''King Daddy'', also known as ''Imperio Nazza: King Daddy Edition'', is a mixtape by Puerto Rican rapper

Daddy Yankee Ramón Luis Ayala Rodríguez (; born February 3, 1976), known professionally as Daddy Yankee (), is a Puerto Rican rapper, singer, songwriter, and actor who rose to worldwide prominence in 2004 with the song "Gasolina". Dubbed the "Honorific ...

, released independently on October 29, 2013 by his label

El Cartel Records El Cartel Records (formerly known as Los Cangris Inc. and El Cartel Productions) is a Puerto Rican record label. The release of '' Barrio Fino'', Daddy Yankee's first commercially successful album, is notable for being the label's first distribut ...

, a year after his seventh studio album, ''

Prestige Prestige may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Films *Prestige (film), ''Prestige'' (film), a 1932 American film directed by Tay Garnett: woman travels to French Indochina to meet up with husband *The Prestige (film), ''The Prestige'' (fi ...

''. ''King Daddy'' is a "hardcore

reggaeton Reggaeton (, ) is a modern style of popular music, popular and electronic music that originated in Panamanian reggaetón, Panama during the late 1980s, and which rose to prominence in the late 1990s and early 2000s through a plethora of Puert ...

" record made for the genre's "lovers" and features collaborations with

Arcángel Austin Agustín Santos (born December 23, 1985), better known by his stage name Arcángel, is an American rapper and singer. He is often described as one of the most influential artists in the Latin urban genre, as well in Latin music overall, ...

Divino Daniel Velázquez (born August 7, 1977), better known by his stage name Divino, is a Puerto Rican reggaeton singer. Early life, family and education Divino and his family moved from The Bronx, New York, to Ponce, Puerto Rico. Divino, age fi ...

Farruko Carlos Efrén Reyes Rosado (born May 2, 1991), known professionally as Farruko, is a Puerto Rican singer. He rose to fame collaborating with Daddy Yankee, J Balvin, Don Omar, and J Álvarez. He came to prominence in 2010 with his first solo alb ...

J Álvarez Javid David Álvarez Fernández (born December 13, 1983), also known by his stage name J Álvarez is a Puerto Rican singer. He is best known for hit singles such as "La Pregunta", "Junto al Amanecer", "Sexo, Sudor y Calor" and "Regálame Un ...

, and

Yandel Llandel Veguilla Malavé Salazar (born January 14, 1978), best known by his stage name Yandel, is a Puerto Rican singer who is a member of the reggaeton duo Wisin & Yandel. He released his first solo album, ''Quien Contra Mí'', in 2003. His s ...

. Daddy Yankee co-wrote and co-produced all 11 tracks with Benny Benni and Los de la Nazza, respectively; it is his last album produced by the latter, who left El Cartel Records in 2014. Two singles were released from the album, of which " La Nueva y La Ex" reached the top 10 on the ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

Hot Latin Songs The ''Billboard'' Hot Latin Songs (formerly Hot Latin Tracks and Hot Latin 50) is a record chart in the United States for Latin music, Latin songs, published weekly by Billboard (magazine), ''Billboard'' magazine. Since October 2012, chart ranki ...

chart and was nominated for a Lo Nuestro Award for Urban Song of the Year. ''King Daddy'' peaked at number seven on the US

Top Latin Albums Top Latin Albums (formerly Latin 50) is a record chart published by Billboard (magazine), ''Billboard'' magazine and is labeled as the most important music chart for Spanish language, full-length albums in the United States, American music market. ...

and became the first digital-only album to debut in the top 10 of the chart. It received nominations for Best Urban Music Album at the 15th Latin Grammy Awards and the 27th Lo Nuestro Awards.

Background and production

''King Daddy'' was described by Daddy Yankee as "pure

, from A to Z," with which he wanted to "create a digital revolution" by only releasing it digitally, a usual practice among novice artists but not between established ones at the time. He referred to it as an album "dedicated to the Internet" with a "mystic flavor" and a "strong nefor reggaeton lovers," and stated that "the Internet was the genre's new street" because "that aswere

heir Inheritance is the practice of receiving private property, titles, debts, entitlements, privileges, rights, and obligations upon the death of an individual. The rules of inheritance differ among societies and have changed over time. Offi ...

fans concentrate " He saw reggaeton's evolution "going backwards" and decided to make a "hardcore reggaeton album" due to the genre's fans demanding "classic sounds" and a "hundred percent raw" reggaeton record "from one of his pillars." The album's concept developed from Los de la Nazza's '' El Imperio Nazza'' and '' El Imperio Nazza: Gold Edition'' (both 2012), the first two editions from their '' Imperio Nazza'' mixtape series, for which fans asked on the Internet for Daddy Yankee to record his own. Los de la Nazza members Musicólogo and Menes found "La Rompe Carros" and "Calentón" to be their favorite tracks from the album, respectively. Musicólogo referred to ''King Daddy'' as the "essence of reggaeton" and a mixtape reminiscent of the past while blended with Los de la Nazza's futuristic sounds. ''King Daddy'' was Daddy Yankee's last album produced by Musicólogo and Menes—after producing '' Talento de Barrio'' (2008), '' Mundial'' (2010) and ''

'' (2012)—before leaving El Cartel Records in 2014 due to a contract renewal disagreement. Daddy Yankee co-wrote all lyrics with Puerto Rican rapper and lyricist Benny Benni and the mixtape's guest features on their respective tracks.

Release

''King Daddy'' was released digitally on October 29, 2013 through Daddy Yankee's own label

. In the United States, it debuted and peaked at number seven on the ''

in the week ending November 16, 2013, with 2,000 copies sold, and charted for a total of three weeks. Despite not reaching number one as previous Daddy Yankee records did, it became the chart's first digital-only album to debut in the top 10. In December 2013, Daddy Yankee stated that its success "took imby surprise" and it was announced that a physical version with new tracks would be released in February 2014, although it never did. The King Daddy Tour, later renamed King Daddy Euro Tour, began on May 23, 2014 in

Scalea Scalea ( Calabrian: , lit. "stair" or "ladder") is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Cosenza in the Calabria region of southern Italy. The town takes its name from its terraced layout on a hillside at the bottom of the Capo Scalea promontory ...

, Italy and ended on October 17, 2015 in

Los Angeles, United States Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

. Comprising 47 shows, it visited Europe twice, while making stops in the United States, Latin America and Asia. A follow-up titled ''King Daddy II'' was announced in 2014. Scheduled to be released in 2016, the album was postponed and renamed '' El Disco Duro'', a project that eventually led to Daddy Yankee's seventh and final studio album, '' Legendaddy'', released in 2022.

Singles

" La Nueva y La Ex", the mixtape's lead single, was released on October 18, 2013 through a

lyric video A music video is a video that integrates a song or an album with imagery that is produced for promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device intended to promote the sale of m ...

, while its music video, directed by Christian Suau, premiered on February 6, 2014. It peaked at number nine on the ''Billboard''

, where it charted for a total of 20 weeks, and was ranked at number 40 on its year-end list. The second single, "La Rompe Carros", was released through a music video directed by José "Javy" Ferrer on December 17, 2013.

Nominations

''King Daddy'' was nominated for Best Urban Music Album at the 15th Latin Grammy Awards and Urban Album of the Year at the 27th Lo Nuestro Awards, where it lost to Calle 13's '' Multi_Viral'' and

J Balvin José Álvaro Osorio Balvín (born 7 May 1985), known professionally as J Balvin, is a Colombian singer. He is one of the best-selling Latin artists, with 35 million records sold worldwide. Balvin was born in Medellín. At age 17, he moved to th ...

's '' La Familia'', respectively.

Track listing

Personnel

– vocals, songwriting (7) *Benny Benni – songwriting (all tracks) *

– vocals, songwriting (1) *

– vocals, songwriting (5) *

– vocals, songwriting (9) * Los de la Nazza – producer (all tracks) *

– vocals, songwriting (3) *

– vocals, producer, songwriting (all tracks)

Charts

Notes

References

{{Daddy Yankee, state=collapsed 2013 mixtape albums Daddy Yankee albums 2010s Spanish-language albums