Growing up in San Juan, Puerto Rico, Ramón Rodríguez had dreams of becoming a baseball player and aspired to one day play Major League Baseball in the United States. Unfortunately, when Rodriguez was 17-years-old he was caught in the cross fire of a heated gang gun battle--sustaining two bullet wounds, one leaving Rodriguez with a permanent limp. With all hopes of playing professional baseball slashed, Rodriguez got interested in San Juan's bustling rap music scene. As he started to pursue a path in the recording industry, the would-be baseball player set his musical place in stone after he released a slew of popular original Latin hip-hop songs under the moniker Daddy Yankee.