Speaker 2: featuring several of the torch bearers of Reggedton's next generation
Speaker 2: from all across Reregaton's original stomping grounds.
Speaker 1: Fellow Bourriqua's Bad Bunny and Mike Towers, Dominican Reggaetono El Alpha,
Speaker 1: and Panama City's own set. Born and raised in Rio Abajo,
Speaker 1: the neighborhood where it all started with regge En Espanol.
Speaker 2: And for good measure, we've got pitple on there too,
Speaker 2: because let us never forget that Gossol Lena came out
Speaker 2: the same year as Gulo.
Speaker 1: Oh my god, those club days. Thank god there were
Speaker 1: no smartphones. Okay, thank you for saving us, because those
Speaker 1: videos would never have died. No, the whole reggaeton community
Speaker 1: rallied to say goodbye to its goat. Dona mand even
Speaker 1: settled his beef with Yankee in a heartfelt Instagram post,
Speaker 1: thanking him for everything he had done for the genre.
Speaker 2: After more than thirty years in that reggaeton game, Daddy
Speaker 2: Yankee went on his farewell tour La Umi West, done
Speaker 2: eighty four performances in fourteen countries, ending with four sold
Speaker 2: out back to back shows at the Coliseo de Puerto Rico.
Speaker 1: With music in the rear view, Daddy Yankee had his
Speaker 1: site set on the future, starting with executive producing me
Speaker 1: on a Netflix series following aspiring reggaeton netos in Miami.
Speaker 2: Except music isn't totally in the rear view, because this
Speaker 2: year he released a song just in time for Easter Sunday,
Speaker 2: Donantere or Blood Joiner and let me tell you It
Speaker 2: trips like holy Water.
Speaker 1: Okay, Joseph, you win this round. On Donante de Sanre,
Speaker 1: Yankee impresses on his listeners that there are more important
Speaker 1: things in life than fame, money and ego. So rather
Speaker 1: than retiring from music, Yankees, retiring from old ways and.
Speaker 2: Yankee be preaching. He pinned the following to the comment
Speaker 2: section and the YouTube video from the song.
Speaker 1: As I said in my last concert, the music, social networks, preaching,
Speaker 1: concerts or other types of events on my platforms will
Speaker 1: be used for the service of the Kingdom. Peter, upon
Speaker 1: meeting Jesus, continued with the same job as a fisherman,
Speaker 1: but with another purpose. He became a fisher of men
Speaker 1: like me. I continue in music, but with a new
Speaker 1: purpose to bring light and the gospel of the Lord
Speaker 1: to all the souls of the world.
Speaker 2: Damn, which gets me wondering, like, is this Daddy Yankees
Speaker 2: Carlos Santana meets the Angel Metatron moment. So how do
Speaker 2: you feel about by the Yankee.
Speaker 1: I'm here for it because I support anybody's artistic and
Speaker 1: musical decisions around like their art right, Like he can
Speaker 1: do whatever he wants with it. I think it'd be
Speaker 1: interesting to bring reggaeton sounds to I'm gonna call it
Speaker 1: like gospel Christian music because I don't know what other
Speaker 1: genre to call it, but listen, we have Christian rock,
Speaker 1: we have Christian rap. Why could we also have Christian
Speaker 1: or more spiritual regaton the Christian PreO Christian? Okay, Jesus,
Speaker 1: do you maybe Jesus, We're sorry. I wouldn't call it
Speaker 1: Christian Perreau would I would?
Speaker 2: I would because it is what it is. Just because
Speaker 2: you're serving the Lord doesn't mean you can't throw it back.
Speaker 2: I'm just I'm not being It's just a dance move.
Speaker 2: It doesn't have to be you know what I mean?
Speaker 1: But what are you throwing it back into the air?
Speaker 2: Joseph?
Speaker 1: You know what, if there is an audience for like
Speaker 1: niche music, this is the niche to like maybe invest
Speaker 1: in For Daddy Yankee, I say, more power to And
Speaker 1: by the way, he's not wrong. There is more to
Speaker 1: life than fame, money and ego.
Speaker 2: It's true.
Speaker 1: So we agree.
Speaker 2: I do want to say I am here for it.
Speaker 2: I am here for Daddy Yankee finding his spirituality and
Speaker 2: spreading the light. Because you know, when you are on
Speaker 2: a mental health journey, or you can call it a
Speaker 2: spiritual journey and energy journey, things do change, and you know,
Speaker 2: ultimately he doesn't have to do anything from the past anymore.
Speaker 2: He could start brand new. Who's to say.
Speaker 1: And it's the sound of reggaeton that really brings you
Speaker 1: into the music. So if the world is just listening,
Speaker 1: they're like, oh, I want to hear Daddy Yankee. If
Speaker 1: you were to do this kind of gospel and these
Speaker 1: kinds of lyrics that support this new found faith in
Speaker 1: his life. But put it to a reggat b and
Speaker 1: put that dem bow on it, maybe it would make
Speaker 1: it to the top of the Spotify playlist charts. Who knows,
Speaker 1: But I say you do you, Daddy Yankee?
Speaker 2: I say halle luke.
Speaker 1: Time will have to tell what gospel badri Yankee will
Speaker 1: come to preach whatever the future holds. Time and time again,
Speaker 1: He's spread the light of reggaeton far and wide, and
Speaker 1: generations of Latin artists stand in that light.
Speaker 2: Oh that church stuff ain't going on my houte you
Speaker 2: Daddy playlist?
Speaker 1: Though completely fair. On the next Becoming an Icon, we're
Speaker 1: taking a look at today's icons in the making Carol Gen,
Speaker 1: Becky Gen, and Fmilicaba. Becoming an Icon is presented by
Speaker 1: Sonoo and Iheart's Michael kudda podcast network. Listen to becoming
Speaker 1: an icon on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcast, or wherever
Speaker 1: you get your to
Speaker 2: Give us a book