Ramón Ayala Rodriguez (born February 3, 1976), better known by his stage name Daddy Yankee, is a Latin Grammy Award winning Puerto Rican reggaeton recording artist. Ayala was born in Río Piedras, the largest district of San Juan, where he became interested in music at a young age. In his youth he was interested in baseball, and aspired to become a Major League Baseball player and was going to the Major Leagues after trying out for Seattle. He was unable to continue this sport when he was shot in one of his legs, leaving him unable to walk correctly. After receiving lessons from several artists within the genre, he developed an independent career, first recording in a production titled Playero 37. After this he began to produce independent albums. Ayala released his first solo album, No Mercy (1995). He subsequently formed a duo with Nicky Jam, and then continued his solo career with the releases of El Cartel (1998) and El Cartel II (2001). This led him to be one of the pioneers of the Reggaeton genre. Daddy Yankee is the only Reggaeton singer to have a two song on the 24 which was Rompe and 32 which was Gasolina.

In 2002, El Cangri.com became Ayala's first album with international success, receiving coverage in the markets of New York and Miami. His third studio album, Barrio Fino (2004), received numerous awards, including a Premio Lo Nuestro and a Latin Billboard, as well as receiving nominations for the Latin Grammy and MTV Video Music Awards. In 2007, El Cartel Records released El Cartel: The Big Boss, which was ranked as the top-selling album in Latin music genres and also embarked on an international tour which broke attendance records in Ecuador and Bolivia. The tremendous success of Barrio Fino may have led to the Reggaeton explosion in the early 2000's which resulted in many Hip-Hop artists featuring Reggaeton artists. His performances have appeared on more than 70 albums, including compilations such as Blin Blin Vol. 1 (2003) and Mas Flow 2 (2005). Outside of his work as a musician, Ayala has also worked as an actor and producer. Throughout his career, he has been generally reticent to discuss his personal life, but has publicly expressed the importance of his wife and children to him.
Early life

Daddy Yankee was born in San Juan, Puerto Rico and was influenced by several musicians in his family, including his father and some of his mother's relatives. During his childhood he practiced singing and focused on lyrical improvisation. Although Ayala first aspired to join the ranks of baseball’s Major Leagues and was on his way to MLB, he abandoned this goal after being involved in an accident—at age seventeen, he was caught in the crossfire of a barrio gun battle and received two bullet wounds. One bullet grazed his arm and the other, from an AK-47, hit him in the leg and left him with a permanent limp.[2] Following this incident he became interested in the underground rap movement, which at the time was in an early organizational stage He also took more interest in the events that took place in the neighborhood in which he was raised, a public housing project named Villa Kennedy. Early in his career he attempted to imitate the style of Vico C. He went on to emulate other artists in the genre, including DJ Playero, DJ Nelson, and DJ Goldy, taking elements from their styles in order to develop an original style. In doing so, he eventually abandoned the traditional model of rap and became one of the first artists to perform Reggaeton. Ayala first recorded with DJ Playero as a featured artist in a production titled Playero 37, going under the name Winchester Yankee 30 30 which was released in 1992.
Personal life

Daddy Yankee married Mireddys Gonzalez when he was seventeen years old. The couple have three children: Yamilette(age 15), Jessealy(age 13) and Jeremy(age 11). Throughout his career Ayala has kept most of his personal life private, rarely speaking about it in interviews. He has said that he avoids doing so because such details are the only aspect of his life that are not public and that they are like a "little treasure". He made an exception in 2006 when he spoke about his relationship with his wife and children in an interview with María Celeste Arrarás in Al Rojo Vivo. He stated that his marriage is strong because he and his wife are "friends above anything", adding that he has tried to ignore other temptations because "weakness is the reason for the downfall of several artists." He also described his "very close" communication with his children, in which he tries to offer advice against drugs and negative influences. His first daughter was born when he was eighteen years old, which he has described as confusing at first, adding that raising a daughter at that age was a hard experience.
Future

On 2008 Daddy Yankee stated his upcoming album, title Daddy Yankee Mundial with all new songs, new rhythms. the first street single came out in July first 2009, titled El Ritmo No Perdona (Prende) (English: The Rhythm Does Not Forgive (Turned On)).