| Papi Sánchez | |
| Birth Name: | Robert José de León Sánchez |
| Birth Date: | 1975 9, df=yes |
| Birth Place: | Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic |
| Instrument: | Vocals |
| Occupation: | Rapper, singer |
| Genre: | Merengue |
| Years Active: | 2003–present |
Robert José de León "Papi" Sánchez (born 18 September 1975) is a Dominican merengue rapper and singer. Initially, beginning his career as a Hip Hop MC, radio host and music director, considered as an important member of the early stage of the Dominican Hip Hop movement, Eventually found major success bleeding Rap, R&B and merengue music in mid-2000s.[1]
Initially, Sanchez begun his career as part of the Hip Hop group MC Connection on the first stages of the Underground Dominican Hip Hop Movement of late 1980s and early 1990s. Later, he started to work as Radio Host with great success and eventually becoming director of some popular radio stations in Santo Domingo. In 2002, Sanchez decided to start his solo career and recorded his first album.[2]
In 2003, Sanchez released the international hit "Enamórame", which reached the top ten in francophone countries including France, Belgium, Rusia, Turkey and Holland selling over 600,000 over in Europe and was certified gold in Belgium and France.[3] [4] On the same year, he released his debut album "Yeah Baby" (2003) selling over 500,000 around the world.[5] Eventually, he receive several nominations to mayor awards as Billboard Latin Music Awards as Tropic airplay track of the year and won Summer Hit Track in Belgium and Best New Artist at 2004 Soberano Awards.
The next year, he released a cover of Nelly's song, "Dilemma". In 2005, Sanchez released his second studio album Welcome to the Paradise (2005) along with the single "Mano Pa Arriba" which peaked at 10 of US Tropical Airplay.[6] Sanchez won Best International Group at 2006 Soberano Awards. In 2007, he released an all merengue inspired album "Made in Dominican Republic" (2007) and the subsequent releases Invicto (2010), and Septimo Soltero (2015). As of 2016, Papi Sanchez had sold over 2 million records worldwide.[7]
| Year | Album details | Peak position | Certifications (sales thresholds) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BEL (WA) | BEL (FL) | FR | ||||
| 2003 | Yeah Baby |
| 85 | 92 | 128 | — |
| 2005 | Welcome to the Paradise
| |||||
| 2007 | Made in Dominican Republic
| |||||
| 2008 | El Rey de la Republic
| |||||
| 2010 | Invicto
| |||||
| 2015 | Séptimo Soltero
| |||||
| Year | Title | Peak position | Certifications (sales thresholds) | Album | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AUT [8] | BEL (FL) [9] | BEL (WA) [10] | FR [11] | GER [12] | NED [13] | SWI [14] | ||||
| 2004 | "Enamórame" | 50 | 6 | 2 | 2 | 56 | 25 | 12 | Enamorame | |
| 2005 | "Dilemma" | — | 16 | 8 | 20 | — | 66 | — | ||
| "Suave Mami" | — | 34 | 51* | — | — | — | — | |||
| Year | Title | Peak position | Album | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| BE (WA) | FR | |||
| 2011 | "Pop Pop Kaduro" (G-Nose & Nelinho feat. Papi Sánchez) | 58 | ||
| 2014 | "Enamorame (Oui bébé)" (DJ Assad feat. Papi Sanchez & Luyanna – Tropical Family) | 95* | ||