There’s something in the Virgin Islands’ water that’s taking Daddy Yankee back to the Playero tapes era and, we’re fully here for it. El Cangri and DJ Playero, a pioneer of reggaeton in Puerto Rico who’s known for his work on Playero 37-42, took a breath during vacation to, perhaps unintentionally, challenge fans and followers to try to spit his timeless bars on “Yo Nunca Me Quedo Atrás” with the fluidity and ease he did in 1993. A quick little schooling for his post-Despacito acquired fanbase, and welcomed harkening back to the classic early days of plena-infused reggae en español. The challenge was first posted by the head of Pina Records from the comfort of a yacht. Two standouts from the batch of attempts thus far have both been women (a reflection of the future of the genero perhaps?!):
Though Yankee has remained ever fresh and relevant in this pop era of reggaeton, most recently evident with song of the summer candidate “Con Calma,” it was lyric-centric, freestyle-esque songs like these that really helped establish him as one of the greats during a time when auto-tune wasn’t in the picture and, as he said in his caption, you had to record without messing up or missing a beat.
Te vas a quedar atrás or are you gonna give this a go?