SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico – A Puerto Rican reggaeton star announced Wednesday he will give up his role as a rapper known for lyrics about violence and womanizing to devote his life to God.

Hector “El Father” Delgado held a surprise news conference in Puerto Rico's capital to say he will follow a religious calling and preach positive messages to youngsters once he has completed a tour for his next CD, “Final Judgment,” which he said would have Christian lyrics.

“My way now is to serve Christ in spirit and truth,” Delgado told reporters, adding he intended to donate his cache of bling, including diamonds and other sparklers for wrists, fingers and neck, to charitable groups.

Delgado, who grew up in the Puerto Rican city of Carolina, won a 2003 Billboard Latin Music Award for rap album of the year as part of the duo “Los Bambinos,” and he has collaborated with U.S. hip-hop superstar Jay-Z.

He was one of the pioneers of reggaeton – a mix of tropical rhythms, reggae, hip-hop and rap from Puerto Rico that took hold in the major U.S. Hispanic markets of Miami, Los Angeles and New York.

Delgado's announced retirement from reggaeton comes as the often irreverent Puerto Rican genre is going through some growing pains as it fights for a place on the mainstream stage.

It also comes about six months after a Puerto Rican woman seeking an autograph from Delgado was grabbed and apparently bitten by someone in his entourage and several shots were fired. Delgado was acquitted of several criminal charges filed against him in the incident.