Daddy Yankee Hands Out Scholarships Thursday May 29, 2008 4:00pm EST Daddy Yankee gave out six scholarships today in Puerto Rico so the selected youths at a juvenile correctional facility can attend college. He said: “Education is the root for a country’s evolution. We can create leaders and many of our leaders come out of places that nobody would have imagined.” Changing someone’s life by offering them new opportunities is freaking awesome.* * Courtesy of Peopleenespanol.com Ramon (Raymond) Ayala (born February 3, 1977), known artistically as Daddy Yankee, is a Latin Grammy Award-winning Puerto Rican reggaeton recording artist. Ayala was born in Rio Piedras the largest district of San Juan, where he became interested in music at a young age. In his youth he was interested in baseball, and aspired to become a Major League Baseball player. He was unable to continue this sport when he received an injury to one of his legs, leaving him unable to walk correctly. He then became involved in the underground rap movement that was in its early stages in Puerto Rico, later to be called Reggaeton. After receiving lessons from several artists within the genre, he developed an independent career, first recording in a production titled Playero 37. After this he began to produce independent albums. His first solo album was No Mercy. He subsequently formed a duo with Nicky Jam, and then continued his solo career with the releases of El Cartel and El Cartel II. This led him to be one of many pioneers of the reggaeton genre. In 2002 El Cangri.com became Ayala's first album with international success, receiving coverage in the markets of New York and Miami. Barrio Fino was released in 2004, and the album received numerous awards, including a Premio Lo Nuestro and a Latin Billboard, as well as receiving nominations for the Latin Grammy and MTV Video Music Awards. Barrio Fino performed well in the sales charts of the United States, Latin America, Europe, and Japan. On June 5, 2007, El Cartel Records released El Cartel: The Big Boss, which was ranked as the top-selling album in Latin music genres in 2007. He promoted the album with an international tour which began in the United States and continued through Latin America, breaking attendance records in Ecuador and Bolivia. His performances have appeared on more than 70 albums, including compilations such as Mas Flow 2 and Blin Blin Vol. 1. Ayala married Mireddys Gonzalez when he was seventeen years old, the couple have three children: Yamilet, Jeremy and Jesairis. Throughout his career Ayala has preferred to keep most of the details of his personal life private, rarely speaking about it in interviews. He says that he avoids doing so because such details are the only aspect of his life that are not public, stating that they are like a "little treasure". He made an exception to this in 2006 in an interview with Maria Celeste Arraras in Al Rojo Vivo, when he spoke about his relationship with his wife and their children. When asked about his marriage in this interview, Ayala said that his marriage is strong because he and his wife are "friends above anything," noting that he has been tempted several times in his career but tried to ignore this because "weakness is the reason for the downfall of several artists." When questioned about their children, he stated that he maintains "very close" communication with them, trying to offer advice against drugs and negative influences, and noted that his first daughter was born when he was eighteen years old. Ayala has said that when she was born he was confused at first, and that raising a daughter at that age was a hard experience. Outside of music Ayala has worked on promotional deals with several mainstream companies, releasing merchandise under his name. In 2005, Ayala became the first Latin artist to sign a deal with Reebok, in order to produce several accessories. These include personal apparel such as the licensed clothing line "DY", which was released in 2006. He also teamed up with the company to have his own shoes and sporting goods made, which were first distributed on May 23, 2006. Reebok continued the working relationship with him with the introduction of the Travel Trainer collection in July 2007. Ayala also hosts "Daddy Yankee On Fuego", a syndicated radio show from ABC Radio Networks. In August 2007, Pepsi began an advertising campaign titled "Puertas", in which Ayala is depicted returning to his youth by opening a series of doors.