Ay Papi, No: Daddy Yankee Says He Would Perform For Narcotraficantes
20 February 2009, 3:00 PM. By Alex Alvarez
Daddy Yankee, a well-documented chooser-of-good-things, has said he has no problem performing for narcotraficantes. Drug traffickers, after all, are people too.
…People who kill, abuse, steal from, blackmail, maim, torture and rape other people.
The promoter of morals and family values says that he’ll sing for just about anyone. At a press conference, the reggaetonero and political mastermind said: “I have friends I grew up with who may not have ended up going down the right path, but they’re still my friends and I’m not about to turn my back on them.”
He’s either an idiot man who confuses maintaining a friendship with supporting bad (and illegal) decisions, or he’s a much, much better friend than we’ll ever be. We once stopped being friends with a person because she had an annoying laugh.
Daddy Yankee then made sure to let members of the media who were present at the press conference know that he thinks it’s important to recycle and give donations to charitable foundations. Which is all well and good, but kind of sort of really doesn’t make the “I’ll perform for drug traffickers because someone of my friends happen to be buttwads” any less troubling. Considering the fatal impact drug runners have had on the music industry, especially on Latino artists, Daddy’s comments are not only dumb, they’re wildly lacking in sensitivity.
What do you guys make of Daddy Yankee’s statement? Is he a good friend, a good capitalist (drug money is money, after all), or in the running for the next Darwin Awards?
Daddy no discrimina [Univision]
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come on guanabee ever since havard gave him that great honor, he can do no wrong.
harvard didn’t give him an honor. it was the students who put on the annual latino show who gave him an honor based on his philanthropy.
And I’m ashamed he got that award. What a bunch of retards.
I’m sorry, but were you actually expecting cultural sensitively from an institution like Harvard? Hahahahahaha…
expect cultural sensitivity from the latino student body? um, yeah, i do.
one good thing about daddy yankee’s pronouncement is that it makes it highly unlikely that GOP chairman michael steele will be able to use him in any kind of outreach to the latino youth. his value to the republican party — such as it was — has just been nullified.
I actually somewhat agree with Daddy Yankee. I at least have respect for his loyalty and acknowledging what made him. Outright refusing to perform for people who come from areas of drugs and gangs, will only further ostracize them from society, which is usually a factor that pressures them to involve themselves in illicit activity in the first place.
What he should focus on is the message he could give through his music, since he is pretty influential amongst those circles. I mean he pretty much makes his money off that demographic, so what would he look like if he just turned his back and forgot about where he came from?
“…will only further ostracize them from society, which is usually a factor that pressures them to involve themselves in illicit activity in the first place.”
interesting choice of words.
poor little drug dealers.
I know the articles specifically refers to “drug lords”, which is different, but I wonder how the author would react if Daddy Yankee said he’d still perform for street level drug dealers and gang bangers.
Drug dealing usually comes from places with few economic opportunities. Many studies have shown that most drug dealers make a non-livable wage in an industry that gets them killed or locked up (obviously).
My point is that if they had other choices, they’d probably take them, but they don’t have those choices; that is exactly how fucked up the ghetto is. So instead of brushing aside a problem that has been killing youth with smug little comments like “poor little drug dealers”, maybe we should look at the structural issue of how places that foster crime come to exist in the first place, instead of criticizing how an artist doesn’t want to forget what made him.
Or perhaps, instead of enabling and apologizing for criminals who willingly participate in the destruction of lives in their own community, we should stop grossly insulting every single member of those communities who choose NOT to engage in such despicable behavior.
Because that’s exactly what you’re doing when you try to justify the choice to be a predator — which is what drug dealers are, no matter their place in the narco hierarchy.
I have to wonder how many of the people you grew up with chose that path. I know quite a few, and I can tell you that it wasn’t a choice made because of a lack of options. It was a choice made because of a lack of conscience.
I don’t see it as apologetic at all. I see it as an analysis on how and why the ghetto is created. I am quite honestly surprised this article has been written in such a way that places blame on the by-products of the society rather than the society itself.
But you are very right in saying that personal responsibility does of course play into factor. My point was not to dismiss that fact but rather add a balanced perspective on the issue. People can make the choices to better their lives through legitimate means despite social hardship, but it is a fact that those opportunities are limited and difficult to achieve. My point is that if white kids that grew up in the burbs were born in the ghetto, they’d probably make the same choices and go down the same path. People don’t choose what crib they’re born into.
And yes, some of my friends did choose that path, but please do tell me exactly how you can TELL me what their choices were? Are you that omnipresent that you can know the choices of lives you don’t live?
How can I tell you?
Simple: grew up on the same streets, went to the same school, had the same educational opportunites and was surrounded by the same temptations. The overwhelming majority of us chose NOT to become low-level criminal thugs. Those that did…well, let’s just say that no one who knew them was shocked.
And you’re surprised at the way the article was written? Respectfully, I think you need to get out more. Blaming “society?” Every day, there are less and less people who buy that hackneyed argument.
Oh, and, nice try at turning this into a discussion on race. Your “point” — that white kids would make the same choices if they were born in a different crib — is so banal as to be meaningless.
These hypothetical white denizens of the “ghetto” would also be personally accountable for their decisions. So, many thanks for serving up that red herring, it smells delicious.
Well to be fair, you did not grow up in their shoes, in their lives. I’m NOT saying people aren’t responsible for their own actions. What I am saying is that perhaps people shouldn’t be so quick to judge people lives they’ve never lived.
Again point taken. I shouldn’t have brought up race. I shouldn’t have said “white” kids, but take that out and the point still stands. I NEVER said “white” kids wouldn’t be held accountable, I’m saying that the same people that sit here and criticize them would probably make the same choices if they grew up the way most of these people did. So maybe you’re the one that should stop making this argument about race.
But you’re right. We’ve both gotten off topic. So let’s get back on track then, Daddy Yankee, says he is willing to perform for people who are like the ones he grew up with. I mean, is that so fucked up? I mean think about it. His music is targeted towards that demographic so what would it look like if he turned his back on them? From even the article, it seems like he’s trying to weave in socially conscious messages with his music towards a population that obviously needs it, so what’s the problem, I guess is my question.
What’s the problem?
OK, at the risk of overstating the glaringly obvious:
Daddy Yankee is a public figure and a celebrity. Like it or not, many, many young people look up to him and want to emulate him (there’s no accounting for taste). If he publicly approves of people making the choice to become drug dealers, well, then, at least SOME of those young people are going to think that it’s a legitimate choice.
Let’s put it another way: all those struggling parents who are trying to help their kids resist these temptations? This moron just made their jobs harder.
Is that clear enough for you?
I don’t believe the article stated Daddy Yankee is “publicly approving” drug dealing. In the quote he refers to it as “not the right path”. Unless you’re trying to fit Daddy Yankee’s willingness to perform for any audience as “publicly approving drug dealing”, but that is really a stretch.
Now if his lyrics were condoning such acts, then there would be a basis for your argument, but I’m only going by the article, and there is no mention of it.
I guess I read like this. Rapper who is a “promoter of moral and family values” wants to perform for a demographic that is lacking moral values. The writer sees contradiction, but I see opportunity to change things.
He’s approving of their choices by the simple act of associating with them.
Let’s just chalk this up to a difference in perspectives. You see a public figure trying to effect some change for the good (without providing any evidence to back up your assertion), while I see an opportunistic douchebag who would do anything for a buck.
Your argument — that blaming “society” somehow adds balance to the discussion — is, in my opinion, illogical, invalid and, in the end, self-destructive.
Apparently you missed what happened in our “society” on Election Day, 2008.
Using poverty and ethnicity as any kind of excuse for predatory behavior is morally bankrupt and reprehensible.
Ok. Now who’s the one using red herrings? lol
I never said he was trying to effect change, I said there was the OPPORTUNITY to. So much of this would be avoided if you would just read more carefully.
Yes, you did indeed say he was trying to effect change.
“From even the article, it seems like he’s trying to weave in socially conscious messages with his music towards a population that obviously needs it, so what’s the problem, I guess is my question.”
Your argument is weak, and now you’re trying to backtrack.
I’m done.
Have fun blaming “society.” Play your cards right, and there’s a very nice living in it. Just ask Al Sharpton.
Sure beats working, anyway.
Haha. Good point. Al Sharpton and Jess Jackson are riding off the good they used to do. Sometimes I am glad they’re there though i.e. Katrina.
My mistake on my comment. I guess I’d like to rephrase it. But to be fair, your argument of Yankee being a “an opportunistic douchebag who would do anything for a buck” has no “evidence to back up [the] assertion” just as much as mine does, therefore, your argument is just as weak as mine is. There simply isn’t enough in the article to go either way.
We clearly have different views of the situation in “the ghetto”, and it is pointless to argue over something that has such little to go off of. But yeah, I’m done with it too. Good debate while it lasted.
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y me lleves con tigo a todos tus consirto sp s cdt espero q lo leas ps padrino manadalo mis saludos a migelito ps y a tu
familia
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