Cognoscenti presents: The cultural phenomenon of Bad Bunny

Bad Bunny has captured our collective imagination and attention with his music and larger than life personality. Fresh from winning album of the year at the Grammys for “Debí Tirar Más Fotos” and a historic halftime performance at the Super Bowl, some have argued he is the most important pop musician of our time. His music includes a long lineage of the rhythms of reggaeton and its evolution through the Caribbean, Latin America and the U.S. He also represents a cultural force that reckons with racial politics, LGBTQ rights and the dynamic and complex realities of Puerto Rico.

In partnership with Cognoscenti, WBUR’s essay and ideas team, join us for an evening exploring his cultural impact, featuring music and video highlights throughout the conversation.

Panelists

• Petra Rivera-Rideau — associate professor and chair of American studies at Wellesley College, and co-creator of the Syllabus
• Wayne Marshall — ethnomusicologist, assistant professor at Berklee College of Music and co-editor of “Reggaeton.”

Copies of Rivera-Rideau’s “P FKN R” and Marshall’s “Reggaeton” will be available to purchase from our bookstore partner Brookline Booksmith and the authors will sign following the conversation.

About “P FKN R”

Global superstar Bad Bunny, born Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio, like many other Puerto Ricans, has lived a life marked by public crises — blackouts, hurricanes, political corruption and oppression, among others — that have exposed the ongoing impacts of colonialism in Puerto Rico. Offering a portrait of the past and future of Puerto Rican resistance through one of its loudest and proudest voices, "P FKN R" draws on interviews with musicians, politicians, and journalists as well as ethnographic research to set Bad Bunny and Puerto Rican resistance in a historical, political, and cultural context. Authors Vanessa Díaz and Petra Rivera-Rideau—creators of the “Bad Bunny Syllabus” — demonstrate Bad Bunny’s place in a long tradition of infusing joy and protest into music and honor the many, evolving forms of daily resistance to oppression and colonialism that are part of Puerto Rican life.

About “Reggaeton”

A hybrid of reggae and rap, reggaeton is a music with Spanish-language lyrics and Caribbean aesthetics that has taken Latin America, the United States and the world by storm. Superstars — including Daddy Yankee, Don Omar and Ivy Queen — garner international attention, while aspiring performers use digital technologies to create and circulate their own tracks. “Reggaeton” brings together critical assessments of this wildly popular genre. Journalists, scholars and artists delve into reggaeton’s local roots and its transnational dissemination; they parse the genre’s aesthetics, particularly in relation to those of hip-hop; and they explore the debates about race, nation, gender and sexuality generated by the music and its associated cultural practices, from dance to fashion.

Ways To Save

WBUR’s Legacy Circle, Murrow Society, Sustainers and Members save $5.00 on tickets to this event. To apply the discount to your ticket purchase online, you’ll need to enter a promo code. You can get your code by emailing [email protected].

Registrants may be contacted by CitySpace about this or future events.