This is what Bad Bunny is fighting against – exploitation, modern day colonialism, and the erasure of Puerto Rican identity. His message is simple: Puerto Rico belongs to Puerto Ricans.
When American investors started buying up land and pricing locals out, he called them out in 2022’s ‘El Apagón’ with the line: “No me quiero ir de aquí / Que se vayan ellos” (“I don’t want to leave here / They should leave”).
He even dropped a short film DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS to address these issues, with the documentary also exploring the displacement of Puerto Ricans.
His latest album continues the fight. In ‘TURiSTA,’ he disguises his critique as a love song: “In my life, you were a tourist / You only saw the best of me and not how I was suffering / You left without knowing the reason for my wounds, the reason for my wounds / And it wasn’t your place to heal them, you came to have a good time / And we had a good time.”
The track is not only about a person. Ocasio says it’s about visitors who come and go. “When tourists visit Puerto Rico, they see the best sights, the dance, the food. They leave, and they don’t find out, or deal with, the problems that the country suffers with,” he says.
Now, as a star with a following in the several millions, he’s giving back to his home island too. He recently announced his 30-date summer residency, No Me Quiero Ir De Aquí, which fittingly translates to “I Don’t Want to Leave Here”, at the Coliseo de Puerto Rico, with nine dates reserved exclusively for island residents. He announced it on Instagram, in Spanish, saying: “For now, I’m in Puerto Rico. I’m home, having fun and, to be honest, I don’t want to leave.”
The tour, originally scheduled from July to August 2025, sold out within days, with new dates being added through September. Those sold out too, with only VIP tickets available.
“I don’t want to obligate people to learn,” he says. “I just want to plant the seeds for people to look and find out about our story.”
