Right here is an attention-grabbing opinion piece by Cruz Bonlarron Martínez (Latino Rebels). [Many thanks to Peter Jordens for bringing this item to our attention.]
Over the weekend, the Latino web exploded with memes about Calle 13 frontman Residente and Colombian reggaetonero J Balvin, after Residente launched a tiradera dissing Balvin.
In a three-part eight-minute and 39-second freestyle collaboration with Argentine DJ Bzrp, René “Residente” Pérez Joglar touches on quite a lot of themes from nostalgia for the outdated days of reggaetón to protests in Puerto Rico to the French Revolution. He covers all of the bases. However what has ignited social media is what Pérez needed to say about his fellow musician, “the boy from Medellín,” J Balvin.
The title of every of the three components references Spanish novelist Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra’s Sixteenth-century novel Don Quijote de la Mancha. Residente decides to take down Balvin within the last half, El caballero de los espejos (The Gentleman of the Mirrors), a reference to Sansón Carrasco, an adversary that thinks he has defeated Don Quijote solely to seek out himself humiliated by Don Quijote in a last battle.
Like Cervantes’ protagonist, Residente humiliates his adversary with traces like “Voy a rebajarme con un bobolón/ que le canta a SpongeBob y a Pokémon/ la copia de un clone/ el Logan Paul del reggaetón“—criticizing Balvin’s company flip with the songs he made for Sponge Bob and Pokémon, and evaluating him to Logan Paul, the blond yanqui YouTuber who moved to Puerto Rico and has turn out to be the embodiment of its gentrification.
Residente exposes Balvin’s superficiality, criticizing him for not taking a transparent stance when Colombian police have been killing civilians throughout the 2021 protests that shook Colombia, saying: “El pueblo luchando/ los están matando/ y el tipo sube fotos de Ghandi rezando.”
But the harshest criticism of Balvin comes when Perez calls him out for the racist and misogynistic music video “Perra,” the place J Balvin could be seen strolling Black ladies on leashes as in the event that they have been canine. The tune was so controversial that it even obtained condemnation from Colombia’s right-wing vice chairman, Marta Lucía Ramírez.
Residente makes use of the verse to remind us that after the controversy surrounding the video, Balvin accepted an African Leisure Award for “Afro-Latino Artist of the 12 months,” although he’s white and there are numerous Black reggaetoneros who may have obtained the award as an alternative.
The Latino music group reacted to the tune in quite a lot of methods.
“I simply noticed an assassination dedicated with a pencil,” mentioned Spanish musician Alejandro Sanz.
“A lot hate destroying our society,” mentioned Colombian singer-songwriter Sebastián Yatra. “Please, let’s not incite violence. Extra respect… a little bit of humanity.”
Given the historical past between Residente and Balvin, it was no shock that Residente launched his tiradera.
In response to an interview in Rolling Stone En Español, Pérez mentioned that the meat between the 2 began once they first met and J Balvin made enjoyable of Pérez as a result of he didn’t have “hits on Spotify.” Residente, who has 31 Grammys, didn’t discover the remark humorous however selected to remain silent on the time.
Final October, nonetheless, when Balvin introduced that he was boycotting the 2021 Latin Grammys as a result of he wasn’t nominated, Residente determined to talk out publicly in opposition to Balvin.
In a now-deleted video posted on Instagram, Pérez criticized Balvin’s selfishness, stating that he was invisibilizing the opposite city music artists like Karol G, Rauw Alejandro, Unhealthy Bunny, and Myke Towers who have been nominated. [. . .]
For the complete article, pictures, and movies, see https://www.latinorebels.com/2022/03/09/rezbalvin