Latin urban music stars came together on Thursday (Feb. 21) to pay tribute to GRAMMY-nominated and Latin GRAMMY-winning reggaeton icon Daddy Yankee at the Premio Lo Nuestro awards show in Miami.
Yankee, whose career trajectory was honored with the Lifetime Achievement Award, performed his greatest hits including "Gasolina," Rompe" and "Lo Que Pasó, Pasó" alongside J Balvin, Ozuna, Yandel, Zion y Lennox and De La Ghetto.
"I, my friends, my collegues first, the world thanks you," Latin GRAMMY winner Balvin said onstage after the performance, not reading from the teleprompter, but saying words from his heart. "Without Daddy Yankee reggaeton would not be the same in the world ... J Balvin wouldn't exist without Daddy Yankee."
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="es" dir="ltr">Reggaeton hecho historia: <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/PremioLoNuestro?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#PremioLoNuestro</a> reunió a los más grandes en un show con mucha 'gasolina' <a href="https://t.co/Y6nXa2qtrZ">https://t.co/Y6nXa2qtrZ</a> <a href="https://t.co/ECfmeRdtnC">pic.twitter.com/ECfmeRdtnC</a></p>— Premio Lo Nuestro (@premiolonuestro) <a href="https://twitter.com/premiolonuestro/status/1098945643542908928?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 22, 2019</a></blockquote>
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Balvin continued: "A lot of the time we wait for people to leave this world to tell them how great they are, I'll take this moment to tell you face to face, thank you for what you have done for us."
Yankee thanked his fans and his "veteran" and "new generation" colleagues. "This is for you. Our genre has grown because there is unison, there is a brotherhood," he said. He also had encouraging words for his native Puerto Rico, sharing that anyone can be a positive vessel for change, no matter where they come from.
Reggaeton won big at the awards, which celebrate talented performers in Latin music: Ozuna took nine awards including Male Artist Of The Year, Balvin took the Premio Lo Nuestro Artist Of The Year award for the third consecutive year and urban artist Natti Natasha took home four awards including one for her collaboration with Becky G.
A full list of winners can be found on the Premio Lo Nuestro website.
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