Daddy Yankee going beyond reggaeton

Daddy Yankee took reggaeton to the masses with "Gasolina" in 2004. It's taken him three years — an eternity for a hot pop star — to follow up with a new studio album, but he says he needed the time to refuel.

"When you have 15 years in a career, and you helped launch a new music style, you have to find ways to evolutionize the music," Daddy Yankee said in his native Spanish from his Miami office. "I think that has always been the key to my success."

For his new CD, "El Cartel: The Big Boss," Daddy Yankee expands his hardcore reggaeton palette to include hip-hop, funk, rap and even pop. He also invites a gaggle of top stars to help him out, including Fergie and will.i.am from the Black Eyed Peas, Akon and Pussycat Dolls singer Nicole Scherzinger.

Reggaeton's phenomenal radio play and CD sales explosion in 2004, has put tremendous pressure on the genre's first wave, including Daddy Yankee, Ivy Queen, Don Omar and Tego Calderón. The central reggaeton dance beat, called the dembo, is a simple-sounding, very catchy beat. But by late 2005, there were complaints of stale radio playlists and repetitive sound-a-like tunes and artists.

This year, those breakthrough artists have produced follow-up CDs that in their own way stretch reggaeton beyond the familiar hardcore beat. It's also helped that there's been an influx of energetic reggaeton duos with fresh and imaginative rhythms — Mach & Daddy, Angel y Khris, Calle 13.

Daddy Yankee said he took his time to remake his music.

"I have never been tied to the same musical concept. Within my own musical roots I tried to innovate," he said. "I did not change my style, but I did try to come up with new takes. It is something that the fans have gotten used to — they know that every time I bring out something new, it is different than what is already in the streets."

"Impacto," the first single off the 21-track CD, blends funk, reggaeton and hip-hop. It was produced by A-list hip-hop producer Scott Storch, and a remix version features Fergie.

"That single is revolutionary within reggaeton," Daddy Yankee said. "It ties three genres together. The vocal effects come from funk, and the beats fire up everyone on the dance floor. It is an unstoppable beat, as I like to say. It is pure genius because it doesn't sound like anything else, it has its own essence."

The tune "Me Quedaria" blends hip-hop with Afro-Cuban rhythms. The lyrics criticize the ongoing immigration reform.

"We sampled the lyrics 'Me Quedaría' ('I would stay') from an old song from a Cuban group, but I like the lyrics because it brings so many points of view on immigration."

Daddy Yankee teams up with Top 10 mainstay Akon on the hard charging "Bring It On," then turns down the heat, only slightly, on the reflective "Corazon Divina."

"That is a fusion of salsa and hip-hop, and it is a spiritual tune that lifts your soul, fills you with hope," he said. "It is a song about spiritual protection. All the people who have liked that song believe in God like I do."

Daddy Yankee said because of the search for the right songs and a new approach to the music, it took him and his producers a year and a half to finish the CD.

"We can't live in the past, and that is why this production is different from the previous," he said. "The CD has a little something for everyone. If you like tropical music, we have it. If you like hip-hop, we have it. There's reggaeton, dance hall and lyrics with messages."

San Antonio Express-News