June 19, 2024 • 36 mins
In this episode of Becoming an Icon… a feud that’s up there with Drake and Kendrick’s! We delve into Daddy Yankee’s friendship and eventual fallout with Nicky Jam. The king of reggaeton was relentless, hustling and grinding in the underground while paving the way for the groundbreaking album Barrio Fino. Yup, you guessed it! This is the episode where we finally explore the number one reggaeton anthem, Gasolina.
Lilliana Vazquez and Joseph Carrillo are the hosts of Becoming An Icon with production support by Nick Milanes, Santiago Sierra, Rodrigo Crespo and Ameyalli Negrete of Sonoro Media in partnership with iHeart Radio's My Cultura Podcast network.
If you want to support the podcast, please rate and review our show.
Follow Lilliana Vazquez on Instagram and Twitter @lillianavazquez
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Joseph Joseph Joseph, what do Doddy Yankee anti Swift having gone?
Speaker 2 (00:11):
Okay? I thought we were doing another pop quiz, but
now you're throwing riddles at me.
Speaker 3 (00:15):
I got to mix it up. I gotta keep you
on your toes.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
I hate you.
Speaker 1 (00:19):
Okay, here's a clue. It has nothing to do with
their personal lives.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
Okay, other than being platinum selling artists. I got nothing
unless you're gonna tell me Taylor got shot and never
wrote a song about it.
Speaker 1 (00:33):
I'm pretty sure we would have like a triple anthology
album if Taylor took a bullet.
Speaker 3 (00:37):
Okay, no, she did not.
Speaker 1 (00:40):
But did you know that both Daddy Yankee and Taylor
Swift own all of their master recordings, and Doddy Yankee
didn't have to rerecord his entire catalog to get it.
Speaker 2 (00:52):
All of Daddy Yankee's music is already a Daddy's version.
How did you do that?
Speaker 3 (00:58):
Well?
Speaker 1 (00:58):
Since nineteen ninety, all of Daddy Yankee's music has been
released through his own independent record label. It's called El
Gartel Records. So whether it was his mixtape days through
Gasolina and yes, even through Espasito Eland has had full
bargaining rights over all of his recording.
Speaker 2 (01:22):
Damn, and he gets a fat cut from every.
Speaker 1 (01:25):
Cut he is printing bills? Literally, can we get some
of that?
Speaker 2 (01:30):
By the way, I mean, plead sponsor.
Speaker 1 (01:32):
But here's the thing he did say, when you're independent,
you're free. I mean, that's what he's told Rolling Stone
last year during his farewell tour. And apart from obviously
the financial freedom that you get from that, the freedom
from major label expectations, that means that he has freedom
to uplift and collaborate with producers and fellow rapperos that
(01:53):
he found exciting both from his home in Puerto Rico
and of course beyond.
Speaker 2 (01:57):
But at a certain point he became the star of
the show. Despite all the mixtapes and the compilations, he
was the one we all ended up talking about.
Speaker 1 (02:07):
Yes, one thousand percent, he was a rising star. And
it's as true of the regaton scene as it is
in the rap scene.
Speaker 3 (02:14):
That you don't get to the top without a little
beef child.
Speaker 2 (02:18):
Way are we going to go into some Drake and
Kendrick Schitt.
Speaker 1 (02:23):
We do not have the next week to talk about that.
I mean, it's drama.
Speaker 2 (02:30):
Listen. Reggaeton has layers.
Speaker 1 (02:35):
I'm your host, Liliana Rosquez and I'm Joseph Carrio, and
this is Becoming an Icon a weekly podcast where we
give you the rundown on how today's most famous Latin
V stars have shaped pop culture.
Speaker 2 (02:49):
And given the world some extra level.
Speaker 3 (02:52):
Sit back and get comfortable.
Speaker 2 (02:54):
Because we are going in the only way we know how,
with buena vivras, agnasriesas.
Speaker 1 (03:02):
And a lot of opinions as we relive their greatest
achievements on our journey to find out what makes them
so iconic. We have followed Daddy Yankee's rise through the
Puerto Rican reggaeton scene from the stage at the Noise
(03:25):
to splitting a track with Brooklyn Royalty Nos.
Speaker 2 (03:28):
And we've covered lots of his pioneering reggaeton piers along
the way. But there's one person we haven't quite touched
on yet, Nicki Nicki Nikki Jam.
Speaker 1 (03:39):
Yes, and that is nick Rivera Kamineto aka Nicki Jam
And he would come to be Daddy Yankee's right hand man.
He was what you would call an indispensable part of
Daddy Yankee's rise to greatness and their falling out is
a sad, but it's a critical part of Yankee's overall story.
Speaker 2 (03:58):
He was born on Saint Patrick Stay all the way
up in Massachusetts, to a Dominican father and a Puerto
Rican mother.
Speaker 1 (04:05):
Can I tell you that besides from Mexa Rican, Mexican
and Puerto Rican, which I am, Domi Rican is my
other favorite?
Speaker 2 (04:12):
Oh? I love that now.
Speaker 3 (04:14):
From an early age, Nicki jam loved hip hop.
Speaker 1 (04:17):
His favorites Hello Cool Jay and Marky Mark and the
fund Key Bunch, which I will not hold against him.
Speaker 2 (04:23):
Wait, maybe this is a confused kid.
Speaker 3 (04:28):
Listen.
Speaker 1 (04:29):
If you're Latino and your birthday party every year was
a Saint Patty's Day parade in Massachusetts, you would be
confused too.
Speaker 3 (04:37):
But he didn't stay there too long.
Speaker 1 (04:39):
At the age of ten, Nicki's family relocated to San Juan,
Puerto Rico.
Speaker 2 (04:45):
Nicki's parents told him that they wanted to reconnect with
his roots on his mother's side, but Nicki would later
learn that his father was on the run.
Speaker 1 (04:55):
Both of Nicki's parents struggled with substance abuse, and Niki's
father had duck to bail on a drug related charge.
Speaker 2 (05:02):
And so on. The cusp of adolescence, Nicki found himself
in a completely new environment where he didn't speak a
word of Espanoon.
Speaker 1 (05:11):
But over time, Nicki overcame this hurdle by following his
love of hip hop. He listened to reggaeton and other
Spanish language music to train his ear and learn the language.
Speaker 2 (05:22):
His starting music came at the age of fourteen, working
as a bag boy. Hey, a bag I wonder if
this is the same place where a bad bunny were.
Working as a bag boy at a grocery store, he
would make up rhymes about all of the items he
would scan and bad, just.
Speaker 1 (05:37):
Like Daddy Yankee made of rhymes when his family went
Christmas caroling.
Speaker 2 (05:42):
One day, Nicki cut the ear of a record.
Speaker 1 (05:45):
Producer and just like that, Nicki jam had a debut
EP distinto Alo demas or Different from the rest Ooh.
Speaker 2 (05:54):
The Puerto Rican boy from Boston who loved Saint Patrick's Day.
Speaker 1 (05:58):
Right, Okay, okay, I know, I know. When you heard
Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch, I was triggered.
Speaker 3 (06:05):
But let's go easy on Niki right.
Speaker 1 (06:07):
After all, he hardly saw any money from the recording
because he signed the contract without reading it. Y'all stop
signing contracts, Joseph, what have we learned from this.
Speaker 2 (06:18):
I have learned a lot. Let me tell you, let
me tell you.
Speaker 3 (06:21):
Get a lawyer.
Speaker 2 (06:22):
Ya ya yeah.
Speaker 1 (06:22):
But his distinct voice did garner him an early reputation,
even though he sounded like the littlest little baby.
Speaker 3 (06:29):
That baby could spit bars.
Speaker 2 (06:32):
The album would even catch the attention of Nikki's idol.
Speaker 3 (06:36):
When Nicki Jam started showing up at the Noise, he.
Speaker 1 (06:39):
Would go specifically to seek out Daddy Yankee, and for
Daddy Yankee, Nicki Jam needed no introduction.
Speaker 2 (06:46):
Upon meeting Nikki, he said to him, I know who
you are. You're that little kid who sings rap in
a little Mickey Mouse voice. The shade right like, oh yeah,
I've heard of your stuff. It's cute, but still, Yankee
told Nikki he liked his style. The two became best
friends and towards the end of the nineties close collaborators.
Speaker 1 (07:06):
Both Daddy Yankee and Nikki Jam appeared on Playeto forty one,
another DJ Plaeto mixtape. Shortly thereafter, the two formally became
a duo like us, I mean.
Speaker 2 (07:17):
That's cute, okay, So they called themselves Los Congris, which
is the best of the best.
Speaker 3 (07:22):
Hear Mike Hungrie, Hmmm, I Love You and Yankee.
Speaker 1 (07:26):
Elgartel Productions became Los Gungri's Music Inc. Together Los Congrie's
release hits that lit the underground on fire, like in
La Gama and Legata.
Speaker 2 (07:37):
These are the tracks where Daddy Yankee really starts to
sound like Daddy Yankee we know today, aggressive barking vocals
and next level hooks.
Speaker 1 (07:47):
Not to mention the overwhelmingly sexualized lyrics that through the
ire of the Puerto Rican authorities.
Speaker 2 (07:54):
So speaking of the authorities, like I literally just downloaded
to day this moment. La Gata have you heard that song?
Speaker 3 (08:03):
I have that one? And then La Gamma.
Speaker 2 (08:07):
Those are so juice.
Speaker 1 (08:10):
Now do you think that they're juice because you understand
the lyrics or do you think that they're juice because
you just like the beat?
Speaker 2 (08:17):
I would say both because I feel well right now
at the moment, I kind of feel like Soto single,
like I'm vibing with the words because it's going to
be summer for me, like you know what I mean,
Hawk Girl Summer and my Houchi Daddy Era. So those
songs are really here for me. And also it feels
like it feels like a throwback so it's summery. It's
(08:39):
summer for me right now at this moment.
Speaker 1 (08:41):
I also feel like it's really fun to watch the video.
So listening to the songs is an experience, but you're
talking to two kids that grew up with TRL and
so for me, part of listening to a song and
thinking back on it is also looking at the.
Speaker 3 (08:53):
Video because it's it's just captures.
Speaker 1 (08:57):
I think in this particular instance, it captures the friendship,
the brotherhood, and the youth of these two guys kind
of about to embark on, you know, a pretty massive
journey together. And also, can we take a second to
appreciate the bucket hats in these videos?
Speaker 2 (09:15):
I mean, it took me back.
Speaker 1 (09:17):
It's viby. It's vibaf You know that you could wear
that now?
Speaker 3 (09:22):
Are you kidding?
Speaker 1 (09:23):
I just took a screenshot of them in the video
and I'm going to amazon the outfit to myself later today.
Speaker 2 (09:27):
No, you have to.
Speaker 3 (09:28):
It's viby. It's so funny.
Speaker 1 (09:30):
The kids nowadays gen Z's sometimes think they're really original,
but you just look like Nicky Jam and Daddy Yankee.
Speaker 3 (09:38):
In the end La Kama video.
Speaker 2 (09:40):
Nail on the head, I'm like, Nikki Jam literally just
had that in nineteen ninety five.
Speaker 3 (09:44):
Big We've been here, we done did that.
Speaker 1 (09:47):
Like you think we're old, but like we actually were
the originals.
Speaker 3 (09:51):
Yeah original, Oh jeez.
Speaker 2 (09:54):
Watching early videos of Daddy Yankee and Nicki Jam feels
like watching two brothers. They dress like, they lean on
each other, they hype each other up. Kind of reminds
me of us, except I'm an extras march.
Speaker 3 (10:07):
No, what do you call like? What do you call
smaller than this march?
Speaker 2 (10:11):
I'm a smart stretch.
Speaker 1 (10:16):
Oh if people could only see r dms, they would
totally have a better insight into what we're talking about.
Speaker 3 (10:22):
Okay, I digress back to Daddy.
Speaker 1 (10:25):
So it's easy to imagine the kinship that Yankee felt
with Nicki. They had a shared talent, a shared love
of hip hop, and shared experience. Both had parents who
had struggled with drug addiction.
Speaker 2 (10:37):
But while Yankee avoided the substance abuse that had gripped
his own father, Nicki had unfortunately begun to use as
early as fifteen years later.
Speaker 1 (10:46):
Nicki would explain, I thought to myself, why am I
going to take care of myself? My dad didn't handle
his drug problems my mom did drugs too, so why
not me? I had drugs all around me. And the
foundation of everything is your home. It's your family.
Speaker 2 (11:00):
And as most Gangai's musical impact grew so with a
distance between them.
Speaker 1 (11:12):
Despite performing and doing business as a duo, Nicki and
Yankee continue to build their respective solo recording catalogs. From
two thousand and one to two thousand and two, Daddy
was in the studio recording his second album, et gangri
dot Com.
Speaker 2 (11:25):
Wait. I got to ask a question here? Was that
really a website?
Speaker 3 (11:29):
Great question? I'm so happy you asked it was?
Speaker 1 (11:32):
And well, elgangriy dot com is no longer available online.
Speaker 3 (11:37):
You can see the old.
Speaker 1 (11:39):
Daddy Yankee and Nicki Jim fan site on the Internet archive.
Speaker 2 (11:42):
Should we do that right now? It's so jews hold please, omg?
This site is great? Are these pop ups?
Speaker 3 (11:55):
This looks like MySpace?
Speaker 2 (11:57):
It's so jews and like the stuff that's on here,
not a matchmaking website. Wow.
Speaker 1 (12:05):
What's so funny to me is that there's sidebars and
banner ads and there's even a little poll which says
who is basically the most popular Puerto Rican artists of
the year?
Speaker 3 (12:19):
Is it? Hold?
Speaker 2 (12:19):
On.
Speaker 3 (12:19):
Here are the choices.
Speaker 1 (12:21):
Daddy Yankee, follow Litholaco, Hector Etito and Triple Echis. First
of all, I don't know who any of these bitches are,
so I'm going to Votedaddy.
Speaker 2 (12:31):
Yankee, I bet, and I bet you they did that.
I'm purpose. I think that's just I think it's they're
a random name.
Speaker 1 (12:36):
Also, not me, just kicking rados to find out who
the people voted for.
Speaker 3 (12:43):
It's just really cool, you guys. You know, if you've
ever wanted to go back and look at an old.
Speaker 2 (12:47):
Website, how did you find this?
Speaker 1 (12:49):
Well, I mean, we have amazing producers, But basically, there's
an entire site called Internet Archive that will take you
back to an old website that's no longer in existence,
that's either been updated or been deleted. And it'll actually
take you back to a snapshot in time. So if
you want to go back to two thousand and nine,
what was a Gangai dot com doing? You can actually
see what it was doing. But it's really funny because
(13:12):
it is like a trip down memory lane. And can
I tell you that if you put a website out
like this right now, gen Z would be like.
Speaker 3 (13:19):
This is so cool. It's sabby what it hits?
Speaker 2 (13:23):
Eh, you know why, because it's very complicated. There's so
many things that's very like.
Speaker 1 (13:28):
It feels like a throwback to them because they weren't
around when the Internet was invented, Like we were.
Speaker 2 (13:33):
Just wait, just wait till it comes back and then
we're all going to be like MySpace.
Speaker 1 (13:37):
Okay, So besides a poll, what else caught your eye
on here?
Speaker 2 (13:40):
Okay? Not a CD store section that like advertises that
you get a free poster. So buy this CD which
was probably crazy priced at that time, and you get
a free poster, and like, obviously you want him in
your house. Gosh, member posters. I'm not even we're not
even going to start the whole posters.
Speaker 3 (13:56):
I love that. That is what caught your attention. Do
you know what caught my attention?
Speaker 2 (14:00):
I know what? Not?
Speaker 1 (14:02):
An entire section of cheek Us called Las Gangris with
girls and their bikini photos. By the way, this is
basically just like pre Instagram Model.
Speaker 2 (14:14):
You know what.
Speaker 3 (14:14):
On Instagram there.
Speaker 2 (14:15):
Were the girls in the videos, right.
Speaker 1 (14:17):
Yeah, they're girls from the videos and there were girls,
and I think we're looking to get attention. But before
we had Instagram Model, we had Las neuvas Chicas, gangris.
Speaker 2 (14:25):
I love lust, I was part of them. I would
have been that cur So.
Speaker 3 (14:28):
There you are.
Speaker 2 (14:29):
That's in a blue.
Speaker 3 (14:30):
In a blue tanga.
Speaker 2 (14:32):
All right.
Speaker 1 (14:33):
As fun as it is to travel back to the
days of GeoCities, let's get back to Elgangrie dot Com
the album.
Speaker 2 (14:41):
Although Yankee and Nikki Jam dominated the underground throughout the
late nineties with mixtapes, compilations, and singles, Elgangrie dot Com
was Daddy Yankee's first full length studio album in siete
annos and.
Speaker 1 (14:55):
Trust me, you do not want to keep people waiting
on an album.
Speaker 3 (14:59):
Yes, I Am talking to you, Rihanna.
Speaker 2 (15:03):
The streets theyby yakin.
Speaker 3 (15:06):
Yankee's true breakthrough.
Speaker 1 (15:08):
You know the one was yet to come, but at
Gange dot Com was the runway for Yankee soon to
come take off.
Speaker 2 (15:16):
The album features a sleeker glossier definitely higher budget sound
than Yankee's previous material, including some of the most early
two thousands orchestra since you've ever heard, like on a
scale of one to ten, it's fifty seven.
Speaker 1 (15:30):
The entire album was produced by dire Blas, one of
the fore runners of Berreo the Urn Sheier more Joseph
style party music of regaton that Los Gngres had gravitated
towards in the late nineties.
Speaker 2 (15:45):
And it has two tracks featuring Niki Jam. Both songs
are classic Congate's club tracks, with both boys looking to
get some Wayando and as.
Speaker 1 (15:55):
Yankee does, pull the East Coast hip hop flow back
out towards the end.
Speaker 3 (15:59):
On the title track over a beat that's very murdering,
like where is a Shanty?
Speaker 2 (16:07):
Levels of murder inc.
Speaker 1 (16:09):
He poeticizes his rise from the violence that plagued his
gasadio and laughs in the face of those who wondered
when the next album would drop.
Speaker 2 (16:17):
He also mentions Nikki by name, positioning themselves as key
architects of the reggaeton scene classic hip hop BRAGGEDO show
and hearned it.
Speaker 1 (16:27):
Elgandri dot Com was a hit in Puerto Rico and
the Dominican Republic and in the US. The album reached
number forty three on the US Latin Albums Chart, thirteen
on the US Latin Pop Albums Chart, and ten on
the US Latin Rap hip Hop Albums chart.
Speaker 2 (16:45):
Okay, El Gandria has reached the top ten.
Speaker 1 (16:48):
He sure did, and Yankee kept the momentum going with
Los home Run ESS.
Speaker 3 (16:54):
A compilation of greatest hits from.
Speaker 1 (16:56):
Daddy Yankee's decade in the underground from the DJ Playeto
mix tapes through Body Guagerero.
Speaker 2 (17:02):
Which is smart. It's two thousand and two and the
only way that gringos are going to find that stuff
is napster.
Speaker 3 (17:08):
But it's not just a greatest hits record.
Speaker 1 (17:11):
He also recorded every track and updated the instrumentals with
new producers, so.
Speaker 2 (17:16):
He did do Daddy's version. Na M.
Speaker 1 (17:20):
Taylor literally took a page ride out of Daddy Yankee's book,
and you know what. Los home Run US also featured
four new songs, one of which Segudowski would score Daddy
Yankee his first major airplay in the US.
Speaker 2 (17:34):
There was also Gotta Gangster featuring fellow Puerto Rican draggaeton
Og Donald mar and most of Got Killer, which would
turn out to be Daddy Yankee's last recording with Niki
Jam for many years.
Speaker 1 (17:48):
Over the first few years of the New Millennium, Nikki
Jam's reliance on drugs had grown worse, so too had
his creative differences with Daddy Yankee.
Speaker 2 (17:57):
In short, Niki Jam was slipping hard cocaine alcohol and
eventually Percoset were taking their toll on the quality of
his work and on his relationships. Daddy Yankee's patience.
Speaker 3 (18:10):
Maxed their situation reached its peak. In two thousand and two.
Speaker 1 (18:15):
Nicki Jam was taking thirty Perkoset tabs a day, and
in a hotel bar, he found himself in an altercation
with another patron.
Speaker 3 (18:24):
Nicki pulled a gun and shot.
Speaker 2 (18:27):
This wasn't the first time Niki's drug use had driven
him to violence. A similar fight went down in a
club sometime earlier, and Nikki had pulled a gun that
time too.
Speaker 1 (18:38):
The first time, Daddy Yankee had diffused the situation by
paying off the victim, but this time Yankee couldn't bring
himself to bail Nikki out.
Speaker 2 (18:47):
Niki was sentenced to six months in prison. Afterwards, a
Yankee his fellow Gottli kept his distance and eventually booted
Niki from the label. I would too, you know, because
I feel like love is it is unconditional, but if
you are making the wrong choices constantly, it's like at
(19:11):
this point you don't love yourself, and I feel like
it just you need to keep your distance so that
person could see. I guess give them time to reflect.
Does does that make sense? You know?
Speaker 1 (19:22):
Yes it does. And I'm going to make this really simple.
Don't be messy.
Speaker 3 (19:27):
That's it. That's it, that's it.
Speaker 1 (19:29):
I mean, how many of those friends do you have
that you're like enough, don't be messy because you're over
here trying to really kind of elevate, get to the
next level, like be in rooms that you are not
often allowed in. And if your friend is bringing messy,
whether it's Nicky Jam or like you know, your primo
(19:50):
or your prima or your.
Speaker 2 (19:51):
Pia, no, I know exactly.
Speaker 1 (19:55):
Just don't be messy people, because there is not we
are a else.
Speaker 3 (20:00):
Let's behave like grown ups.
Speaker 2 (20:01):
I agree with you, but you know, I guess considering
on a mental health aspect. You know, now in twenty
twenty four, Nikki Jam did grow up around that, and
I guess that's kind of like one of those things
where you you can't see out of that. And I
think that you know, him keeping his distance and more
people keeping their distance from him, you know, let him
go to get better.
Speaker 3 (20:22):
Well, think about this though.
Speaker 1 (20:23):
Both of them grew up in homes where drug abuse
was prevalent, and I think what you need to understand
is as people are healing from trauma, Daddy Yankee healing
from that trauma.
Speaker 3 (20:34):
Whether he knew it or not.
Speaker 1 (20:35):
In this day and age, there was something about what
was happening that felt really uncomfortable for him. And so
back then we didn't have the words that we have now.
We didn't have words like boundaries and trauma and triggering,
We didn't have any of that stuff.
Speaker 3 (20:49):
But Yankee kept his distance because.
Speaker 1 (20:51):
I actually think it was incredibly triggering for him, and
we don't know what he was dealing with. We don't
know what demons he was fighting in silent and to
have Nikki around him doing all of this was probably
very triggering.
Speaker 2 (21:02):
You're best friend, exactly.
Speaker 3 (21:05):
Check on your mental health people.
Speaker 1 (21:06):
Yeah, the two wouldn't exchange words for years, but Daddy Yankee,
on his way to the top, would have some choice
words for Niki.
Speaker 2 (21:25):
So are we finally going to talk about Gasolina? Hit
me with the shocking facts.
Speaker 1 (21:30):
Well, the producers behind Gasolina almost didn't work with Daddy Yankee.
Speaker 2 (21:35):
Okay, that is the darkest timeline where Evie Queen never
makes it to my Hucci Daddy playlist?
Speaker 3 (21:41):
Why have you not shared the Huji Daddy playlist. It's
probably gatekeeping.
Speaker 1 (21:45):
I don't like it. I don't like it, and listen.
That is not a world I want to live in.
But we don't have to thanks to Franciscool, San Dania
and Victor Cabrera aka Looney Tunes.
Speaker 2 (21:57):
Okay, I don't know what's going on in Massachusetts, but
the Massachusetts born a Dominican blooded duo started crafting beats
in the late nineties on the computer program Fruity Loops
hence Loony Tunes, fru Lu lutu.
Speaker 3 (22:13):
You get it.
Speaker 1 (22:14):
By day they washed dishes in the Harvard University Cafeterira.
Speaker 3 (22:17):
I mean, like, when did they have time to make
these beads?
Speaker 2 (22:20):
Well, exactly, by night they were remixing beats, dropping fire tracks,
and introducing reggaeton to a whole new crowd.
Speaker 1 (22:30):
And it took them three separate interactions with Daddy Yankee
for el Hefe del Henro to take note. The first
was outside of New York bodega in nineteen ninety five.
I mean, all the good shit happened in the bodega.
Speaker 3 (22:42):
I missed Bodega's.
Speaker 1 (22:43):
I did a whole rant the other day on instagratte
I am so tired of the fact that there are
no damn bodegas in La like erewhon is not a
fucking bodega?
Speaker 2 (22:54):
I love you? Okay wait. Francisco Saldana aka Looney recognized
him from one one of his earlier videos and called
out to him.
Speaker 1 (23:02):
He must have been wearing a bucket hat. Anyway, he
told Daddy Yankee that.
Speaker 2 (23:07):
He wanted to work with him, and understandably, jumpy Yankee,
who remember got hit by a stray bullet a little
over a year prior, gave Looney the side eye, but
he told him to give him his number.
Speaker 1 (23:19):
Well, Looney didn't get a call, but a few years later,
Looney had another opportunity and again approached Daddy Yankee about
working together, and Yankee told him no thanks, but no thanks,
probably wondering the reason, and it's because Yankee didn't want
to work with music pirates.
Speaker 2 (23:39):
What Daddy Yankee the napster narc.
Speaker 1 (23:43):
Joseph Things change when you get big right. At the
same time, tension had long simmered over up and coming
hip hop producers sampling older work, despite sampling being foundational to.
Speaker 3 (23:56):
Hip hop and reggaeton by extension as.
Speaker 2 (23:59):
Well for Yankee to see or hear what he was
going to say no to, Looney Tunes would have to
gain approval from some other figures of the raggaeton royalty,
Reggae Carderon and Evy Queen My boot.
Speaker 1 (24:13):
Looney Tunes would produce a track for Godliton's two thousand
and two major label debut Elaboradem and Evie Queen's chart
topping breakthrough album. In two thousand and three, Diva.
Speaker 2 (24:24):
Reggaeton was surging and Looney Tunes was elevating the scene.
They proved themselves to be hit makers with tracks like
Evie Queen's Gero Sare So this time Yankee came to them.
Speaker 1 (24:36):
He got on the mic for Looney Tune's own two
thousand and three debut album, Mass Flow. Like so many
of the Puerto Rican reggaton mixtapes that came before it,
Mas Flow featured a who's who of reggaeton vocalist.
Speaker 2 (24:49):
But Mos Flow would put Looney Tunees production style at
the forefront of reggaeton in the two thousands. Theirs was
a hot new sound.
Speaker 1 (24:58):
So basically all Looney Tunes had to do to win
Daddy Yankee over was get the attention of the entire
international reggaton scene.
Speaker 3 (25:07):
I mean you know what I mean, not a big deal, no.
Speaker 1 (25:10):
Small fee, right NBD, But joking aside, Yankee read the
room and enlisted Looney Tunes to get involved on the
follow up to elgangri dot Com two thousand and four's
Barrio Fino. Finally, as you can tell from the long
road it took to get here, Barriofino was the product
(25:30):
of years of hustling and grinding in the underground, not
just for Daddy Yankee, but for so many of his collaborators.
Speaker 2 (25:38):
On the album, Barriocino introduced much of the world to
reggaeton while also showcasing its reinvention in the new Millennia.
Speaker 1 (25:46):
Which is to say, you got to hear several different
sides of reggaeton on Barriofino, from the more aggressive, barking,
hardcore hip hop influence tracks that kick off the album
to more melodic try tracks like Los and Principe.
Speaker 2 (26:07):
And Variosino brought sharper hooks, harder beats, and a wider
variety of sounds than reggiton had ever seen.
Speaker 1 (26:17):
From Salsahorn's Worthy of Fania Records to Middle Eastern string flourishes.
The sheer diversity of sounds on the new album was
all tied together with that iconic reggiton rhythm known as dembo.
Speaker 2 (26:31):
And lyrically yankee handled to beat like a stunt driver
handles a card.
Speaker 1 (26:36):
Yes, King, that impeccable sag brings to the track that
needs absolutely no introduction.
Speaker 2 (26:45):
Are y lega da mosca solina? I mean, where were
you when.
Speaker 3 (26:53):
This song came out in a club in Washington Heights?
Speaker 2 (26:57):
Oh perfect, you know, I was in Chapbas, Mexico at
a wedding and I had never heard it and it
was rowdy and crazy.
Speaker 1 (27:08):
I think Gosolina has to be the most iconic, the
most epic, and I think the most recognizable reggaeton song
in the history of pregaton like boom thal like period.
Like the kids said, yeah, yeah, you know what was
funny about this song is there's a couple of songs
that really bridge I think the two cultures that I
(27:31):
distinctly belonged to. One of them is obviously like the
culture I'm so proud of, which is being Puerto Rican
and Mexican and living in that world really authentically listening
to the music, eating the food, spending time with my
friends who also share a language with me.
Speaker 3 (27:45):
And then there's the other side of me, right, it's
my non Latino friends. And this song for me, I.
Speaker 1 (27:51):
Think really bridged those two because I was living in
New York at the time, and I heard this song
because I was out partying with all of.
Speaker 3 (27:59):
My friends that I work with.
Speaker 1 (28:00):
I happened to work at a Latin advertising agency, so
all of my friends were Latinos and we were out
like literally like berriando to this song in Washington Heights
and that was like on a Thursday. And then on Saturday,
I was like downtown at Butter, which if you lived
in New York in the early like two thousands, you
(28:20):
know what Butter was was a club, and it was
like the club to be at.
Speaker 3 (28:24):
And then all of my white friends were like Gasolina Gasoli, and.
Speaker 2 (28:31):
I was like, oh, okay, okay, okay, okay.
Speaker 1 (28:36):
The point is I was hearing the song all over
New York, regardless of who I was out with, and
it had been a long time since I had shared
a song like that with my two very distinct groups
of friends. Right with Gasolina Daddy Yankee Looney Tunes and
co writer Eddie d had honed in on what so
(28:59):
many rappers in the aughts had realized that a sing
along hook can live in harmony with fast flowing rap.
Speaker 2 (29:06):
But that doesn't mean he's just flexing fast rhymes in
the verses. The way he draws out the last word
in the line, I know that it can mean by Marquessine,
he's literally making the sound like little kids make with
toy cars, like yeah yeah.
Speaker 1 (29:21):
It's basically like if Tokyo Drift came to the Bronx.
This was rap that could put imagery in your head
just as well as it could make you move.
Speaker 2 (29:30):
Plus, Yankee's lyrics were edgy as hell. Gosolina itself was
a reference to barrio girls who would catch rights to
parties with guys in flashy cars lambeau, but in the
culture people started using the song as an ironic dig
at the wars in the Middle East.
Speaker 1 (29:48):
Elsewhere on Barrio Finol, there's even a song that rhyme's
no Loan with Taliban, and the song in question is
about having sex against a wall.
Speaker 2 (29:59):
Like yan Key's records got too big for Puerto Rican
police to censor, but this was definitely not a record
you showed to your parents or listen to what their
parents I mean.
Speaker 3 (30:09):
Oh my god, so embarrassing.
Speaker 1 (30:10):
No no, no, no, no, although not really because like,
what's funny about parents hating Ondregaton? And my mom was
one of the parents that hated Onregaton. You ever listened
to the words and those salsa songs that our parents
were dancing to?
Speaker 2 (30:25):
Maybe maybe wildly? Now let me tell you.
Speaker 3 (30:28):
Look, it's not to.
Speaker 1 (30:30):
Lay the entirety of music scene sexism on Daddy Yankee's head,
but we have to touch on it because women had
long been the subject of so many of Yankee's songs,
and on.
Speaker 2 (30:42):
Bardio Fino, for the first time, the voice of a
woman was the defining feature for his biggest tracks. The
woman was Glow aka Glori mar Montalvo Castro. She's the
one you hear on the chorus of Gasolina, as well
as Dala Caliente and Nomeriejlo. Today, many like artists and
fans have called for her to get her due recognition.
Speaker 3 (31:04):
But at the time she was uncredited.
Speaker 1 (31:07):
Barrio Fino was a group effort that brought reggaeton to
a whole new echelon of public awareness and That's why
within Daddy Yankee's desography, the album stands out just as
much for who is absent.
Speaker 2 (31:21):
Absent from the credits and from the track list. One
of the ogs of Puerto Rican reggaeton, don Omar, was
slated to feature on a track, but creative differences drove Yankee.
Speaker 1 (31:33):
To scrap it, And of course, the most noticeable absence
is that of the artists. We kicked this episode off
with Nicki Jam.
Speaker 2 (31:43):
Like Omar, Nikki had originally been set to feature on
the album, but, as we mentioned, after their falling out
in the years leading up to Bardiofino's release, Yankee had
booted him from his label.
Speaker 1 (31:54):
From Nicki's end, this meant Hella resentment. One night, Nicki
made a surprise appearance on stage with Fat Joe. During
lean Back, he spat bars about how Yankee owes him
for his success, wo shots fired and claiming that without him,
Yankee wouldn't know how to sing or wait.
Speaker 3 (32:13):
For it, how to dress ouch.
Speaker 2 (32:16):
But Nikki didn't fire the first shot. His lean Back
verse was a response to the Brio Phino track Santificatus Escapolaios,
which Yankee had clearly written for Nikki Jam the boom.
Speaker 1 (32:29):
Bap is back, and Yankee fires at everyone who can't
handle seeing their friends and peers find success, but he
does save his choicest bars for Nicki.
Speaker 2 (32:41):
He says that he used to be like brothers, but
now Yankee has visions of himself growing old in a
mansion watching his grandchildren play well. Nikki sleeps naked and
pease the mattress like, ouch, you can't. I can't like
if my best friend said that shit about me, I
would be puddle devastations literally literally.
Speaker 1 (33:01):
A Yankee saves some room for humility, saying that for
all his bragging rights, he isn't superhuman, but then comes
the knockout line Nikki gets his courage from a pill.
Speaker 2 (33:14):
Even though Nikki's bars on lean Back were a response
to this track, the rest of Santificatus Escapolaios makes it
seem like Nicki might have this Yankee outside of the
recordings before the album dropped.
Speaker 1 (33:27):
I mean, you and I know there is always out
beat outbe then what we know and what's on the track.
But as for who won this one, the numbers make
it an open and shutcase. With distribution by Universal Music Group,
Barrio Fino sold one point five million copies in the
first month alone, making it the best selling Latin album
(33:51):
of two thousand and five in the United States.
Speaker 2 (33:55):
Eventually, it would become the best selling Latin album of
the decade on Record of the Year at the Latin Grammys,
and Yankee's performance at the Billboard Awards that year was
a clear standout. And remember, because of his independent label setup,
Yankee made Capital B Bank.
Speaker 1 (34:14):
Nicki's debut album meanwhile underperformed, and his depression hit new debts.
Nicki would eventually relocate to Columbia and eventually get sober
and slowly but surely reinvent himself.
Speaker 2 (34:28):
Okay, but wait, wait, wait, spoiler alert. Everybody calm down,
don't don't cry. Nicki gets better. We're not going to
leave you hanging like that.
Speaker 3 (34:36):
But there's more to this beef than the juice.
Speaker 1 (34:39):
What it shows us is that when you walk the
road to fame, you often have no choice but to
leave people behind, even the people you call family.
Speaker 2 (34:48):
Badio Phenoes title is a nod to Dady Yankees Cassio.
Yankee reps the BODYO hard and the Bodio represents more
than to be at Kennedy, where he grew up.
Speaker 3 (34:58):
It's every barrio. It's the underground. It's the regathon scene.
Speaker 2 (35:04):
From voting in to New York City, the neighbors and
the stick up kids, the MC's, the DJs, the producers,
the promoters, the hypeman, the girls in the music videos,
and everyone in between.
Speaker 1 (35:17):
And this is a big part of why a beef
like Daddy Yankees and Nikki Jams can run deep and
dragon for years. You can wrap the barrio that raised
you all the way to the top, but sadly, you
can't take everyone with you.
Speaker 2 (35:35):
On the next Becoming an Icon, Daddy Yankee turns from
chart timing to legacy building Pasito Pasito.
Speaker 1 (35:47):
Becoming an Icon is presented by Sonoo and Iheart's Michael
Guda podcast network. Listen to Becoming an Icon on the
iHeartRadio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Joseph Joseph Joseph, what do Doddy Yankee anti Swift having gone?
Speaker 2 (00:11):
Okay? I thought we were doing another pop quiz, but
now you're throwing riddles at me.
Speaker 3 (00:15):
I got to mix it up. I gotta keep you
on your toes.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
I hate you.
Speaker 1 (00:19):
Okay, here's a clue. It has nothing to do with
their personal lives.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
Okay, other than being platinum selling artists. I got nothing
unless you're gonna tell me Taylor got shot and never
wrote a song about it.
Speaker 1 (00:33):
I'm pretty sure we would have like a triple anthology
album if Taylor took a bullet.
Speaker 3 (00:37):
Okay, no, she did not.
Speaker 1 (00:40):
But did you know that both Daddy Yankee and Taylor
Swift own all of their master recordings, and Doddy Yankee
didn't have to rerecord his entire catalog to get it.
Speaker 2 (00:52):
All of Daddy Yankee's music is already a Daddy's version.
How did you do that?
Speaker 3 (00:58):
Well?
Speaker 1 (00:58):
Since nineteen ninety, all of Daddy Yankee's music has been
released through his own independent record label. It's called El
Gartel Records. So whether it was his mixtape days through
Gasolina and yes, even through Espasito Eland has had full
bargaining rights over all of his recording.
Speaker 2 (01:22):
Damn, and he gets a fat cut from every.
Speaker 1 (01:25):
Cut he is printing bills? Literally, can we get some
of that?
Speaker 2 (01:30):
By the way, I mean, plead sponsor.
Speaker 1 (01:32):
But here's the thing he did say, when you're independent,
you're free. I mean, that's what he's told Rolling Stone
last year during his farewell tour. And apart from obviously
the financial freedom that you get from that, the freedom
from major label expectations, that means that he has freedom
to uplift and collaborate with producers and fellow rapperos that
(01:53):
he found exciting both from his home in Puerto Rico
and of course beyond.
Speaker 2 (01:57):
But at a certain point he became the star of
the show. Despite all the mixtapes and the compilations, he
was the one we all ended up talking about.
Speaker 1 (02:07):
Yes, one thousand percent, he was a rising star. And
it's as true of the regaton scene as it is
in the rap scene.
Speaker 3 (02:14):
That you don't get to the top without a little
beef child.
Speaker 2 (02:18):
Way are we going to go into some Drake and
Kendrick Schitt.
Speaker 1 (02:23):
We do not have the next week to talk about that.
I mean, it's drama.
Speaker 2 (02:30):
Listen. Reggaeton has layers.
Speaker 1 (02:35):
I'm your host, Liliana Rosquez and I'm Joseph Carrio, and
this is Becoming an Icon a weekly podcast where we
give you the rundown on how today's most famous Latin
V stars have shaped pop culture.
Speaker 2 (02:49):
And given the world some extra level.
Speaker 3 (02:52):
Sit back and get comfortable.
Speaker 2 (02:54):
Because we are going in the only way we know how,
with buena vivras, agnasriesas.
Speaker 1 (03:02):
And a lot of opinions as we relive their greatest
achievements on our journey to find out what makes them
so iconic. We have followed Daddy Yankee's rise through the
Puerto Rican reggaeton scene from the stage at the Noise
(03:25):
to splitting a track with Brooklyn Royalty Nos.
Speaker 2 (03:28):
And we've covered lots of his pioneering reggaeton piers along
the way. But there's one person we haven't quite touched
on yet, Nicki Nicki Nikki Jam.
Speaker 1 (03:39):
Yes, and that is nick Rivera Kamineto aka Nicki Jam
And he would come to be Daddy Yankee's right hand man.
He was what you would call an indispensable part of
Daddy Yankee's rise to greatness and their falling out is
a sad, but it's a critical part of Yankee's overall story.
Speaker 2 (03:58):
He was born on Saint Patrick Stay all the way
up in Massachusetts, to a Dominican father and a Puerto
Rican mother.
Speaker 1 (04:05):
Can I tell you that besides from Mexa Rican, Mexican
and Puerto Rican, which I am, Domi Rican is my
other favorite?
Speaker 2 (04:12):
Oh? I love that now.
Speaker 3 (04:14):
From an early age, Nicki jam loved hip hop.
Speaker 1 (04:17):
His favorites Hello Cool Jay and Marky Mark and the
fund Key Bunch, which I will not hold against him.
Speaker 2 (04:23):
Wait, maybe this is a confused kid.
Speaker 3 (04:28):
Listen.
Speaker 1 (04:29):
If you're Latino and your birthday party every year was
a Saint Patty's Day parade in Massachusetts, you would be
confused too.
Speaker 3 (04:37):
But he didn't stay there too long.
Speaker 1 (04:39):
At the age of ten, Nicki's family relocated to San Juan,
Puerto Rico.
Speaker 2 (04:45):
Nicki's parents told him that they wanted to reconnect with
his roots on his mother's side, but Nicki would later
learn that his father was on the run.
Speaker 1 (04:55):
Both of Nicki's parents struggled with substance abuse, and Niki's
father had duck to bail on a drug related charge.
Speaker 2 (05:02):
And so on. The cusp of adolescence, Nicki found himself
in a completely new environment where he didn't speak a
word of Espanoon.
Speaker 1 (05:11):
But over time, Nicki overcame this hurdle by following his
love of hip hop. He listened to reggaeton and other
Spanish language music to train his ear and learn the language.
Speaker 2 (05:22):
His starting music came at the age of fourteen, working
as a bag boy. Hey, a bag I wonder if
this is the same place where a bad bunny were.
Working as a bag boy at a grocery store, he
would make up rhymes about all of the items he
would scan and bad, just.
Speaker 1 (05:37):
Like Daddy Yankee made of rhymes when his family went
Christmas caroling.
Speaker 2 (05:42):
One day, Nicki cut the ear of a record.
Speaker 1 (05:45):
Producer and just like that, Nicki jam had a debut
EP distinto Alo demas or Different from the rest Ooh.
Speaker 2 (05:54):
The Puerto Rican boy from Boston who loved Saint Patrick's Day.
Speaker 1 (05:58):
Right, Okay, okay, I know, I know. When you heard
Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch, I was triggered.
Speaker 3 (06:05):
But let's go easy on Niki right.
Speaker 1 (06:07):
After all, he hardly saw any money from the recording
because he signed the contract without reading it. Y'all stop
signing contracts, Joseph, what have we learned from this.
Speaker 2 (06:18):
I have learned a lot. Let me tell you, let
me tell you.
Speaker 3 (06:21):
Get a lawyer.
Speaker 2 (06:22):
Ya ya yeah.
Speaker 1 (06:22):
But his distinct voice did garner him an early reputation,
even though he sounded like the littlest little baby.
Speaker 3 (06:29):
That baby could spit bars.
Speaker 2 (06:32):
The album would even catch the attention of Nikki's idol.
Speaker 3 (06:36):
When Nicki Jam started showing up at the Noise, he.
Speaker 1 (06:39):
Would go specifically to seek out Daddy Yankee, and for
Daddy Yankee, Nicki Jam needed no introduction.
Speaker 2 (06:46):
Upon meeting Nikki, he said to him, I know who
you are. You're that little kid who sings rap in
a little Mickey Mouse voice. The shade right like, oh yeah,
I've heard of your stuff. It's cute, but still, Yankee
told Nikki he liked his style. The two became best
friends and towards the end of the nineties close collaborators.
Speaker 1 (07:06):
Both Daddy Yankee and Nikki Jam appeared on Playeto forty one,
another DJ Plaeto mixtape. Shortly thereafter, the two formally became
a duo like us, I mean.
Speaker 2 (07:17):
That's cute, okay, So they called themselves Los Congris, which
is the best of the best.
Speaker 3 (07:22):
Hear Mike Hungrie, Hmmm, I Love You and Yankee.
Speaker 1 (07:26):
Elgartel Productions became Los Gungri's Music Inc. Together Los Congrie's
release hits that lit the underground on fire, like in
La Gama and Legata.
Speaker 2 (07:37):
These are the tracks where Daddy Yankee really starts to
sound like Daddy Yankee we know today, aggressive barking vocals
and next level hooks.
Speaker 1 (07:47):
Not to mention the overwhelmingly sexualized lyrics that through the
ire of the Puerto Rican authorities.
Speaker 2 (07:54):
So speaking of the authorities, like I literally just downloaded
to day this moment. La Gata have you heard that song?
Speaker 3 (08:03):
I have that one? And then La Gamma.
Speaker 2 (08:07):
Those are so juice.
Speaker 1 (08:10):
Now do you think that they're juice because you understand
the lyrics or do you think that they're juice because
you just like the beat?
Speaker 2 (08:17):
I would say both because I feel well right now
at the moment, I kind of feel like Soto single,
like I'm vibing with the words because it's going to
be summer for me, like you know what I mean,
Hawk Girl Summer and my Houchi Daddy Era. So those
songs are really here for me. And also it feels
like it feels like a throwback so it's summery. It's
(08:39):
summer for me right now at this moment.
Speaker 1 (08:41):
I also feel like it's really fun to watch the video.
So listening to the songs is an experience, but you're
talking to two kids that grew up with TRL and
so for me, part of listening to a song and
thinking back on it is also looking at the.
Speaker 3 (08:53):
Video because it's it's just captures.
Speaker 1 (08:57):
I think in this particular instance, it captures the friendship,
the brotherhood, and the youth of these two guys kind
of about to embark on, you know, a pretty massive
journey together. And also, can we take a second to
appreciate the bucket hats in these videos?
Speaker 2 (09:15):
I mean, it took me back.
Speaker 1 (09:17):
It's viby. It's vibaf You know that you could wear
that now?
Speaker 3 (09:22):
Are you kidding?
Speaker 1 (09:23):
I just took a screenshot of them in the video
and I'm going to amazon the outfit to myself later today.
Speaker 2 (09:27):
No, you have to.
Speaker 3 (09:28):
It's viby. It's so funny.
Speaker 1 (09:30):
The kids nowadays gen Z's sometimes think they're really original,
but you just look like Nicky Jam and Daddy Yankee.
Speaker 3 (09:38):
In the end La Kama video.
Speaker 2 (09:40):
Nail on the head, I'm like, Nikki Jam literally just
had that in nineteen ninety five.
Speaker 3 (09:44):
Big We've been here, we done did that.
Speaker 1 (09:47):
Like you think we're old, but like we actually were
the originals.
Speaker 3 (09:51):
Yeah original, Oh jeez.
Speaker 2 (09:54):
Watching early videos of Daddy Yankee and Nicki Jam feels
like watching two brothers. They dress like, they lean on
each other, they hype each other up. Kind of reminds
me of us, except I'm an extras march.
Speaker 3 (10:07):
No, what do you call like? What do you call
smaller than this march?
Speaker 2 (10:11):
I'm a smart stretch.
Speaker 1 (10:16):
Oh if people could only see r dms, they would
totally have a better insight into what we're talking about.
Speaker 3 (10:22):
Okay, I digress back to Daddy.
Speaker 1 (10:25):
So it's easy to imagine the kinship that Yankee felt
with Nicki. They had a shared talent, a shared love
of hip hop, and shared experience. Both had parents who
had struggled with drug addiction.
Speaker 2 (10:37):
But while Yankee avoided the substance abuse that had gripped
his own father, Nicki had unfortunately begun to use as
early as fifteen years later.
Speaker 1 (10:46):
Nicki would explain, I thought to myself, why am I
going to take care of myself? My dad didn't handle
his drug problems my mom did drugs too, so why
not me? I had drugs all around me. And the
foundation of everything is your home. It's your family.
Speaker 2 (11:00):
And as most Gangai's musical impact grew so with a
distance between them.
Speaker 1 (11:12):
Despite performing and doing business as a duo, Nicki and
Yankee continue to build their respective solo recording catalogs. From
two thousand and one to two thousand and two, Daddy
was in the studio recording his second album, et gangri
dot Com.
Speaker 2 (11:25):
Wait. I got to ask a question here? Was that
really a website?
Speaker 3 (11:29):
Great question? I'm so happy you asked it was?
Speaker 1 (11:32):
And well, elgangriy dot com is no longer available online.
Speaker 3 (11:37):
You can see the old.
Speaker 1 (11:39):
Daddy Yankee and Nicki Jim fan site on the Internet archive.
Speaker 2 (11:42):
Should we do that right now? It's so jews hold please, omg?
This site is great? Are these pop ups?
Speaker 3 (11:55):
This looks like MySpace?
Speaker 2 (11:57):
It's so jews and like the stuff that's on here,
not a matchmaking website. Wow.
Speaker 1 (12:05):
What's so funny to me is that there's sidebars and
banner ads and there's even a little poll which says
who is basically the most popular Puerto Rican artists of
the year?
Speaker 3 (12:19):
Is it? Hold?
Speaker 2 (12:19):
On.
Speaker 3 (12:19):
Here are the choices.
Speaker 1 (12:21):
Daddy Yankee, follow Litholaco, Hector Etito and Triple Echis. First
of all, I don't know who any of these bitches are,
so I'm going to Votedaddy.
Speaker 2 (12:31):
Yankee, I bet, and I bet you they did that.
I'm purpose. I think that's just I think it's they're
a random name.
Speaker 1 (12:36):
Also, not me, just kicking rados to find out who
the people voted for.
Speaker 3 (12:43):
It's just really cool, you guys. You know, if you've
ever wanted to go back and look at an old.
Speaker 2 (12:47):
Website, how did you find this?
Speaker 1 (12:49):
Well, I mean, we have amazing producers, But basically, there's
an entire site called Internet Archive that will take you
back to an old website that's no longer in existence,
that's either been updated or been deleted. And it'll actually
take you back to a snapshot in time. So if
you want to go back to two thousand and nine,
what was a Gangai dot com doing? You can actually
see what it was doing. But it's really funny because
(13:12):
it is like a trip down memory lane. And can
I tell you that if you put a website out
like this right now, gen Z would be like.
Speaker 3 (13:19):
This is so cool. It's sabby what it hits?
Speaker 2 (13:23):
Eh, you know why, because it's very complicated. There's so
many things that's very like.
Speaker 1 (13:28):
It feels like a throwback to them because they weren't
around when the Internet was invented, Like we were.
Speaker 2 (13:33):
Just wait, just wait till it comes back and then
we're all going to be like MySpace.
Speaker 1 (13:37):
Okay, So besides a poll, what else caught your eye
on here?
Speaker 2 (13:40):
Okay? Not a CD store section that like advertises that
you get a free poster. So buy this CD which
was probably crazy priced at that time, and you get
a free poster, and like, obviously you want him in
your house. Gosh, member posters. I'm not even we're not
even going to start the whole posters.
Speaker 3 (13:56):
I love that. That is what caught your attention. Do
you know what caught my attention?
Speaker 2 (14:00):
I know what? Not?
Speaker 1 (14:02):
An entire section of cheek Us called Las Gangris with
girls and their bikini photos. By the way, this is
basically just like pre Instagram Model.
Speaker 2 (14:14):
You know what.
Speaker 3 (14:14):
On Instagram there.
Speaker 2 (14:15):
Were the girls in the videos, right.
Speaker 1 (14:17):
Yeah, they're girls from the videos and there were girls,
and I think we're looking to get attention. But before
we had Instagram Model, we had Las neuvas Chicas, gangris.
Speaker 2 (14:25):
I love lust, I was part of them. I would
have been that cur So.
Speaker 3 (14:28):
There you are.
Speaker 2 (14:29):
That's in a blue.
Speaker 3 (14:30):
In a blue tanga.
Speaker 2 (14:32):
All right.
Speaker 1 (14:33):
As fun as it is to travel back to the
days of GeoCities, let's get back to Elgangrie dot Com
the album.
Speaker 2 (14:41):
Although Yankee and Nikki Jam dominated the underground throughout the
late nineties with mixtapes, compilations, and singles, Elgangrie dot Com
was Daddy Yankee's first full length studio album in siete
annos and.
Speaker 1 (14:55):
Trust me, you do not want to keep people waiting
on an album.
Speaker 3 (14:59):
Yes, I Am talking to you, Rihanna.
Speaker 2 (15:03):
The streets theyby yakin.
Speaker 3 (15:06):
Yankee's true breakthrough.
Speaker 1 (15:08):
You know the one was yet to come, but at
Gange dot Com was the runway for Yankee soon to
come take off.
Speaker 2 (15:16):
The album features a sleeker glossier definitely higher budget sound
than Yankee's previous material, including some of the most early
two thousands orchestra since you've ever heard, like on a
scale of one to ten, it's fifty seven.
Speaker 1 (15:30):
The entire album was produced by dire Blas, one of
the fore runners of Berreo the Urn Sheier more Joseph
style party music of regaton that Los Gngres had gravitated
towards in the late nineties.
Speaker 2 (15:45):
And it has two tracks featuring Niki Jam. Both songs
are classic Congate's club tracks, with both boys looking to
get some Wayando and as.
Speaker 1 (15:55):
Yankee does, pull the East Coast hip hop flow back
out towards the end.
Speaker 3 (15:59):
On the title track over a beat that's very murdering,
like where is a Shanty?
Speaker 2 (16:07):
Levels of murder inc.
Speaker 1 (16:09):
He poeticizes his rise from the violence that plagued his
gasadio and laughs in the face of those who wondered
when the next album would drop.
Speaker 2 (16:17):
He also mentions Nikki by name, positioning themselves as key
architects of the reggaeton scene classic hip hop BRAGGEDO show
and hearned it.
Speaker 1 (16:27):
Elgandri dot Com was a hit in Puerto Rico and
the Dominican Republic and in the US. The album reached
number forty three on the US Latin Albums Chart, thirteen
on the US Latin Pop Albums Chart, and ten on
the US Latin Rap hip Hop Albums chart.
Speaker 2 (16:45):
Okay, El Gandria has reached the top ten.
Speaker 1 (16:48):
He sure did, and Yankee kept the momentum going with
Los home Run ESS.
Speaker 3 (16:54):
A compilation of greatest hits from.
Speaker 1 (16:56):
Daddy Yankee's decade in the underground from the DJ Playeto
mix tapes through Body Guagerero.
Speaker 2 (17:02):
Which is smart. It's two thousand and two and the
only way that gringos are going to find that stuff
is napster.
Speaker 3 (17:08):
But it's not just a greatest hits record.
Speaker 1 (17:11):
He also recorded every track and updated the instrumentals with
new producers, so.
Speaker 2 (17:16):
He did do Daddy's version. Na M.
Speaker 1 (17:20):
Taylor literally took a page ride out of Daddy Yankee's book,
and you know what. Los home Run US also featured
four new songs, one of which Segudowski would score Daddy
Yankee his first major airplay in the US.
Speaker 2 (17:34):
There was also Gotta Gangster featuring fellow Puerto Rican draggaeton
Og Donald mar and most of Got Killer, which would
turn out to be Daddy Yankee's last recording with Niki
Jam for many years.
Speaker 1 (17:48):
Over the first few years of the New Millennium, Nikki
Jam's reliance on drugs had grown worse, so too had
his creative differences with Daddy Yankee.
Speaker 2 (17:57):
In short, Niki Jam was slipping hard cocaine alcohol and
eventually Percoset were taking their toll on the quality of
his work and on his relationships. Daddy Yankee's patience.
Speaker 3 (18:10):
Maxed their situation reached its peak. In two thousand and two.
Speaker 1 (18:15):
Nicki Jam was taking thirty Perkoset tabs a day, and
in a hotel bar, he found himself in an altercation
with another patron.
Speaker 3 (18:24):
Nicki pulled a gun and shot.
Speaker 2 (18:27):
This wasn't the first time Niki's drug use had driven
him to violence. A similar fight went down in a
club sometime earlier, and Nikki had pulled a gun that
time too.
Speaker 1 (18:38):
The first time, Daddy Yankee had diffused the situation by
paying off the victim, but this time Yankee couldn't bring
himself to bail Nikki out.
Speaker 2 (18:47):
Niki was sentenced to six months in prison. Afterwards, a
Yankee his fellow Gottli kept his distance and eventually booted
Niki from the label. I would too, you know, because
I feel like love is it is unconditional, but if
you are making the wrong choices constantly, it's like at
(19:11):
this point you don't love yourself, and I feel like
it just you need to keep your distance so that
person could see. I guess give them time to reflect.
Does does that make sense? You know?
Speaker 1 (19:22):
Yes it does. And I'm going to make this really simple.
Don't be messy.
Speaker 3 (19:27):
That's it. That's it, that's it.
Speaker 1 (19:29):
I mean, how many of those friends do you have
that you're like enough, don't be messy because you're over
here trying to really kind of elevate, get to the
next level, like be in rooms that you are not
often allowed in. And if your friend is bringing messy,
whether it's Nicky Jam or like you know, your primo
(19:50):
or your prima or your.
Speaker 2 (19:51):
Pia, no, I know exactly.
Speaker 1 (19:55):
Just don't be messy people, because there is not we
are a else.
Speaker 3 (20:00):
Let's behave like grown ups.
Speaker 2 (20:01):
I agree with you, but you know, I guess considering
on a mental health aspect. You know, now in twenty
twenty four, Nikki Jam did grow up around that, and
I guess that's kind of like one of those things
where you you can't see out of that. And I
think that you know, him keeping his distance and more
people keeping their distance from him, you know, let him
go to get better.
Speaker 3 (20:22):
Well, think about this though.
Speaker 1 (20:23):
Both of them grew up in homes where drug abuse
was prevalent, and I think what you need to understand
is as people are healing from trauma, Daddy Yankee healing
from that trauma.
Speaker 3 (20:34):
Whether he knew it or not.
Speaker 1 (20:35):
In this day and age, there was something about what
was happening that felt really uncomfortable for him. And so
back then we didn't have the words that we have now.
We didn't have words like boundaries and trauma and triggering,
We didn't have any of that stuff.
Speaker 3 (20:49):
But Yankee kept his distance because.
Speaker 1 (20:51):
I actually think it was incredibly triggering for him, and
we don't know what he was dealing with. We don't
know what demons he was fighting in silent and to
have Nikki around him doing all of this was probably
very triggering.
Speaker 2 (21:02):
You're best friend, exactly.
Speaker 3 (21:05):
Check on your mental health people.
Speaker 1 (21:06):
Yeah, the two wouldn't exchange words for years, but Daddy Yankee,
on his way to the top, would have some choice
words for Niki.
Speaker 2 (21:25):
So are we finally going to talk about Gasolina? Hit
me with the shocking facts.
Speaker 1 (21:30):
Well, the producers behind Gasolina almost didn't work with Daddy Yankee.
Speaker 2 (21:35):
Okay, that is the darkest timeline where Evie Queen never
makes it to my Hucci Daddy playlist?
Speaker 3 (21:41):
Why have you not shared the Huji Daddy playlist. It's
probably gatekeeping.
Speaker 1 (21:45):
I don't like it. I don't like it, and listen.
That is not a world I want to live in.
But we don't have to thanks to Franciscool, San Dania
and Victor Cabrera aka Looney Tunes.
Speaker 2 (21:57):
Okay, I don't know what's going on in Massachusetts, but
the Massachusetts born a Dominican blooded duo started crafting beats
in the late nineties on the computer program Fruity Loops
hence Loony Tunes, fru Lu lutu.
Speaker 3 (22:13):
You get it.
Speaker 1 (22:14):
By day they washed dishes in the Harvard University Cafeterira.
Speaker 3 (22:17):
I mean, like, when did they have time to make
these beads?
Speaker 2 (22:20):
Well, exactly, by night they were remixing beats, dropping fire tracks,
and introducing reggaeton to a whole new crowd.
Speaker 1 (22:30):
And it took them three separate interactions with Daddy Yankee
for el Hefe del Henro to take note. The first
was outside of New York bodega in nineteen ninety five.
I mean, all the good shit happened in the bodega.
Speaker 3 (22:42):
I missed Bodega's.
Speaker 1 (22:43):
I did a whole rant the other day on instagratte
I am so tired of the fact that there are
no damn bodegas in La like erewhon is not a
fucking bodega?
Speaker 2 (22:54):
I love you? Okay wait. Francisco Saldana aka Looney recognized
him from one one of his earlier videos and called
out to him.
Speaker 1 (23:02):
He must have been wearing a bucket hat. Anyway, he
told Daddy Yankee that.
Speaker 2 (23:07):
He wanted to work with him, and understandably, jumpy Yankee,
who remember got hit by a stray bullet a little
over a year prior, gave Looney the side eye, but
he told him to give him his number.
Speaker 1 (23:19):
Well, Looney didn't get a call, but a few years later,
Looney had another opportunity and again approached Daddy Yankee about
working together, and Yankee told him no thanks, but no thanks,
probably wondering the reason, and it's because Yankee didn't want
to work with music pirates.
Speaker 2 (23:39):
What Daddy Yankee the napster narc.
Speaker 1 (23:43):
Joseph Things change when you get big right. At the
same time, tension had long simmered over up and coming
hip hop producers sampling older work, despite sampling being foundational to.
Speaker 3 (23:56):
Hip hop and reggaeton by extension as.
Speaker 2 (23:59):
Well for Yankee to see or hear what he was
going to say no to, Looney Tunes would have to
gain approval from some other figures of the raggaeton royalty,
Reggae Carderon and Evy Queen My boot.
Speaker 1 (24:13):
Looney Tunes would produce a track for Godliton's two thousand
and two major label debut Elaboradem and Evie Queen's chart
topping breakthrough album. In two thousand and three, Diva.
Speaker 2 (24:24):
Reggaeton was surging and Looney Tunes was elevating the scene.
They proved themselves to be hit makers with tracks like
Evie Queen's Gero Sare So this time Yankee came to them.
Speaker 1 (24:36):
He got on the mic for Looney Tune's own two
thousand and three debut album, Mass Flow. Like so many
of the Puerto Rican reggaton mixtapes that came before it,
Mas Flow featured a who's who of reggaeton vocalist.
Speaker 2 (24:49):
But Mos Flow would put Looney Tunees production style at
the forefront of reggaeton in the two thousands. Theirs was
a hot new sound.
Speaker 1 (24:58):
So basically all Looney Tunes had to do to win
Daddy Yankee over was get the attention of the entire
international reggaton scene.
Speaker 3 (25:07):
I mean you know what I mean, not a big deal, no.
Speaker 1 (25:10):
Small fee, right NBD, But joking aside, Yankee read the
room and enlisted Looney Tunes to get involved on the
follow up to elgangri dot Com two thousand and four's
Barrio Fino. Finally, as you can tell from the long
road it took to get here, Barriofino was the product
(25:30):
of years of hustling and grinding in the underground, not
just for Daddy Yankee, but for so many of his collaborators.
Speaker 2 (25:38):
On the album, Barriocino introduced much of the world to
reggaeton while also showcasing its reinvention in the new Millennia.
Speaker 1 (25:46):
Which is to say, you got to hear several different
sides of reggaeton on Barriofino, from the more aggressive, barking,
hardcore hip hop influence tracks that kick off the album
to more melodic try tracks like Los and Principe.
Speaker 2 (26:07):
And Variosino brought sharper hooks, harder beats, and a wider
variety of sounds than reggiton had ever seen.
Speaker 1 (26:17):
From Salsahorn's Worthy of Fania Records to Middle Eastern string flourishes.
The sheer diversity of sounds on the new album was
all tied together with that iconic reggiton rhythm known as dembo.
Speaker 2 (26:31):
And lyrically yankee handled to beat like a stunt driver
handles a card.
Speaker 1 (26:36):
Yes, King, that impeccable sag brings to the track that
needs absolutely no introduction.
Speaker 2 (26:45):
Are y lega da mosca solina? I mean, where were
you when.
Speaker 3 (26:53):
This song came out in a club in Washington Heights?
Speaker 2 (26:57):
Oh perfect, you know, I was in Chapbas, Mexico at
a wedding and I had never heard it and it
was rowdy and crazy.
Speaker 1 (27:08):
I think Gosolina has to be the most iconic, the
most epic, and I think the most recognizable reggaeton song
in the history of pregaton like boom thal like period.
Like the kids said, yeah, yeah, you know what was
funny about this song is there's a couple of songs
that really bridge I think the two cultures that I
(27:31):
distinctly belonged to. One of them is obviously like the
culture I'm so proud of, which is being Puerto Rican
and Mexican and living in that world really authentically listening
to the music, eating the food, spending time with my
friends who also share a language with me.
Speaker 3 (27:45):
And then there's the other side of me, right, it's
my non Latino friends. And this song for me, I.
Speaker 1 (27:51):
Think really bridged those two because I was living in
New York at the time, and I heard this song
because I was out partying with all of.
Speaker 3 (27:59):
My friends that I work with.
Speaker 1 (28:00):
I happened to work at a Latin advertising agency, so
all of my friends were Latinos and we were out
like literally like berriando to this song in Washington Heights
and that was like on a Thursday. And then on Saturday,
I was like downtown at Butter, which if you lived
in New York in the early like two thousands, you
(28:20):
know what Butter was was a club, and it was
like the club to be at.
Speaker 3 (28:24):
And then all of my white friends were like Gasolina Gasoli, and.
Speaker 2 (28:31):
I was like, oh, okay, okay, okay, okay.
Speaker 1 (28:36):
The point is I was hearing the song all over
New York, regardless of who I was out with, and
it had been a long time since I had shared
a song like that with my two very distinct groups
of friends. Right with Gasolina Daddy Yankee Looney Tunes and
co writer Eddie d had honed in on what so
(28:59):
many rappers in the aughts had realized that a sing
along hook can live in harmony with fast flowing rap.
Speaker 2 (29:06):
But that doesn't mean he's just flexing fast rhymes in
the verses. The way he draws out the last word
in the line, I know that it can mean by Marquessine,
he's literally making the sound like little kids make with
toy cars, like yeah yeah.
Speaker 1 (29:21):
It's basically like if Tokyo Drift came to the Bronx.
This was rap that could put imagery in your head
just as well as it could make you move.
Speaker 2 (29:30):
Plus, Yankee's lyrics were edgy as hell. Gosolina itself was
a reference to barrio girls who would catch rights to
parties with guys in flashy cars lambeau, but in the
culture people started using the song as an ironic dig
at the wars in the Middle East.
Speaker 1 (29:48):
Elsewhere on Barrio Finol, there's even a song that rhyme's
no Loan with Taliban, and the song in question is
about having sex against a wall.
Speaker 2 (29:59):
Like yan Key's records got too big for Puerto Rican
police to censor, but this was definitely not a record
you showed to your parents or listen to what their
parents I mean.
Speaker 3 (30:09):
Oh my god, so embarrassing.
Speaker 1 (30:10):
No no, no, no, no, although not really because like,
what's funny about parents hating Ondregaton? And my mom was
one of the parents that hated Onregaton. You ever listened
to the words and those salsa songs that our parents
were dancing to?
Speaker 2 (30:25):
Maybe maybe wildly? Now let me tell you.
Speaker 3 (30:28):
Look, it's not to.
Speaker 1 (30:30):
Lay the entirety of music scene sexism on Daddy Yankee's head,
but we have to touch on it because women had
long been the subject of so many of Yankee's songs,
and on.
Speaker 2 (30:42):
Bardio Fino, for the first time, the voice of a
woman was the defining feature for his biggest tracks. The
woman was Glow aka Glori mar Montalvo Castro. She's the
one you hear on the chorus of Gasolina, as well
as Dala Caliente and Nomeriejlo. Today, many like artists and
fans have called for her to get her due recognition.
Speaker 3 (31:04):
But at the time she was uncredited.
Speaker 1 (31:07):
Barrio Fino was a group effort that brought reggaeton to
a whole new echelon of public awareness and That's why
within Daddy Yankee's desography, the album stands out just as
much for who is absent.
Speaker 2 (31:21):
Absent from the credits and from the track list. One
of the ogs of Puerto Rican reggaeton, don Omar, was
slated to feature on a track, but creative differences drove Yankee.
Speaker 1 (31:33):
To scrap it, And of course, the most noticeable absence
is that of the artists. We kicked this episode off
with Nicki Jam.
Speaker 2 (31:43):
Like Omar, Nikki had originally been set to feature on
the album, but, as we mentioned, after their falling out
in the years leading up to Bardiofino's release, Yankee had
booted him from his label.
Speaker 1 (31:54):
From Nicki's end, this meant Hella resentment. One night, Nicki
made a surprise appearance on stage with Fat Joe. During
lean Back, he spat bars about how Yankee owes him
for his success, wo shots fired and claiming that without him,
Yankee wouldn't know how to sing or wait.
Speaker 3 (32:13):
For it, how to dress ouch.
Speaker 2 (32:16):
But Nikki didn't fire the first shot. His lean Back
verse was a response to the Brio Phino track Santificatus Escapolaios,
which Yankee had clearly written for Nikki Jam the boom.
Speaker 1 (32:29):
Bap is back, and Yankee fires at everyone who can't
handle seeing their friends and peers find success, but he
does save his choicest bars for Nicki.
Speaker 2 (32:41):
He says that he used to be like brothers, but
now Yankee has visions of himself growing old in a
mansion watching his grandchildren play well. Nikki sleeps naked and
pease the mattress like, ouch, you can't. I can't like
if my best friend said that shit about me, I
would be puddle devastations literally literally.
Speaker 1 (33:01):
A Yankee saves some room for humility, saying that for
all his bragging rights, he isn't superhuman, but then comes
the knockout line Nikki gets his courage from a pill.
Speaker 2 (33:14):
Even though Nikki's bars on lean Back were a response
to this track, the rest of Santificatus Escapolaios makes it
seem like Nicki might have this Yankee outside of the
recordings before the album dropped.
Speaker 1 (33:27):
I mean, you and I know there is always out
beat outbe then what we know and what's on the track.
But as for who won this one, the numbers make
it an open and shutcase. With distribution by Universal Music Group,
Barrio Fino sold one point five million copies in the
first month alone, making it the best selling Latin album
(33:51):
of two thousand and five in the United States.
Speaker 2 (33:55):
Eventually, it would become the best selling Latin album of
the decade on Record of the Year at the Latin Grammys,
and Yankee's performance at the Billboard Awards that year was
a clear standout. And remember, because of his independent label setup,
Yankee made Capital B Bank.
Speaker 1 (34:14):
Nicki's debut album meanwhile underperformed, and his depression hit new debts.
Nicki would eventually relocate to Columbia and eventually get sober
and slowly but surely reinvent himself.
Speaker 2 (34:28):
Okay, but wait, wait, wait, spoiler alert. Everybody calm down,
don't don't cry. Nicki gets better. We're not going to
leave you hanging like that.
Speaker 3 (34:36):
But there's more to this beef than the juice.
Speaker 1 (34:39):
What it shows us is that when you walk the
road to fame, you often have no choice but to
leave people behind, even the people you call family.
Speaker 2 (34:48):
Badio Phenoes title is a nod to Dady Yankees Cassio.
Yankee reps the BODYO hard and the Bodio represents more
than to be at Kennedy, where he grew up.
Speaker 3 (34:58):
It's every barrio. It's the underground. It's the regathon scene.
Speaker 2 (35:04):
From voting in to New York City, the neighbors and
the stick up kids, the MC's, the DJs, the producers,
the promoters, the hypeman, the girls in the music videos,
and everyone in between.
Speaker 1 (35:17):
And this is a big part of why a beef
like Daddy Yankees and Nikki Jams can run deep and
dragon for years. You can wrap the barrio that raised
you all the way to the top, but sadly, you
can't take everyone with you.
Speaker 2 (35:35):
On the next Becoming an Icon, Daddy Yankee turns from
chart timing to legacy building Pasito Pasito.
Speaker 1 (35:47):
Becoming an Icon is presented by Sonoo and Iheart's Michael
Guda podcast network. Listen to Becoming an Icon on the
iHeartRadio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Hosts And Creators
Lilliana Vazquez
Joseph Carrillo
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