Daniel Muñoz Borrego, better known as El Dany and one half of Cuban urban duo Yomil y El Dany, died Saturday morning (July 18) at a hospital in Havana, sources confirm. He was 31 years old.
Billboard could not confirm the cause of death.
Together with Yomil (real name Roberto Hidalgo Puentes), Muñoz found fame creating a sound he and Hidalgo dubbed “Trapton,” which the duo once described to Billboard as “our brand. It’s a mix of trap with dembow and reggaetón.”
That brand allowed Yomil y El Dany to enter the charts in 2016 with their album Sobredosis, which spent one week on the Billboard Top Latin Albums chart at No. 8. Most recently, the duo teamed up with Lenier, El Chacal, Srta. Dayana, El Micha and Maurofor the single “No Volveré,” which entered the Billboard Tropical Airplay chart two weeks ago and is currently at No. 24.
El Dany, who studied medicine before taking up music, teamed up with Yomil in his early twenties, and the two had moderate success as a reggaeton/urban duo for three years before parting ways and pursuing uneventful solo careers. During that time, El Dany also sang with another Cuban star, Jacob Forever. But it took a second reunion with Yomil in 2015 to bring acclaim.
This time, recording as Yomil y El Dany, they released the single “Tengo.” “We took the beat from Drake’s ‘Trophies’ and added the dembow on top,” Yomil told Billboard at the time.
The track was a local hit and propelled the subsequent Sobredosis. El Dany had been posting on his Instagram account literally hours before his death. And while his feed featured him shopping for sneakers, his Instagram stories were more cryptic, with one black-and-white photo showing him walking down the street with the caption: “People wanting to be me, and I escaping from myself !!!”
According to Cuban news site CiberCuba and multiple social media posts, El Dany was being buried Saturday afternoon in Colón Cemetery in Havana, less than 24 hours after his death.
“Today we woke up to the sad news of your untimely death,” wrote Cuban duo Gente De Zona. “Thank you for having given us your music.”
“What a sad awakening,” wrote Jacob Forever. “We worked together for two years and we not only lost a very talented Cuban musician but a beautiful person.”
“The genre is in mourning,” posted El Chacal on his Instagram account.
