Bad Bunny puts Puerto Rico on the map – and sends a signal to Trump

As his residency opens in San Juan, the world’s biggest rumbero is giving voice to millions of Latinos facing deportation in the US.

- Claire McQue reports

“I’m from P fuckin’ R,” raps Bad Bunny, before a frenzy of congas and squealing horns builds La Mudanza to its riotous conclusion.

The salsa-rap track transports you to San Juan’s barrios, where rhythm-loving Puerto Ricans have stamped and spun to salsa for decades.

La Mudanza closes Bad Bunny's sixth album, Debí Tirar Mas Fotos. It is a bold assertion of Puerto Rican identity that inscribes the island's Afro-Latino sounds —bomba, plena, salsa — into the musical mainstream and cements his status as one of the most innovative artists around.

On Friday, he kicked off his loudest, proudest celebration of his homeland to date: a two-month residency in San Juan. With the tour, aptly titled I Don't Want to Leave Here, Bad Bunny puts Puerto Rico on the map. “It’s amazing because he’s welcoming the entire world into his world,” says a veteran of the Latin music industry. “He’s really highlighting Puerto Rico.”

Thanks to his huge following, he can afford to take creative risks. Bad Bunny's event is this summer's hottest ticket on the island: around 400,000 sold out in just four hours, and hotel bookings are at an all-time high. It is a taste of what's to come this autumn, when he begins his world tour through sold-out stadiums in Europe, Latin America and Asia.

Bad Bunny is the most famous rumbero leading a revolution in Latin music. But it didn’t start with him. Reggaeton grew out of Puerto Rico's nightclubs in the 1980s, and Latin America has danced to it for the past decade. Shakira, Colombia's J Balvin and the “King of Reggaeton” Daddy Yankee paved the way for today’s generation of stars to go global.