Daddy Yankee Announces Plans To Retire

 

Daddy Yankee fans will have one final chance to catch the King of Reggaetón on tour before he hangs up his mic. In a video posted his website on Sunday night, the reggaetonero announced his plans to retire from music. 

But before he bids music goodbye, he's releasing one more album — Legendaddy, and launching a tour that will kick off on Aug. 10 in Portland, Oregon.

 Legendaddy will be his first studio album since 2012's Prestige, and he promises in the video that La Ultima Vuelta will be his best-ever concert tour. "This career has been a marathon," he says Daddy Yankee, born Ramón Ayala, in Spanish. "I finally see the end goal. Now I'm going to enjoy with all of you in what you've given me."

Daddy Yankee's career spans three decades and includes the 2004 hit "Gasolina," which vaulted raggaeton to worldwide prominence. He was the most-listened worldwide artist on Spotify in June 2017 on the strength of "Despacito," his number one smash with Luis Fonsi that featured Justin Bieber.

"In the barrios where we grew up, the majority of us wanted to be drug dealers," he says. "Today, I go to barrios and caserios, and the majority want to be singers, and that means a lot to me."

Daddy Yankee coined the term raggaeton in 1994, a decade before his 2004 album Barrio Fino broke out on a global stage. He's one of the best-selling Latin artists, having moved around 20 million records during his career.

His list of awards include Latin Grammys, Billboard Music Awards and Billboard Latin Music Awards, Latin American Music Awards, and an MTV Video Music Award. CNN named him the Most Influential Hispanic Artist of 2009, and Time Magazine listed him among the 100 Most Influential in the World in May 2006.

The La Ultima Vuelta tour will travel the United States before stops in Chile, Columbia, the Dominican Republic, and Ecuador. It will conclude in Mexico on Dec. 10.