Bad Bunny: Tiny Desk Concert

Anamaria Artemisa Sayre

Credit: Photo: Virginia Lozano

For a moment, Bad Bunny forgot that he wasn't in Puerto Rico. Despite its residence in a news building in the capital of the United States, the Tiny Desk can — when colored by the careful vision of a true artist — take you anywhere else, especially the true origins of the music.

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But for the superstar, Puerto Rico is so beloved and so sacred that he could never truly forget it… and he's making sure the world sees that, too. The island is his source of inspiration and the mandate for which he wages war. Flanked by cuatros and congas, Bad Bunny wields the power of Puerto Ricans who have strummed chords and hummed lelolaifor generations in efforts to keep the culture alive.

After performing "LO QUE LE PASÓ A HAWAii," San Benito tells a parable about a man drawn to his band rehearsing outside the White House. "It's incredible," the man in the story says, "that after a hundred years of colonization, you keep your culture, your language, your tongue, your slang."

The Puerto Rican flag laid out before him shines; its brilliant blue is defiant and captivating. "They killed people for waving the flag," Bad Bunny sings in "LA MuDANZA." But there's such joy in the expression and such vibrance in the dance. Even with his global platform, Benito's true magic is intimacy: He wants you to fall in love with Puerto Rico. We scream with him: "Yo soy de P f