Daddy Yankee. Photo by Gladys Vega/Getty Images.
Daddy Yankee has been prepping his fans for his retirement from recording and touring for the better part of a year now, announcing that his March album Legendaddy would be his final one in the week leading up to its release. The Puerto Rican artist, who broke into the global mainstream nearly 20 years ago with his 2004 smash hit “Gasolina,” said a tearful goodbye to the 18,000-strong crowd at his final “La Meta” concert in San Juan on Monday night.
“My people, this day for me is the most important day of my life, and I want to share it with you because living a life of success is not the same as living a life with purpose,” he began in Spanish. He went on to confess that, despite earning massive wealth and acclaim throughout his career, he’d felt spiritually unfulfilled for a long time, but that “someone was able to fulfill that emptiness.”
“That is why tonight, I recognize, and I am not ashamed to tell the whole world, that Jesus lives in me and that I will live for him,” he continued, pointing to the sky. He called the moment a “new beginning,” announcing that he would be going by his birthname, Ramón Ayala, from now on.
“To all the people who followed me, follow Jesus Christ, who is the way, the truth and the life,” he concluded. “Just like Jesus, with his mercy, allowed me to travel the world, in your mercy, Father, I hope you allow me to evangelize the world from Puerto Rico. Amen.”
Over the course of his 30-year career, Daddy Yankee released eight studio albums, a film soundtrack, and close to 100 singles, more than a dozen of which have gone multi-platinum. The U.S. Library of Congress added “Gasolina” to the National Recording Registry in April.
