14 Billboard Latin Music Awards, two Latin American Music Awards, eight Lo Nuestro Awards, an MTV Video Music Award, and six ASCAP Awards. He also received a Puerto Rican Walk of Fame star, special awards by People en Español magazine, and the Presencia Latina at Harvard University. He was named by CNN as the "Most Influential Hispanic Artist" of 2009, and included in Time 100 in 2006. Musical career 1994–1999: Career beginnings Often considered to be one of the pioneers within the reggaeton genre, Ayala was originally going to become a professional baseball player but he was shot in the leg while taking a break from a studio recording session. The bullet was never removed and he credits this incident with allowing him to pursue a musical career. He first appeared on the 1994 DJ Playero's Mixtape, Playero 34, with the song "So' Persigueme, No Te Detengas". His first official studio project as a solo artist was No Mercy, which was released on April 2, 1995 through White Lion Records and BM Records in Puerto Rico. Early in his career he attempted to imitate the rap style of Vico C. He went on to emulate other artists in the genre, including DJ Playero, DJ Nelson, and Tempo taking elements from their styles in order to develop an original style with the Dembow rhythm. In doing so, he eventually abandoned the traditional model of rap and became one of the first artists to perform reggaeton. Throughout the 1990s, Daddy Yankee appeared in several of DJ Playero's underground mixtapes which were banned by the Puerto Rican government due to explicit lyrics; these songs would later be among the first reggaeton songs ever produced. DJ Playero and Daddy Yankee would later be credited for inventing the name "reggaeton" to describe their music on the album Playero 36 in 1994. 2000–2003: Early music and El Cangri.com In 1997, Daddy Yankee collaborated with the rapper Nas, who was an inspiration for Ayala, in the song "The Profecy", for the album Boricua Guerrero. He released two compilation albums with original material: El Cartel (1997) and El Cartel II (2001). Both albums were successful in Puerto Rico, but not throughout Latin America. Between those years, Daddy Yankee released a total of nine music videos, including "Posición" featuring Alberto Stylee, "Tu Cuerpo en la Cama" featuring Nicky Jam, and "Muévete y Perrea". In 2000, Daddy Yankee formed an