"He also has some business savvy, so he's able to participate in certain partnerships." "He has been doing this for a really long time, since he was a teenager, and he is able to use his voice in lots of different ways that I think could be part of lots of different styles," Rivera-Rideau says.
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She says he's also, simply, a talented and experienced performer.
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Rivera-Rideau says part of Daddy Yankee's success comes from the fact that he slows down the chorus, and that enables English speakers to sing along. Most recently, in 2018, Daddy Yankee released "Dura," which also has billions of views on YouTube. "It's the first Spanish-language song to be performed at the Grammys," she says. Rivera-Rideau says it became the most-viewed song in history, especially after the artists recorded a remix version with Justin Bieber. Then, in 2017, Daddy Yankee released his biggest hit to date, "Despacito" – a collaboration with Luis Fonsi. "It would be played on MTV, on English-language radio stations, and that's pretty unusual for a Spanish-language song to do," Rivera-Rideau says. Rivera-Rideau is an American Studies scholar and author of the book "Remixing Reggaeton: The Cultural Politics of Race in Puerto Rico." She says Daddy Yankee's first hit song in the mainstream U.S. Wellesley College professor Petra Rivera-Rideau has been following Daddy Yankee's career closely. The Puerto Rican artist has been in the news lately because he's one of the few artists on YouTube whose songs consistently have billions of views. He burst onto the scene last year with the post-breakup ballad “Otro Trago,” an R&B-tinged track that topped the Hot Latin Songs chart, and has teamed up with heavyweights including Daddy Yankee, Bad Bunny and Nando Boom, a pioneering reggae en Español singer.On Saturday, the reggaeton artist Daddy Yankee turned 42 years old. Or that could be my brother.”Īlong with his sometime collaborator Ozuna, Sech has become one of the most visible Afro-Latinos in reggaeton – and critics say his Panamanian roots evoke reggaeton's early influences. Seeing Floyd and other victims of police violence, Sech says, “I feel like that's me. “It's a little thing but, everybody, when they see the video now, tomorrow – in one year – they can remember: Black Lives Matter.”īefore he attracted the attention of producer (and fellow Panamanian) Dimelo Flow a few years ago, Sech worked in the construction and food service industries. In an interview with The Post, Sech said the hoodie was a subtle but enduring way to show support. Sech wears his support for “Black Lives Matter” – literally, with a hoodie featuring the phrase - in the music video for the “Porfa” remix, a star-studded collab featuring J Balvin, Maluma and Nicky Jam, among others, released in July. His eyes remain fixed on the camera as he raps: “Le temo más a un policía que a un criminal / No me llega aire pa' respirar señor oficial” (I fear a cop more than a criminal / I can't breathe, Mr. In the music video, Pabón lies on the ground with an officer's knee against his neck. Just weeks after Floyd's death, emerging Puerto Rican rapper Rafa Pabón released “Sin Aire” (“Without Air”), a piercing freestyle that references Floyd and other victims of police killings. This year, some of the most poignant statements against systemic racism and police violence have come from Afro-Latinos who are charting innovative paths in reggaeton and Latin trap - and are perhaps more visible than ever in the genre's pop era. “Before (Floyd's death), we were always wanting to have these conversations and there was almost never space for that,” says Goyo. “We have problems but we are happy,” they chant in the song, which name-checks the area's rich biodiversity and culture but also notes that racism and internalised self-hatred are prevalent.
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In 2010, four years after their indie debut, the group won a Latin Grammy for “De Donde Vengo Yo,” a joyful homage to their native Chocó, a predominantly Black department on the Colombia-Panama border. ChocQuibTown has long celebrated both parts of their Afro-Latin identity.