“I finally see the goal”: Daddy Yankee announces retirement

NEW YORK (AP) — Daddy Yankee amazed his fans by announcing his imminent retirement from music with an album and a farewell tour, plus three decades after starting a career that put reggaeton on the world map and made him one of the greatest idols of the genre with hits including “Petrol”, “Somos de calma”, “Calm down” and” Slowly.”

“This race, which has been a marathon, I finally see the goal,” said the 45-year-old Puerto Rican superstar on Sunday night in a video posted on his website and social media. “This genre, people tell me that I made it global, but it was you who gave me the key to open the doors to make this genre the largest in the world.”

“Formally, today I announce my retirement from music by giving them my best production and my best concert tour,” added Yankee, who debuted in 1995 with the album “No Mercy” and achieved international stardom a few years later with the iconic “Barrio Fino”.

Yankee, whose real name is Ramón Luis Ayala Rodríguez, will release Thursday night “Legendaddy”, which he defined as “a collector's item” that will include all the styles that have defined it. “'Legendaddy' is fight, it's party, it's war, romance,” he said about the album, his first since “Prestige” 10 years ago.

This will be followed by “The Last Lap”, a 41-date tour that will begin on August 10 in Portland, Oregon and take you across the continent. The concerts in Latin America will begin on September 29 in Santiago de Chile and will end on December 2 in Mexico City.

Pre-sale tickets will be available from Friday, while general sale starts on March 30.

“I always worked not to fail them, not to look for a problem, with a lot of discipline, to be able to inspire all the chamaquitos to be leaders, to dream of growing up, not to think about limitations, and to work for their families and for theirs,” said the nicknamed “King of Reggaeton” in his emotional message.

“In the neighborhoods where we grew up, most of us wanted to be drug traffickers. Today, I go down to the neighborhoods and the villages and most want to be singers. That's worth a lot to me.”

Yankee concluded by expressing his thanks to his audience, his colleagues, producers, the media and the press, “and especially to you, who have been with me from the underground, from the root, from the beginning of reggaeton.”

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On the Internet: www.daddyyankee.com.