By Michael Ashcraft –
Daddy Yankee was at the height of his music career, having just injected “urban” flavor to the world record-busting Latin pop song “Despacito” – when he shocked his fan base by abruptly quitting to become a humble Christian.
“It’s not the same thing to have a life of success and a life of purpose,” he says in Spanish. “For a long time, I tried to fill a hole in my heart that nobody could fill. I pretended to be happy, but something was missing. I toured the world, won prizes and applauses, but I realized it’s true what the Bible says, What does it profit a man to gain the whole world and lose his soul?”
Daddy Yankee is known as the king of reggaeton after his song “Gasolina” broadened the appeal of the Spanish version of hip hop that incorporated Caribbean beats and melodies. Reggaeton became the music of choice for violent Mara Salvatrucha.
He was born Ramón Luis Ayala Rodríguez in Puerto Rico. Raised in Via Kennedy Housing Projects, he aspired to play professional baseball, but a stray bullet from an AK-47 penetrated his hip. He required 1½ years in recovery. The bullet was never removed; he never again could dream of baseball.
Instead, he forayed into Latino rap. In 2004, his single “Gasolina” smashed international markets making the genre a global phenomenon. His album Barrio Fino sold 30M and became the top-selling album of Latino music in the decade of 2000-2009.
His ascendency continued unchecked. He collabed on Despacito, giving an “urban injection” into the sultry ballad that only skyrocketed more when re-mixed with Justin Bieber.
Today, he downplays the prestige, the palaces, the planes.
“I built my own Tower of Babel,” he says. “I thought, I’m going up and nobody can stop me.”
The fame and fortune turned from something he sought avidly into a boring routine. When he was alone in the hotel unable to sleep, he cried out to God to sleep. The luxury lost its luster.
On a concert tour in Colombia, he nearly died. In the hospital with a life-threatening condition, he called out to the God he left 20 years earlier over an argument at church. Ramon had been raised Catholic but attended an evangelical church with his wife from age 19 to 21.
When he left the church, he threw himself into music.
As inexorable his ascent, so was his departure from the world and return as a Prodigal Son.
“I ran into a wall,” he says. “After achieving everything, I was still lonely. It didn’t make sense. I asked myself, In what phase of my life was I happy? That’s how I came back. The Holy Spirit reminded me of when I was happy.”
In December 2024, he announced his retirement from worldly music.
“The synonym of success for those in the barrio is the narcotraficante. They program kids from a young age. It’s an idolatry. If you don’t have a healthy nucleus of the family, you’re going to emulate everything you identify as success. The family is such an important part of the equation.”
Today, the star who called himself Legenddaddy now seeks humility and Christian service. He collabs with fellow Puertorican Vico C and Redimi2 and visits churches giving his testimony.
In December 2024 after saying he tried to save his marriage for long months, Ramon conceded to divorce his wife of 20 years, Mireddys Gonzalez, who filed for divorce amid allegations that she had misappropriated millions of dollars from his business in cahoots with his business manager.
Beleaguered by the split, Daddy Yankee dropped new music. “En el Desierto” appears to turn his grief into a plea for faith and commitment to loyalty to God.
