Bad Bunny (Benito Martínez) is Latin America’s biggest artist of the last decade. He’s a Puerto Rican singer and rapper, whose discography consists mostly of trap and reggaeton hits.
His latest album, Debí tirar Más Fotos (DtMF), has electrified the youth of Latin America. It is his most “Puerto Rican” and political album yet—a reflection of the growing politicization and radicalization in society. Its incredible beats almost transport the listener to the island, while expressing the simmering anger against US imperialist exploitation, forced migration, and poverty.
For example, the song “La Mudanza” remembers the singer’s dad and his working-class struggles:
The oldest of six, working since he was a little kid
Driving trucks like his dad and grandpa
Even though his dream was to be an engineer.
Each of the album’s songs is accompanied by a video visualizer with written explanations of the island’s history and liberation struggles: from the war against Spanish colonialism, to the US invasion of the island and the economic crisis facing Puerto Ricans today. The first track alone, “Nuevayol,” has over 27 million views on Youtube at the time of writing, with the visualizer detailing the creation of Puerto Rico’s flag—a symbol of independence—by revolutionary exiles in New York.
DtMF features Bad Bunny’s signature reggaeton and dembow style, with the usual themes of romantic relationships and partying. However, most songs also use rhythms and sounds from boricua culture, such as bomba and plena—dance music evolved from enslaved Africans working on sugar plantations—and jíbaro music, the traditional folk sound of Puerto Rico’s humble mountain workers.
In particular, “Lo Que Le Pasó a Hawaii” (“What happened to Hawaii”) explicitly denounces US imperialism. This track talks about the exploitation of Puerto Rico’s resources and the displacement of its native people. The song’s slower, more sombre mood evokes a cautionary tale about the island’s fate.
Hawaii’s annexation as the US’s 50th state came after a decades-long struggle that ended in a US-orchestrated coup. The native culture and language were almost erased by displacing the native people for the expansion of sugar plantations and tourist hotspots. This rings eerily similar to the history of Puerto Rico.
“Lo que le pasó a Hawaii” praises Puerto Rico’s natural beauty and its people’s struggle to stay in their homeland, or being forced to emigrate, due to skyrocketing rent prices fueled by tax cuts that draw in US natives, tourism multinationals, and other corporate leeches. The chorus warns:
No, don’t let go of the flag or forget the lelolai [a common ad lib in jíbaro music]
‘Cuz I don’t want them to do to you what happened to Hawaii.
The song has spread like wildfire across social media. From Costa Rica, to Oaxaca, to the other side of the Atlantic in the Canary Islands, people published videos commemorating their culture, and denouncing the tourism multinationals that have destroyed their landscapes and eroded the living standards of native peoples.
DtMF has articulated a sentiment that Latin American youth carry with them every day. It has awakened a celebration of Latin American culture, but most importantly, criticism and questioning of their conditions: the erosion of their living standards, environmental destruction, and corruption across the region.
The future of Latin America’s vast and vibrant population cannot be guaranteed by admiring its rich and lively culture, but through the fight against US imperialism and its local lackeys.