Before he goes, Daddy Yankee will be blessing the reggaeton community with one more final album and tour.
In a move that has shocked the reggaeton world, Puerto Rican legend Daddy Yankee has announced that he’s retiring from music in a video released on Sunday night.
Daddy Yankee, whose real name is Ramón Ayala, said that he will close out his glittering career that has spanned three decades with a final album, aptly titled Legendaddy, and one last tour across the Americas.
The artist posted this video on his official website along with a link to pre-save the upcoming album. The video also outlined his forthcoming La Ultima Vuelta tour, which gets started in the US in Portland, Oregon on August 10.
The US leg of the tour ends in New York on September 20, then Daddy Yankee will head to Latin America, the spiritual home of reggaeton, and stop in Chile, Colombia, the Dominican Republic, Mexico and more.
“Today, I’m announcing my retirement from music by giving you my best production and my best concert tour,” Daddy Yankee said on Sunday (March 20). “I will say goodbye celebrating these 32 years of experience with this new collector’s item, the album Legendaddy. I’m going to give you all the styles that have defined me, in one single album.”
Addressing his fans in Spanish, Ayala went on to say: “This career has been a marathon – I finally see the end-goal. Now I’m going to enjoy with all of you in what you’ve given me. People say I made this genre global, but it is you who gave me the keys to open the doors and make this genre the biggest in the world.
He also mentioned his far-reaching influence, particularly amongst young people. “In the barrios, where we grew up, most of us wanted to be drug dealers. Today, I go to barrios and caserios, and the majority want to be artists, and that means a lot to me.”
Daddy Yankee has had six number 1s on the Top Latin Albums chart, starting with 2004’s Barrio Fino, the first-ever reggaeton album to hit that spot. As of March 2022, he’s seen 76 entries on Latin Airplay and 86 on Hot Latin Songs, including the second-most viewed video on YouTube with 7.71 billion views Despacito alongside Luis Fonsi.