“Reggaeton means the same thing to Latino youth as hip-hop does to African-American kids. We didn't have artists to look up to before. But the young kids now, they're looking at Daddy Yankee and Tego Calderon and Ivy Queen like kids in the American 'hood look up to 50 Cent or 2Pac. I'm representing for my culture and my people. It's their music.”
“I'm representing for Latinos all over the world. ... This ain't a one-hit-wonder thing. It's just the beginning. And it's a special moment for me and my culture.”
“I'm ready to contribute a lot in the genre and, you know, I feel a little responsibility over my shoulders because right now,” Daddy Yankee said. “I'm the ambassador of my movement. But, being honest with you, I'm ready to represent my people all over the world.”
“[But when the infectious beat of reggaetón, which is derived from Jamaican dancehall and other Afro-Caribbean beats, became popular on the Spanish-speaking island, many local rappers abandoned standard hip-hop breakbeats.] Latinos are children of la rumba, ... When people play drums it gets our attention right away. When we saw that, we realized there wasn't so much interest in hip-hop here anymore. We started to incorporate the ideas we had doing hip-hop with the base of dancehall and reggae en Espańol.”
“The people that love us most are the women. There are so many bad things you see on the news these days, but with reggaetón, you can escape; it liberates your life.”
“I'm from the crime capital / And the air smells like death that eats everything that lives / If it was up to me / I would reunite every gang in the name of the fearless people that have fallen / I am a valiant man who's just asking you to stop spilling innocent blood.”
