Throughline (NPR): How Bad Bunny Took Puerto Rican Independence Mainstream

Date: February 12, 2026
Hosts: Rund Abdelfatah, Ramtin Arablouei
Summary:
This episode explores how global superstar Bad Bunny (Benito Antonio Martinez Ocasio) has brought Puerto Rican independence and identity into mainstream political and cultural conversation. The hosts trace his journey from a “typical” Puerto Rican upbringing to international stardom, examining his increasingly explicit political messaging, the historical context shaping his generation, and the complicated dance between pop success, activism, and collective representation. Featuring conversations with experts, reporters, and those close to Bad Bunny, the episode positions his story at the heart of Puerto Rico’s ongoing struggle over status, crisis, and sovereignty.

Main Themes

• The evolution of Bad Bunny from a shy, charismatic Puerto Rican kid to the world’s biggest (Spanish-singing) artist at the Super Bowl
• How his music serves as an archive and record of Puerto Rico’s crisis generation
• The transformation of resistance and independence from fringe to mainstream
• The tension between cultural representation, celebrity, brand, and collective national identity

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Bad Bunny on the Global Stage: Super Bowl 60

• Bad Bunny performs mostly in Spanish at Super Bowl 60, using global visibility to highlight Puerto Rico’s colonial reality, even as language and Latino identity are being criminalized in the US.
  “He’s a Spanish speaking artist from a colony, and he’s performing at the Super Bowl. At a time when the Spanish language is being criminalized.”
  — Rund Abdelfatah (00:37)

• Historian Jorrell Melendez Badillo:
  “What he did was show the world what Latinos have. ... I got super emotional.” (01:11, 01:26)

• Bad Bunny refuses to perform his latest album in the continental US, citing concerns for fans’ safety due to ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement). (02:16)

2. A Mixtape of Puerto Rican History and Feeling

• Bad Bunny’s story structured as a mixtape, following his music’s relationship to Puerto Rico’s history and current crises.

• His upbringing: born 1994 to a schoolteacher and truck driver, choir singer as a child, “extremely typical childhood,” not raised in a radical or independence environment.
  “His nuclear family was [pro-statehood party] and that's the pro statehood party in Puerto Rico.”
  — Karina del Valle Shorski (08:49)

• Political parties explained:

  • New Progressive Party (pro-statehood)
  • Popular Democratic Party (status quo/commonwealth)
  • Independence Party (pro-sovereignty)

• Most Puerto Rican families are not radically political but live in “the water” of colonial condition. (09:46)

3. Economic Crisis Setting the Stage

• End of US tax breaks for corporations (Section 936) in 1996 leads to loss of jobs and the beginning of Puerto Rico’s modern economic crisis.
  “This is the beginning of what ends up becoming the financial crisis.”
  — Rund Abdelfatah (11:28)

• Puerto Rico’s colonial history is summarized: “Puerto Rico is a Latin American and Caribbean country colonized by the Spanish since 1493 until 1898, and by the United States since after 1898.”
  — Jorrell Melendez Badillo (12:04)

• Puerto Ricans are US citizens but “second class”—no congressional representation, limited voting rights

• “Mano dura contra el crimen” policies (“strong hand against crime”) result in over-policing of poor communities (13:49)

4. Musical Roots: Reggaeton, Trap & Identity

• Bad Bunny comes up in an era where reggaeton resonates with youth—music as a reaction against government censorship and policing, centering Black Puerto Rican experience
  “His mom wasn’t crazy about him listening… but she would let him play like [on drives],”
  — Karina del Valle Shorski (14:49)

• Begins releasing his own music on SoundCloud, leading to breakout hit Soy Peor (16:24)

5. Crisis Generation & Growing Political Voice

• Puerto Rico’s debt crisis explodes in 2015–2016, followed by strict austerity and the US-imposed PROMESA fiscal control board (“La Junta”)
  “A generation that feels there’s nothing for them, that any future they might have had was stolen.”
  — Jorrell Melendez Badillo (21:24)

• Soy Peor as an anthem: even if not overtly political in lyrics, its mood captured the “hopelessness and ugly feeling” of the PROMESA austerity generation

6. Hurricane Maria: Turning Point for Politics and Music

• The devastation of Hurricane Maria (2017) becomes a catalyst for openly political music—and popular discussion of colonialism
  “We call these events like Maria natural disasters, but really they’re just natural events and unnatural disasters, right? Human made disasters.”
  — Jorrell Melendez Badillo (24:09)

• The single Estamos Bien (2018) becomes “a trap ballad with a self-consciously political register,” a hopeful and nihilistic anthem for recovery and diaspora.
  “If tomorrow I die, like that's okay. I'm already accustomed to having my head in the clouds.”
  — Karina del Valle Shorski (26:49)

• Bad Bunny’s first US TV appearance on The Tonight Show addresses Trump and the death toll directly (2018):
  “He addresses President Trump directly in national television... there’s still people without electricity... Trump is still in denial.”
  — Rund Abdelfatah (27:36)

7. Mobilizing Protest: Verano Boricua & Afilando Los Cuchillos

• 2019: After governor Ricardo Rossello is caught mocking Maria victims in leaked chats, huge protests erupt. Bad Bunny cuts his European tour short, joins the protests, and records Afilando los Cuchillos (“Sharpening the Knives”) with Residente and Ile—an anthem for the streets. “It is so pointed … talking about the protest specifically... this is basically us taking back what's ours...”
  — Rund Abdelfatah (31:51)

• “Generation of ‘yo no me dejo’ — I’m not to be messed with” (34:19)

• Surge in pro-independence sentiment among youth
  “…a kind of new opportunity … young people becoming increasingly in favor of Puerto Rican independence.”
  — Rund Abdelfatah (35:11)

8. Art as Resistance and Archive: Recent Work

• El Apagón (2022): Protest/party anthem about continuing blackouts and displacement; music video includes activist mini-doc Aqui Vive Gente
  “You want to listen to my music, you're going to learn some history.”
  — Rund Abdelfatah (37:29)

• Direct criticism of gentrification, “crypto/tech” displacement, and laws favoring outsiders.

9. Mainstreaming Independence: DTMF Album & Activism

• Bad Bunny’s 2025 album, Debería haber tomado más fotos (DTMF), becomes the first Spanish-language Grammy Album of the Year winner (40:32).

• Collaborates with historian Melendez Badillo to feature short explainers on Puerto Rican history in YouTube visualizers
  “Benito wanted to use his platform to amplify Puerto Rican history.”
  — Melendez Badillo (40:48)

• Short film with “Concho,” the endangered Puerto Rican toad, as a metaphor for disappearing ways of life

• Songs reference historical repression (La Gag Law—illegal to show Puerto Rican flag—highlighted in lyrics, colors, music videos)

• “I don't want Puerto Rico to become Hawaii.” (43:51)—clear anti-statehood message

• DTMF marks Bad Bunny’s coming out as “an independentista” for the first time (42:43)

10. From Voice to Brand: Critique and Complication

• Bad Bunny uses wealth and influence for activism (billboards, residency/concerts for Puerto Ricans only), but also partners with Amazon and faces criticism about commercialization of resistance. “Whenever Bad Bunny does anything, I get 100 emails ... Puerto Rico only matters if it's through Bad Bunny's voice. ... Some of us are left imagining and desiring other possibilities.”
  — Karina del Valle Shorski (48:01)

• Guests and experts warn: Pop stars cannot “save” nations; collective action and solidarity matter most
  "Pop culture will not save us. ... Kill your idols. This is a person that is trying to make sense of the life he's living.”
  — Melendez Badillo (50:12)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• "He’s a Spanish speaking artist from a colony, and he’s performing at the Super Bowl. At a time when the Spanish language is being criminalized."
  — Rund Abdelfatah (00:37)

• “Puerto Ricans are second class U.S. citizens, as scholars have argued.”
  — Jorrell Melendez Badillo (12:46)

• “Soy Peor makes absolutely no gestures towards being ready as a political song, I always strongly associate the mood of that song with the passage of Promesa. Now I'm worse because of you.”
  — Karina del Valle Shorski (21:06)

• “We call these events like Maria, natural disasters, but really they’re just natural events and unnatural disasters, right? Human made disasters.”
  — Jorrell Melendez Badillo (24:09)

• “Estamos bien means like we’re okay, we’re good... kind of hopeful, but also...he has a lyric about the fact that we don’t have light in the house.”
  — Rund Abdelfatah (26:18)

• “I do not think that we get to where we are now with Bad Bunny’s music without 2019, there’s just no way.”
  — Rund Abdelfatah (35:28)

• “Puerto Rico esta bien cabrón”—which, depending on context, means awesome, or we’re fucked.”
  — Ramtin Arablouei (36:14)

• “You want to listen to my music, you’re going to learn some history.”
  — Rund Abdelfatah (37:29)

• “I don't want Puerto Rico to become Hawaii, which is a state ... He's asking people to not let go of the Puerto Rican flag, meaning we are our own nation.”
  — Rund Abdelfatah (43:46)

• “Pop culture will not save us. ... Kill your idols. This is a person that is trying to make sense of the life he's living.”
  — Melendez Badillo (50:12)

Timestamps for Key Segments

• 00:26 – Bad Bunny at Super Bowl 60: cultural/political implications
• 06:00 – Introduction to Bad Bunny’s early life and musical roots
• 10:28 – Growing up in post-936 Puerto Rico: economic policy crash course
• 14:24 – Reggaeton/underground music as resistance
• 16:48 – “Soy Peor” and Bad Bunny’s breakout
• 18:09 – Debt crisis: 2015 and Promesa law
• 23:26 – Generation in crisis: economic collapse, austerity
• 23:36 – Hurricane Maria: devastation and response
• 25:54 – Estamos Bien: music as resilience and protest
• 29:33 – Political scandal and 2019 protests
• 31:51 – Afilando los Cuchillos: protest anthem
• 35:41 – Increasingly political dance music
• 36:04 – El Apagón and anti-gentrification activism
• 40:32 – DTMF album and direct pro-independence messaging
• 43:35 – Flag symbolism and the fight over Puerto Rican identity
• 45:36 – Bad Bunny and rising support for independence
• 47:13 – Puerto Rico residency, branding, and critiques
• 49:35 – Economic partnerships, Amazon critique, and the limits of celebrity activism
• 50:12 – Kill your idols / pop culture will not save us

Conclusion

“Throughline” uses Bad Bunny’s career to trace the modern history of Puerto Rico’s political and economic crisis, showing how his music, activism, and massive fame have propelled independence and anti-colonial sentiment into the mainstream. The episode balances celebration of his cultural impact with a critical discussion of the risks when movements and histories become synonymous with a single celebrity brand. Through it all, Bad Bunny’s story becomes that of a generation searching for a future of dignity and justice—using music as both memory and means for change.