Bad Bunny: A voice for Puerto Rican resistance?

Debí Tirar Más Fotos (I Should Have Taken More Photos), the latest album by Puerto Rican artist Bad Bunny, climbed to number one on Billboard's 200 albums chart in only five days, and has maintained that position for four consecutive weeks. It is the second of the reggaeton artist's albums to achieve this feat, this time beating out artists like Sza, Kendrick Lamar and Taylor Swift.

During its first week, the album garnered over 263 million on-demand official streams and earned 203,500 equivalent album units in the United States alone, as reported by Rolling Stone.

This achievement is all the more impressive when considering that the artist's discography is solely sung in Spanish. In fact, Bad Bunny's El Último Tour del Mundo in 2020 became Billboard's first all-Spanish-language album to hit number 1 on Billboard 200's history. When asked by The New York Times if he was worried about listeners not understanding his music, he said, "I don't care."

Comprising a track list of 17 songs, Debí Tiras Más Fotos merges the well-known reggaeton beats with which Bad Bunny started his career with salsa and plena, reflecting the artist's Puerto Rican roots. It also only features other Boricua artists like RaiNao, Chuwi, Omar Courtz and Los Pleneros de la Cresta, a band dedicated to keeping the folk Afro-Boricua plena genre alive.

Beyond celebrating Puerto Rican culture, the album is also one of resistance and political activism. In the Lo que le pasó a Hawaii (What Happened to Hawaii) track, Bad Bunny warns Boricuas by comparing Puerto Rico's struggle with neo-imperialism and gentrification with Hawaii's own.

"They want to take the river and the beach. They want my neighborhood and for grandma to leave. Don't let go of the flag, don't forget the lelolai. Don't let them do to you what they did to Hawaii," the artist sings.

Puerto Rico's limbo-like status

Puerto Rico, a Spanish colony since the late 15th century, was acquired by the United States following the 1898 Spanish-American and established as an unincorporated U.S. territory.

The U.S. Constitution allows for the unequal treatment of its territories compared to states, as long as there is a "rational basis" for such difference. As scholar Samantha Rivera Joseph points out, "the dichotomy of being both American citizens and colonial subjects has situated Puerto Ricans in a political purgatory and makes them particularly vulnerable to exploitation of their land and resources in the United States."

In spite of being U.S. citizens, Puerto Ricans don't have full representation in Congress, those who live on the island can't vote in federal elections, and their local policies and legislation are superseded by federal mandates.

Puerto Ricans voted for the island's independence first in 1914, a call that was ignored but met with granting Boricuas U.S. citizenship. In the 1930s, however, a strong independence movement emerged, led by Harvard-educated lawyer Pedro Albizu Campos.

This movement was faced with retaliation, such as the killing of 19 Nationalist Party members by the U.S.-led police in the southern city of Ponce – known as the Ponce Massacre – and the bombing of the central Jayuya and Utuado towns in what is recognized as the first time that the U.S. bombed its own citizens.

Today, independence is unpopular amongst Puerto Ricans. A 2024 poll conducted by the local newspaper El Nuevo Día found that only 19% of Boricuas support independence.

The island, however, has voted for statehood several times, as per the Puerto Rico Statehood Council, which is working to build a national movement in support of equal rights through Puerto Rican statehood.

Speaking with the Latin Times, however, Dr. Aitza Haddad Nuñez, Puerto Rican born Adjunct Professor at Southern New Hampshire University and founder of the Friendly Law NGO, explained that the American influence extends beyond politics.

"The media sold Puerto Ricans an idea of who we should be instead of who we are, so we would make an effort to search for those American traits that were blasted in our faces as desirable. It created a mindset, especially on little kids, of what we should look like, where we're meant to be, so it became easier to erase our history from the inside," Dr. Haddad Nuñez said.

Puerto Ricans have forgotten their history, and although they have maintained their identity, it has become easier to assimilate to American standards, Dr. Haddad Nuñez argues.

"Our language was banned, our flag was banned, but we, as rebellious as we were, kept showing it and speaking Spanish," the scholar recalls.

The U.S. did ban both the Spanish language and the Puerto Rican flag with the 1948 "Gag Law," which criminalized expressive acts of Puerto Rican independence. Efforts to invalidate the law under the First Amendment were unsuccessful until 1957.

"They killed people here for showing the flag, which is why I now bring it with me wherever I go," Bad Bunny sings on his newest album's 17th track, La Mudanza (The Move).

The scholar attributes the current rejection of many Boricuas to questions of statehood or independence to fear instilled by the U.S. in the island through such actions.

"Remember, rejection comes from fear. They'd rather have the comfort of the limbo that we have than nothing at all, because the fear of the unknown is too much," she explained.

Bad Bunny, however, is rescuing those aspects of history that many have forgotten and which have prompted an assimilation into U.S. culture, Dr. Haddad Nuñez explained.

"Benito (the artist's birth name) is reminding newer generations of who they are, and where they come from," she said.

Tax incentives and gentrification

On his album, Benito speaks of his fellow countrymen being displaced to mainland U.S. due to corruption within the island, and of the Boricua diaspora in New York's Bronx borough specifically.

As per the Department of Economic Development and Commerce, 4,500 individuals and businesses relocated from Puerto Rico to the mainland between 2012 to 2019, a number that has only continued to rise.

This increasing wave of outward migration coincides with the 2012 tax exemption decree, passed by the Legislative Assembly of Puerto Rico to attract and develop key industries, from manufacturing and film, to hospitality. The 2019 Law 60, similarly created the Office of Incentives for Businesses in Puerto Rico, tasked with administering the tax incentives.

This means that foreign investors to Puerto Rico benefit from a 4% income tax rate on eligible income, 100% tax exemption on capital gains from eligible investments, and 75% exemption on property for an initial 15 years.

"Law 60 has been instrumental in attracting foreign businesses and entrepreneurs, which benefit from its incentives to establish their operations on the island. This has resulted in the creation of close to 28,000 jobs, strengthening key sectors such as advanced manufacturing and technology," explained Ella Woger-Nieves, CEO of Invest Puerto Rico, a non-profit that promotes business and capital investment on the island, in conversation with Latin Times.

Woger-Nieves also stressed that through tax incentives and a general promotion of direct foreign investment, Puerto Rico has sought to create well-paying jobs, a diversification of the economy, and access to technology and innovation.

However, a side effect of this capital injection and the appealing tropical island to which investors can move to while enjoying tax breaks is gentrification.

"Affordable housing is one of the biggest issues on the island right now. Even Puerto Ricans in the diaspora are wanting to come back and buy property to create some generational wealth, but they mention how difficult it is for them to be allowed to invest. They say how it's not until they have a colleague or a friend with a very American name who can pass for them and suddenly, everything is expedited," Dr. Haddad Nuñez explained.

Journalist Bianca Graulau, who previously collaborated with Bad Bunny in the music video for El Apagón (The Blackout), released a short film exploring this issue. In it, Raúl Santiago-Bartolomei, an assistant professor at the University of Puerto Rico, explained that gentrification does not happen throughout the island, but rather in certain cities.

"If you live in the places where foreign investment is evident, in the future you will probably have to move because prices will go up so much that you will not be able to afford life in these towns. This also means that part of the labor force that works in these places will also have to move farther and farther away as time goes on," Santiago-Bartolomei stated.

Some, however, stress that sustainable foreign investment is not only possible, but rather their responsibility under the current incentives.

"We understand that economic development must be inclusive and sustainable. That's why we work to ensure the local workforce has access to training, well-paying jobs, and a better quality of life. We also advocate for effective regulation of economic incentives, ensuring that they benefit those who comply with legal requirements and contribute to both economic and social interests," Woger-Nieves stated.

Bad Bunny's influence

Debí Tirar Más Fotos is currently charting in 17 Latin American countries, including Colombia, Venezuela, Argentina, Costa Rica and Nicaragua, and its lead song placed third on the Billboard Global 200 songs rank. Its influence, however, is centered on his home of Puerto Rico.

"[Bad Bunny's] influence is not limited to his music, but also extends to his capacity for economical impact. His 30-show residence in the Coliseo de Puerto Rico titled "I don't want to leave here," will have an estimated economic impact of $200 million USD," Woger-Nieves noted.

The residency in "El Choli," recognized as being reggaeton's stomping ground, is set to begin on July 11 and end on September 14, 2025. It is now completely sold out, although its tickets went from $544 to $907 USD, and included a two-night stay at one of the event's hotel partners.

Creative industries, as per an Invest Puerto Rico study, generate $8.7 billion USD every year, and employ over 87,000 people. Events led by artists like Benito catalyze opportunities, strengthening Puerto Rico's image as a competitive and dynamic business destination.

Beyond the economy, however, Dr. Haddad Nuñez points out that Bad Bunny's success abroad might not reflect Boricua sentiment toward him.

"Puerto Ricans are our own worst enemy. First, they hated Bad Bunny because of the savage slang he used, but now they have a political reason to hate him more than a moral one," she explained.

Regardless, the power in voicing some Boricuas' frustrations remains deeply emotional for the scholar.

"He's selling a narrative, he's creating conversations, and I'm just thankful that what we academics have been trying to raise the alarms about for so long, he's also using his platform to put it out there. I believe in joyful activism, and that's what he's doing," Haddad Nuñez exclaimed, holding back tears.