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Beside being loved for his music, Bad Bunny fans also know him for being outspoken about social injustices and trying to bring positive change to the world. So, when protests were taking place around the country--and the world--following George Floyd’s murder, people were disappointed to see the reggaetón singer stay so silent.
On May 19th, in the early days of quarantine before Floyd’s death, Benito posted an Instagram photo with the caption “bye, me fui” which is the title of one of his songs, but also means, “bye I left.” Apparently, he meant that quite literally, because he didn‘t post again until August 20, when he encouraged young people in Puerto Rico to register so they can vote on November 3.
In the three month time period in between posts, fans were calling Bad Bunny out, disappointed that he didn‘t take the time to speak about Black Lives Matter or distribute important information and resources to his millions of followers.
Now, following all of this backlash, Benito decided to put out a song speaking on all of these issues more in depth.
This week, he released a new track titled “Compositor del Año,” featuring a Soundcloud URL that ends in “f ***2020”. In the song, the artist finally speaks about the ongoing social issues that have been highlighted these past few months.
In the song he talks about racism, immigration, the importance of voting, and even his support for Joe Biden.
Within the song, he raps, in Spanish:
“It’s 2020 and racism is worse than COVID/ A black man with a gun, that’s a criminal, but if he’s white, they say that’s a hobby.”
He also talks about how a police badge is used as a “license to kill” adding “it’s being white that makes you lethal/and being Black is what makes a white person easy to shoot you.”
Beside just giving his two cents on these issues, this track does seem to be a direct response to everyone criticizing him for not posting during such an important time in our history.
He raps, “There are more important things than sitting down to criticize the achievements of an artist,” going on to say, “there are more important things like fighting for the rights of immigrants.”
There‘s a lot more that Benito touches on throughout this song, in the same vein, but his basic message here is that he does care about these issues--but him or any other celebrity speaking on them isn’t the most important thing in the world.
Listen to “Compositor Del Año” for yourself down below to hear what Bad Bunny has to say.