Puerto Rico is no stranger to musicians from the archipelago becoming global sensations. From the towering influence of composer Rafael Hernandez, who helped define the Latin American bolero and left his mark in the American jazz scene in the early 20th century, to Ricky Martin's bilingual hits that similarly defined the "Latin explosion" of the new millenium.
The island is so rich in musical history that you wouldn't be wrong thinking the "Rico" in its name refers to the abundance of musical heavyweights. So, for a Boricua, seeing Bad Bunny succeed is not that surprising; we are used to our musicians being outstanding.
What has been surprising — particularly to fellow Puerto Ricans who are used to seeing artists code switch to please an international audience — is that Bad Bunny's stratospheric trajectory to fame is unapologetically Boricua.El conejo malo speaks "Boricua Spanish" with other Spanish speakers but also when appearing in U.S. media; he wore a pava to the Met Gala; his most recent release, DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS, is an album centered on Puerto Rico, about Puerto Rico and for Puerto Rico.
The conventional wisdom is that all of the above would alienate the rest of the world, but it did not. And then Bad Bunny announced that he would hold a 30-show residency at the Coliseo de Puerto Rico where the first nine shows would be exclusively for Puerto Rican residents. There will be no tour for the continental United States. The residency is estimated to generate nearly $200 million in economic impact for Puerto Rico. Hotel occupancy rates are hitting record numbers. The first three days of Bad Bunny's residency were sold out, with 15,000 seats filled.
The mere fact that the residency will be held at El Choliseo is significant. Less than a decade before Bad Bunny was born, an impoverished working class neighborhood called Tokío was regularly on the local news. The San Juan neighborhood was deemed as one of the last "slums" and an eyesore for the growing financial district. The community was slowly dismantled and construction of El Choliseo began in 1996.
That Bad Bunny's residency is called No Me Quiero Ir De Aquí (I don’t want to leave from here) reflects that complex history. Seeing crowds gather to celebrate the island's most prominent star at the site of a neighborhood built by the hard work of the Puerto Ricans feels like something out of an epic poem.
On the opening night of the residency on July 11, it was difficult to remove that historical context — and the history that was currently being made — from my mind. I was so caught up thinking about this that I barely took any pictures of this major event. Below are moments I should have taken photos of during Bad Bunny's inaugural concert residency in Puerto Rico.
Bad Bunny Actually Set Up Residence In The Arena
I heard so many "Oh my gods" and "vete pal carajo" ("get the f— outta here") as I entered the arena. I even said as much myself when I saw what everyone else was reacting to: that Bad Bunny took this whole "residence" idea very seriously.
The main stage was a colorful and clever representation of a Puerto Rican mogote as the backdrop to a clearing with two small hills. On the right was a large flamboyan tree in the middle of a dirt road and on the left a field of plantain trees where two plastic chairs, recreating the now iconic DTMF album cover.
At the end of the seats on the floor section was a replica of the house featured in the DTMF short film. This was not a facade, but a total reconstruction that was furnished and habitable. The audience was looking at an actual residence. Bad Bunny was definitely saying "I am home!"
Benito & Julito Gastón Brought Bomba — And A New Song — To Life
Bomba, Puerto Rico’s oldest musical tradition, is an essential piece in the birth of plena and a building block for salsa and reggaeton. Opening night of the residency truly brought this connection to the present, via bomba dancers and players lead by percussion virtuoso Julito Gastón.
Gastón and company accompanied Benito for what seemed to be a brand new song called "ALAMBRE PúA" — a fast paced bomba-infused reggaetón ballad about heartbreak where he laments "Como tu ninguna se ve, Ay Dios mi como tu ninguna se ve" — as well as renditions of "KETU TeCRÉ," "EL CLúB," "La santa," "PIToRRO DE COCO," and "El apagón." Audiences felt those drums — three barriles de bomba (two buleadores and one primo) — in our feet and in our chests and it was impossible to hold back our singing and dancing. This powerful opening set carried an unbridled joy that set the tone for the whole night.
Jacobo Morales Reminded The Audience That ¡Somos Del Calentón!
A huge screen with a scaffold was set in the middle of the simulated mogote, providing real-time cinematic footage of the concert. As soon as the last beats of "El apagón" finished, the screen was suddenly filled with visuals of a house in the middle of a winter storm. Inside the house, renowned actor and cherished boricua filmmaker Jacobo Morales reprised his role as the older Bad Bunny from the "Debi Tirar Mas Fotos" short film. Morales interacted with the beloved stop-motion animated Puerto Rican crested toad known as Concho.
The audience learns that Morales and Concho are no longer living on the island, though Morales proclaims that they will always be Puerto Rican no matter where they are. A soul shaking cheer erupted in the stadium.
As Concho stated that the cold they were experiencing was unbearable Morales reassured him by telling him that he understood him because "lo que pasa es que nosotros no somos del frío mucho, ¡somos del calentón!" (we are not made for the cold, we are made for the heat) and then pictures by Puerto Rican photojournalists Ricardo Alcaraz and Farrique Pesquera from the "LA MuDANZA" video flashed rhythmically on the screen.
As those words and pictures coalesced, the crowd offered an incredibly collective grunt of recognition that was unlike anything I have seen or felt before. The 15,000 people in the arena were reminded that Puerto Rico has resisted a lot but has also fought back. I could not help but to think about Tokío again.
Bad Bunny Paid Tribute To Boleros
*Kevin Mazur/Getty Images*
The show had an acoustic section where Bad Bunny was accompanied by a sole guitarist in a loving tribute to Puerto Rico's rich bolero tradition. The crowd was as enthralled with these chill vibes as they were with the more percussion-driven intro.
The simplicity of the setup harkened back to a specific subgenre of bolero known as filin, which originated in Cuba but has a very passionate following throughout Latin America. This bolero-meets-jazz and trova sound is the domain of hopeless romantics who delight in the simplicity of a guitar or a piano and a talented singer.
Seeing him just lay back and give us versions of "Si estuviésemos juntos," "Solo de mí," "Ni bien ni mal,""Amorfoda" y "TURiSTA" unlocked a new tier of appreciation of el conejo malo. Little did we know that this was just the proverbial quiet before a monster of a musical storm.
Bad Bunny Created The Ultimate Pari De Marquesina
If you are Boricua you know what a pari de marquesina is. And on Friday we witnessed perhaps the most intense and more crowded one in the history of Puerto Rico. That in itself is historic and the fact that this will keep happening every single weekend until this residence ends.
Most people could describe a pari de marquesina as a Boricua house party, but that doesn't explain the full context: New or upgraded homes in Puerto Rico often include a dedicated space for the car called a marquesina. This has always been a huge deal; having a marquesina is not something that everyone can achieve and is an integral part of "the Puerto Rican dream."
That is why this house inside the arena hits so hard. That house is a representation of what most Puerto Ricans mean when they say they made it: A house where they can raise their family and have space for a car in an archipelago that lacks a consistent public transportation system. The financial sacrifices required to finally get or build that house meant that the "marquesina" became a multifunctional space that outgrew its initial purpose as housing for the car — it morphed into the ideal place to host local parties for close friends, family members and your favorite neighbors.
So when the show left the big stage and shifted to the house, the crowd let loose. As the house and marquesina became the second stage, it really felt like this was no longer a stadium but a huge open field in front of a friend’s house. No live musicians, no choreography, just the DJs belting out "NUEVAYoL," "Tití me preguntó," "Neverita," "Si veo a tu mamá," "La Romana," and "La Jumpa."
And then Bad Bunny went up into the roof and, voila, a third stage was born. From there, he coordinated the greatest sing along of his hardest perreo hits and stopped to read a roll call of Puerto Rican rap, reggaeton and trap artists. Seeing someone reading for a list never felt more exciting; every name was received with loving cheers.
And then Los Pleneros de la Cresta brought out los panderos to close out el pari. The second old school Puerto Rican musical tradition swept up us all after an intense tribute to reggaeton. And people were still dancing and singing every word to "CAFé CON RON" as if the shift in musical keys never happened.
Oh and Lebron James was there, en la casa, jangueando.
After The Party, Benito Relaxed & Got Real
When Benito finally arrived at the hill on the main stage where the album cover was recreated approximately, two hours had passed and there was still an hour left.
There he was joined by Julito Gastón on the barril de bomba and José Eduardo Santanta on what is considered to be Puerto Rico’s national instrument, el cuatro, for a gripping rendition of "LO QUE LE PASÓ A HAWAii." This song is the spiritual center of this album and of all the ideas surrounding the presentation of this residence.
The placement of this song in his three-hour set was likely intentional. We just had the most intense party with Bad Bunny in that very real house that was not a very subtle reminder of the aspirational Boricua home. That house is what people leave behind when they feel that leaving is the only way to actually achieve a prosperous future.
Back at the main stage, that person sitting among the trees on a plastic chair is no longer the mega superstar; he is just a Boricua called Benito.
He is us and we are him. Him sitting on that chair is telling us that we can see ourselves filling the same chair in the album cover.
The crowd sang every word of "LO QUE LE PASÓ"with conviction just as he did because at that moment in time we were all Benito and we were all here at home and we were saying, no nos queremos ir de aquí (we don’t want to leave from here).
Los Sobrinos Joined Benito On Stage To Carry The Torch
@jetsetchick #badbunny #nomequieroirdeaqui #sanjuan #baileinolvidable @Bad Bunny
After we all finished singing "LO QUE LE PASÓ A HAWAii," another video interlude, this time long time salsa Puerto Rican radio DJ El Buho Loco narrated a heartfelt tribute to salsa musica. Pictures of great Puerto Rican performers and composers, from Eddie Palmieri to Tite Curet Alonso, represented the culmination of the bomba and plena tributes.
Cheers from recognition accompanied the end of the video as El Buho Loco triumphantly introduced Los Sobrinos — an impressive cast of young studio musicians who recorded DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS that have started calling Benito their tio (uncle), hence their name, translated to the cousins — as the literal torchbearers of the salsa legacy.
Bad Bunny had changed his wardrobe to a '70s salsa singer-inspired outfit joined them to belt out a spectacular salsa version of "Callaita" that took us to "BAILE INolVIDABLE." This was now a full-blown salsa concert.
The sound was pristine, contagious and you could see people trying out intricate salsa moves in every corner of El Choliseo.
Benito Teared Up While Talking About His Family
As we came to the inevitable end, Bad Bunny became Benito again for the last song: "LA MudANZA." As he tried to say on his Tiny Desk Concert, calling this a song is not accurate. He could not come up with the words at the moment, but upon reflection, this song is a testament.
A testament of his love to his parents of course. He starts the song by retelling in rap verses how his parents met. But it then becomes un "TESTAMENTO," a "will", because he gives us instructions of what he wants us to do if he were to suddenly pass away.
And he sincerely choked up while mentioning his grandparents. To witness an artist of this caliber visibly emote amongst thousands of people on a stage is a rare gift. When Benito returned from that emotional pause and asked for an applause for "papi y mami por qué rompieron," the crowd gave a thunderous applause; a demonstration of how kind Puerto Ricans really are. Benito was really asking for an applause because he wanted to pay tribute to his parents. They showed him how to love Puerto Rico so intensely, and he continues to honor them by loving his homeland just as much.
By the time the concert ended, the pictures that I never took are actually seared in my memory. Those three hours bended time, space and place — and the emotional party continued throughout the weekend.
Bad Bunny and all of the top notch musicians and DJs did this all again on Saturday and Sunday with some exciting variations: On Saturday, RaiNao joined him at the front porch of the house for that one to sing "PERFuMITO NUEVO" while Jhaycodid the same but in the roof portion of "el pari de marquesina" to perform "Dákiti," "Cómo se siente," and "No me conoce." On Sunday Jowell y Randy invaded the house roof while Pedro Capo sat on the plastic chair amidst the plantain trees to sing "LO QUE LE PASÓ A HAWAii."
Bad Bunny 's No Me Quiero Ir De Aquí residency continues through Sept. 14.