Daddy Yankee

In the end, it took just 3 minutes and 12 seconds to give birth to the 00's hottest riddim. The song is "Gasolina," the riddim a Puerto Rican take on reggae, and the artist a skinny guy who'd hoped to play pro ball till he got shot. When "Gasolina" took off, Daddy Yankee gunned it, pedal to the floor, riding our insatiable appetite for reggaeton's gritty, sexual, driving sound for all it was worth. Other reggaetoneros are making concept albums, but nothing holds a candle to Barrio Fino's sheer adrenaline or its fierce love for the barrio Yankee called home.

Daddy Yankee is reggaeton's biggest crossover contender: He has already rhymed
alongside Nas, Lil Jon and Terror Squad, and his brassy, slogan-strewn flow suggests both a
quick-tongued thug and a Latin crunkster. This 2004 release, which has hovered in the U.S.
Top Forty for several months, doesn't always use reggaeton's dancehall-reggae-style clave
rhythm to great effect -- when it isn't done right, it can sound skittery and same... More >