Bad Bunny’s ‘DTMF’ Is A Love Letter to Puerto Rico

The opening observe of Unhealthy Bunny’s sixth studio album, “Debí Tirar Más Fotos,” which was launched on Jan. 5, would not start in the best way many people have come to anticipate typical reggaetón songs to start out. There are not any heavy synths underlining the intro, no plucky “wite” melody (how Puerto Ricans check with the enduring melody sampled from Jamaica’s “Bam Bam” riddim), and no pounding dembow bassline. As an alternative, “Nuevayol” opens with a pattern from the salsa traditional “Un Verano En Nueva York” by El Gran Combo, the primary signal we’re in for one thing totally different. And by the point the album’s 17 tracks are by, we have been taken on a tour by Puerto Rico’s wealthy musical historical past. That is Unhealthy Bunny’s most Puerto Rican and emotionally susceptible album but, the place he makes use of the island’s musical soundscape as a canvas to touch upon its many socio-political points whereas cultivating the musical terroir of Puerto Rico’s future.

“Debí Tirar Más Fotos,” which interprets to “I ought to’ve taken extra images,” comes at an important time for Puerto Ricans, each on the island and all through the diaspora. With the identical administration that has helped lead the island into corruption and decay about to take workplace but once more, there isn’t a assure that our traditions or lifestyle will not be immediately impacted. Such is the march of time, and the impression of over 500 years of colonization can’t be understated.

Unhealthy Bunny, born Benito Antonio Martínez, appears to know this higher than most. The album is framed loosely by the thought of the singer coming into the brand new 12 months alone, reflecting on a misplaced love, which may simply correlate to the lack of company, sleep, and a promising future many Puerto Ricans are grappling with. Our seashores are slowly being poisoned. Our lands are being offered to crypto billionaires. And our lights nonetheless will not keep the fuck on.

Given these circumstances, it is not onerous to see how the nostalgia of the previous can function an escape. However Martínez, whereas his character may be ingesting pitorro and reminiscing about an ex, is not getting misplaced in nostalgia. He is utilizing it to bridge the hole between the island’s previous and its future. Whereas the opening observe begins with a salsa pattern, which shouts out Puerto Rican legends like salsero Willie Colón and the proprietor of the final standing Puerto Rican social membership in NYC, Maria Antonia Cay (referred to as Toñita), the second track on the album, “Baile Inolvidable,” sees Martínez harmonizing in his typical urbano cadence over the horns, keys, and typical salsa orchestration supplied by Libre de Musica San Juan. That is adopted by tracks borrowed from much less industrial genres, equivalent to bomba y plena, música jíbara, and bachata. Nonetheless, whereas the sonic panorama of “DTMF” owes a lot to the island’s previous, the voices it options are primed to form the island’s musical custom for years to come back.

Puerto Rico’s subsequent massive factor, RaiNao, is featured on the observe “Perfumito Nuevo,” a horny, upbeat reggaetón quantity with pulsing, alternating dembow rhythms which are good for a day-trip throughout Puerto Rico’s sunbaked carreteras. The very subsequent observe, “Weltito,” calls in help from up-and-coming Latin jazz, tropical fusion quartet Chuwi.

Martínez may be a once-in-a-generation celebrity, however he is at all times understood that he’s a part of a much bigger musical custom, one that features greats like Hector Lavoe, Andres Jimenez, Olga Tanon, Huge Pun, Tego Calderon, and plenty of extra. And with that comes a sure accountability. Martínez is aware of that any artist he options might be springboarded into the highlight, and he makes use of his platform accordingly to make sure that the custom continues lengthy after he is gone.

There’s been a “latest again to the roots” motion sweeping throughout the underground scene in PR, with new artists experimenting with extra conventional sounds, which the artists featured on the album, together with Chuwi, Rainao, Omar Courtz, and Dei V are all part of. Even Rauw Alejandro stepped as much as embrace a extra traditional model and pay homage to the diaspora on his final album with a canopy of ‘Tú Con El” by Frankie Ruiz. So it is no shock that after “nadie sabe lo que vas a pasar mañana,” the lure masterclass that was his final album, Martínez’s newest mission would have him moving into a extra eclectic course and utilizing his platform to assist push the island’s sound in that course.

However in some ways, Unhealthy Bunny can be type of an anti-superstar. Whereas being a pop star usually means buying and selling in a extra cultivated sound for one thing that appeals to the lots, Martínez has executed the alternative. The extra his fame has grown, the extra his musical trajectory has diverged from typical pop stardom, main him down the trail of auteur and activist just like hip hop artist and rapper Kendrick Lamar. Equally, as his fame has grown, his albums have turn out to be much less accessible and extra insular. “DTMF” just isn’t an album that caters to exterior audiences. It isn’t meant to attraction to vacationers, one thing the artist touches on within the observe “Turista,” a cautionary story about falling in love with the superficial however being unwilling to simply accept or dwell with an individual’s or, on this case, a spot’s imperfections.

However perhaps essentially the most impactful observe on the disc is “Lo Que Le Paso a Hawaii.” On it, Unhealthy Bunny examines the similarities between Hawaii and Puerto Rico, how each had been made U.S. territories in 1898 and the way the transition from colony to statehood has served the American pursuits whereas elevating the price of dwelling and marginalizing native Hawaiians. It’s an eerily related parallel to what Martínez sees occurring as we speak in Puerto Rico: the inflow of American ex-pats, the gentrification of cultural facilities, and the federal government’s push for statehood. It is no surprise the artist was dropped at tears on a latest go to to San Juan. The album is stuffed with bittersweet sentiments like these.

If “Un Verano Sin Ti” was a love letter to Caribbean tradition (Spanish and non-Spanish talking alike), and “nadie sabe lo que va a pasar mañana” was an homage to the road lifetime of Puerto Rico, then “DTMF” is a celebration of who we’re as folks, a testomony to our grit, and our contribution to music as complete. Certain, the normal genres are nicely represented right here, however there are additionally touches of home and spoken phrase, which remind us of the roles we have performed in elevating these arts.

Martínez is wielding nostalgia as a weapon right here, taking goal at those that would see us pushed off our lands and erased from historical past in essentially the most Puerto Rican of the way: by making noise. And within the course of, he is totally come into his personal as an artist and visionary. And that imaginative and prescient places his island and his folks entrance and heart in all the things he does. As he says on certainly one of my favourite tracks from the album “EoO”: “You are listening to Puerto Rican music. We grew up listening to and singing this. Within the tasks, within the hoods. Because the 90s, the 2000s till without end.”

Miguel Machado is a journalist with experience within the intersection of Latine id and tradition. He does all the things from unique interviews with Latin music artists to opinion items on points which are related to the group, private essays tied to his Latinidad, and thought items and options regarding Puerto Rico and Puerto Rican tradition.