Bad Bunny and the politics of everyday life
.Benito Martínez Ocasio, aka Bad Bunny, came to fame during an (ongoing) intense socio-political-ecological collapse in the archipelago of Puerto Rico- a colonial territory since the US invaded in 1898.
.The crisis includes an economic recession, an illegal (non-audited) debt, climate disasters, an extended energy blackout, aid mismanagement and neglect, local and federal necropolitics (how social and political power are used to dictate how some people may live and how some must die), a massive shutdown of schools, the defunding of public education, the privatization and deterioration of public services, a wave of femicides and queer-phobic crimes, forced migration to the US, internal displacement due to a tourist-US investor led economies, land-grabbing and 126 years of US colonialism that denies Puerto Rico to this day the right of choice to either statehood and full citizenship or independence.
.Keeping a balance between his reggaeton/trap/pop persona (a carefree yet melancholic sexual adventurer- now burdened by fame), he has also used and shared his platform to discuss issues regarding political corruption, gender politics in music, queer and trans rights and visibility, the visitor economy, ecological deterioration, and the displacement of local communities.
. You can find the original lyrics and English translation here.
The repeated phrase “Puerto Rico ‘ta bien cabrón” discusses the importance of a Black music lineage (bomba, salsa, reggaeton), sports dominance, local knowledge/saberes, Caribbean solidarity (shout out to the Dominican Republic!), activism, political resistance to colonialism (through its images of political leaders and protests), neoliberalism, and corruption. “Cabrón” also means fucked-up, demanding, and challenging.
.The video is interrupted by a “breaking news” story by independent journalist Bianca Graulau about the power system’s vulnerability after the government privatized the company. The report gives context to understand the economic increase in utilities and how the many blackouts are taking lives and affecting the locals daily. The song then “performs” a blackout, a “maldito apagón.”
.Bad Bunny identifies an appropriation problem due to reggaeton’s popularity on a global scale. He says everyone mimics the genre and the Puerto Rican/Latino slang. For him, this cultural issue mirrors the dynamics of colonialism. He warns people, “welcome to el calentón,” you are going to burn, “cuidao con mi corillo,” beware of Puerto Ricans because we don’t stand for shit/fakeness/ political abuse.
.The party scene could be read as a sequence that plays or reproduces tourist’s expectations about the island. At the same time, it is also portraying Puerto Rican queer joy and pleasure as resistance.
.The song ends with a femme voice declaring that she doesn’t want to migrate or be displaced. They (the tourists/the US investors/ the privatizers/the fake appropriators) are the ones who must go because they are taking what belongs to me/us (as Puerto Ricans and Caribbean people).
Presentation
Discussion Questions
How does the NYT article differ from Bianca Graulau’s reportage? Analyze their emphasis on the perspectives of US settlers, the political class, and the local populations affected.
How do you interpret the figure of Samuel Sánchez Tirado that opens the NYT article? How does he perform Caribbeanness/Puertoricanness under the visitor economy?
Written Reflection
Both Bad Bunny and Bianca Graulau propose that transformative change concerning gentrification and displacement will only come from the ground up, from the communities affected and their allies. Discuss how the song and the reportage communicate these ideas. What examples of activism and daily resistance do they foreground? What is the role of education and the arts in promoting grassroots actions?
Puerto Rican Voices: Season Five, Episode Two
Tito Matos: Ahora Sí (Noelia Quintero, 2022)
Following the death of Tito Matos, this biographical episode of Centro Voices looks at his legacy as a musician, cultural worker, mutual aid organizer, and agitator. Using archival footage to reflect on Tito’s contributions to Plena, we discover how he built knowledge, occupied neglected spaces, and mentored students in Puerto Rico and the diaspora.
Discussion Questions
.What is Tito Matos’ legacy to Puerto-Diaspo-Rican culture?
.How does Tito Matos’ experience with the Puerto Rican diaspora contribute to the evolution of Plena? What does his experience tell us about the expansion of Caribbean art beyond the basin?
.With what purpose did Tito Matos founded la Casa de la Plena? Do you consider la “casa” an artivism effort? How does it resist gentrification and displacement?
.How did Tito Matos nurture younger generations of “pleneres”? What role did inclusivity play in his activist pedagogy? What connections do you see with Bad Bunny’s politics of inclusion?
.In what other forms did Tito Matos perform his activism?