Bad Bunny: “People don’t know basic things about our country”

On a sun-drenched morning in Puerto Rico, Bad Bunny — born Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio — strolls into Zeta 93, the hometown radio station that once made his college-student heart race with nerves. Back then, he was a kid pursuing a communications degree. ​“I had the dream of getting into radio and having my own program,” he explains.

Today? He’s greeted like royalty, the room buzzing with excited staff, mostly women, who clap and shout ​“Bienvenido!”

With characteristic humility, Ocasio clasps his hands together and replies: ​“Gracias. Gracias.” He’s here to discuss his latest chart-topping album, DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS, which jumped Taylor Swift to reach number one on the Billboard 200 in late January, with Puerto Rican radio legend El Buho Loco. Spotting his childhood hero across the room, the reggaeton superstar lights up and embraces him.

There’s something strikingly different about Bad Bunny these days. Gone are the flashy sunglasses and neon outfits. He’s sporting a loose white button-down shirt, black trousers, and in perhaps a nod to his past eccentricities – an aviator ushanka trapper hat. There’s a new kind of confidence in him, deeply tethered to his roots. This is the modern, global face of Puerto Rico’s fight for independence, and Bad Bunny wears it well.

“I know there are a lot of people from outside of the island who don’t know basic things about our country,” he says. ​“It’s been interesting to share the story of Puerto Rico, and to see how they think of us.”

Born in the coastal town of Vega Baja, Ocasio says he grew up surrounded by music, from salsa and plena, to the early sounds of reggaeton. He began writing songs as a teenager, posting tracks on Soundcloud that eventually caught the attention of Puerto Rican producer DJ Luian. By 2017, his breakout hit ​‘SOY PEOR’ catapulted him into the global spotlight. From the start, he challenged machismo culture and societal norms, flaunting painted nails and gender-fluid fashion. In a way, you can say he is the Puerto Rican version of Harry Styles, but with a political cause.

“I think Bad Bunny’s the best thing that’s happened to Puerto Rican in a long time,” President and General Manager of SBS Puerto Rico, Zeta 93’s parent company, Eddie Cancela, says.

Ocasio’s resistance began to take shape as he witnessed the perception gap between Puerto Ricans and the rest of the world. ​“They ask me about Puerto Rico: ​‘Are we this or that?’ And there were questions I couldn’t even answer. They were basic questions I should have known,” Ocasio explains. ​“I learned.”

Through music, he’s helping the world learn too. Tracks like ​‘Compositor del Año’ tackle xenophobia and the struggle for justice head-on: ​“Po’ encima ​‘e mi carrera pongo a mi gente ​‘a’ ​‘lante / Pero siempre hay un bruto que nos trata de ignorante’ / Cosa’ má’ importante’ / Como luchar por los derecho’ de lo’ inmigrante’” (“Above my career, I put my people first / But there’s always some fool who calls us ignorant / More important things / Like fighting for immigrants’ rights”). 

Since being passed from Spain to the USA in 1898 after the Spanish-American War, Puerto Rico has been an American territory. Its modern-day status means its people are US citizens, but can’t vote in presidential elections. The island’s economy is controlled by outsiders, and decades of tax breaks for the ultra-wealthy have turned it into a playground for the rich. Meanwhile, Puerto Ricans, real Puerto Ricans, struggle with soaring costs of living, power outages, and displacement.

This is what Bad Bunny is fighting against – exploitation, modern day colonialism, and the erasure of Puerto Rican identity. His message is simple: Puerto Rico belongs to Puerto Ricans.

When American investors started buying up land and pricing locals out, he called them out in 2022’s ​‘El Apagón’ with the line: ​“No me quiero ir de aquí / Que se vayan ellos” (“I don’t want to leave here / They should leave”).

He even dropped a short film DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS to address these issues, with the documentary also exploring the displacement of Puerto Ricans.

His latest album continues the fight. In ​‘TURiSTA,’ he disguises his critique as a love song: ​“In my life, you were a tourist / You only saw the best of me and not how I was suffering / You left without knowing the reason for my wounds, the reason for my wounds / And it wasn’t your place to heal them, you came to have a good time / And we had a good time.”

The track is not only about a person. Ocasio says it’s about visitors who come and go. ​“When tourists visit Puerto Rico, they see the best sights, the dance, the food. They leave, and they don’t find out, or deal with, the problems that the country suffers with,” he says.

Now, as a star with a following in the several millions, he’s giving back to his home island too. He recently announced his 30-date summer residency, No Me Quiero Ir De Aquí, which fittingly translates to ​“I Don’t Want to Leave Here”, at the Coliseo de Puerto Rico, with nine dates reserved exclusively for island residents. He announced it on Instagram, in Spanish, saying: ​“For now, I’m in Puerto Rico. I’m home, having fun and, to be honest, I don’t want to leave.”

The tour, originally scheduled from July to August 2025, sold out within days, with new dates being added through September. Those sold out too, with only VIP tickets available.

“I don’t want to obligate people to learn,” he says. ​“I just want to plant the seeds for people to look and find out about our story.”

DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS is out now.

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