Daddy Yankee: "God Has Blessed Me"

Ramón Ayala, the Boricua Reggaeton singer best known as "Daddy Yankee", has been shooted three times in Villa Kennedy, the tough neighborhood where he grew up in.

One of those bullets almost cost him his life.

"Having seen myself so close to death, today I cannot tell you otherwise than 'I am blessed!'", he said to Yolanda Marín in an interview for 20minutos.es.

Even though he was never part of a gang, he did suffer the consequences of growing up among them, one of them being walking with a limp for life due to a wound left from one of those attacks.

On his most recent album, "Prestige", these experiences have served him as an inspiration for the lyrics to the song "6 de Enero", that talk about being reborn on a January 6th, though he was born on  February 3.

"Death came after me to make me its prisoner, a star in heaven is born between panic and fear, run and run, Raymond Ayala on the floor, I had a vision of my life going by", goes the song. It starts with a sentence that could perfectly sum up Daddy Yankee's journey from a difficult childhood in marginal surroundings to his becoming a world-known star: "Out of great adversity, great leaders are born". And maybe that's the reason why Time Magazine named him one of the "100 Most Influencial People" in 2006.

"I work day after day to give the best of me, to stay on top. That's the big challenge for an artist once he's made it, to stay on top. And that's what keeps me motivated and cheered up. If that challenge wasn't there, I'd be bored, I really would. I'm motivated by the challenges. God has blessed me", said the creator of hits like "Gasolina", "Lo que pasó, pasó", "Pose", and "La despedida".

"A lot of people have a wrong perception of me, and think that I think of myself as a big thing. But when they get to know me, they get surprised at what a down-to-earth man I really am. Whenever I get the chance, I go to Villa Kennedy, to my neighborhood, to play Softball," he said.

The 36-year-old artist has just come out with a new music video for the song "La noche de los dos", and is currently touring across Europe, presenting his last work, "Prestige". Tonight, he will be performing in Brussels and tomorrow in Amsterdam. Next on the list is Laussane, Switzerland (June 22nd), Paris (June 22nd and 23rd), and Lyon, France (June 26th). Italians will also get the chance to enjoy the artist at the Festival Latinoamericano in Milan on June 27th, and in Rome at the Soy Latino Festival on June 28th. Daddy Yankee will end the tour with a show in Barcelona on June 30th, making a stop before that in Nice, France on June 29th.