Cover Story - The Quest for Hegemony (cont'd)
After working with Hector El Father in the
late 90’s, Don Omar’s first taste of success
came after the hit “Dale Don Dale”. He recanted
an interesting story about the song
and how it landed him his first professional
gig at The Noise in Old San Juan.
“I remember when the song came out
about 7 1/2 years ago,” said Omar. “I never
thought I’d go in there to actually perform.
They told me, ‘they’re calling you because
they want you to perform at a club.’ And I
said, ‘Wooowwww! How can this be?!’ I’ll
never forget. I only got paid $150 to perform.
I swear to God! Y tube que cantar Dale Don
Dale 5 times because it was the only song I
had. But believe me - that’s the moment that
I thought to myself ‘wow I think people like
me.’ I sung it 5 times and they didn’t want to
let me leave the club!
“You had to meet certain standards to
perform there and make it as an artist.
The people who performed and went there
regularly were the elite of the urban culture
of Puerto Rico and they all welcomed me.
Earlier that day I told myself, ‘pay great attention
to what’s about to take place today
because this is going to change your life.’”
Indeed it did. After that right of passage,
the rest as they say, is history. He followed
The Last Don with King of Kings (2006),
which sold over 2.5 million albums worldwide.
Last year, he headlined La Kalle’s
Bling Blineo at Shea Stadium before 30,000
plus fans. Needless to say it was a night to
make a statement.
“That was crazy bro,” he said about ending
the concert. “It’s all about being the best.
For some artists maybe - they get afraid of
performing in front of so many people. I like
it. Because you can prove, in front of the
thousands of people who were at Shea Stadium
that night who the real “King of Reggaeton”
is.
“I’m always going to be addicted to performing in front of a screaming crowd. Even if its a place where there’s only 20 people, if there’s 5,000 or 10,000 I’m gonna sing wherever they allow me. Those are the types of things that keep me having a thirst for that; satisfying the people who love your music.”
LOS AMORES DEL REY
Outside of his professional life, the Don
makes time for his two sons and daughter
with whom he is anything but his onstage
persona. “With them I’m William,” he said, “Not Don. William. Papi. I’m trying to be a
hero to my kids. I’m trying to be the best
father in the world. When daddy is working
he’s still there even though he’s not present.
And when he’s present it’s papi 24 hours a
day, 7 days a week.”
For the last year, he’s been dating Puerto Rican journalist Jackie Guerrido from Despierta America. “It’s better for me,” said Don Omar about the convenience of being with someone in the business. “She can understand. She knows I’m flying around the world and that today I can be here and tomorrow I can be in Japan. And its good cause’ she can do that as well. I’m in a good situation and I feel happy in that atmosphere of emotion, love, and romance. It’s been great.”
THE RISE AND FALL OF REGGAETON?
Over the years, Don Omar’s strong relationship
with his fans is something he’s always
appreciated. But while his fame has
coincided with the rise of reggaeton in general,
what if the music were to suddenly suffer
a drop in popularity?
“You have to think about that,” he said
about the genre’s hypothetical decline. “Reggaeton is not only in Puerto Rico, it’s
all over the world. It’s in Rome, Italy. London,
England. South Korea. Egypt. Venezuela,
Colombia, Nicaragua.... I can’t really say
when reggaeton is going to end because every
day it’s born in some part of the world. I
have always been a musician, a singer. I love
what I do. But my fans who mean so much
to me, they allow me to do other things.
“My fans allow me to sing salsa, they allow
me to sing merengue, bachata, a love
song, to be an actor, and I thank God for it.
But I want to be clear, if reggaeton disappears
tomorrow, I’d probably be the only artist
who could do something different.”
And that brings us full circle - straight
to Don’s approach with the new album,
his desire to expand El Orfanato’s market
share, and finally, the fact that he’s setting
his sights on the Hollywood film industry.
All will test his limits as both an entertainer
and businessman. You can interpret this as
a show of foresight on his part prudently designed
towards adapting to the environment
and staying ahead of the curb. It’s the oldest
known survival technique.
What’s at stake here in 2008 is not merely
the continuation of his success story but
rather Don Omar’s bid to become a powerful
entity within the entertainment industry as a
whole. Reggaeton dominance is all but assured
but only time will tell if William Landron
will be able to duplicate what he’s done in
music in other arenas of the business.
But in the end, beneath all the glory and
material success one can attain from achieving
greatness, it still comes down to one
simple thing. “Dedication,” he simply put. “Hard work and dedication gets you good
things. It gets you to good positions. In life,
those who work hard will be compensated.
I would love to always work in music. I don’t
know how to do anything else. This is what I
was born to do.”
ULM Podcast