“There’s a lot going on. I don’t know if you know this but there’s literally a floating island of garbage in the middle of the ocean right now. Yeah. I think it’s called Puerto Rico.” Hinchcliffe, a comic, during a Donald Trump meeting.

Some people view Puerto Ricans as second-class citizens, and even the government regards them this way. However, Puerto Rico is a commonwealth, an unincorporated and organized territory. This means it lacks the same rights as American citizens; for example, it cannot vote for the president. Nevertheless, American citizens living in Puerto Rico enjoy certain benefits, particularly tax advantages. Because of these advantages, gentrification happens in Puerto Rico. People cannot rent a house, or feed themselves properly, white American immigrants don’t speak Spanish and it’s complicated for Puerto Ricans to be understood. 

So, what’s happening in Puerto Rico, and the Caribbean in general? This is what we will discover through DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS today.

Why “DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS” (“I should have taken more photos”)? Today, we can snap photos of everything, but in the past, pictures were genuine memories. You captured a moment for something special—a wedding or a birthday. You had to wait to receive the photos, which is why you cherish looking at them with your family; they are one of a kind. You can’t store them in the cloud or on an SD card. Considering this, you might think, maybe I should have taken more “real” pictures because nowadays we don’t really reflect on these moments anymore. 

I chose 3 songs I wanted to talk about because I feel real melancholy in these songs. But you should definitely listen to the whole album.

First, I’ll discuss the music that most affected me: LO QUE LE PASÓ A HAWAii (What Happened in Hawaii). In this song, Bad Bunny talks about his island, Puerto Rico. How people feel where they are here, and how people gentrified the island, everything is beautiful even when everything is going bad, people heal themselves with alcohol (kind of allegory about real physical injuries and mental injuries). You can hear some people crying because another person is gone, they wanted to stay but some forced them to quit the island. People who have already moved away want to come back and Bad Bunny says he will be in pain if he should go away. So he doesn’t want to see Puerto Rico changing like they did with Hawai’i.

Another song that touched me was DtMF (the eponymous song in the album). In this song, Bad Bunny talks about appreciating life in San Juan, all the things people miss when they are abroad: nature, culture, nightlife, playing dominoes and listening to music, being pleased with the food, drinks, and, of course, people. Life is peaceful in Puerto Rico, but he should have taken more pictures and enjoyed the time with his people.

The last song I’ll talk about is BAILE INoLVIDABLE. In this song, Bad Bunny tries to do salsa, one of the most important music genres in Puerto Rico, a root in the ground of this island. He speaks about an old relationship, where he learned a lot of things with his woman, that she is unique and irreplaceable, like a BAILE INoLVIDABLE. The most interesting thing in this song it’s how they made this music. Bad Bunny went to La Escuela Libre de Musica Ernesto Ramos Antonini and composed this song with teenagers from 17 to 20 years old. It’s also another way to transmit musical culture through education.

Finally, what we can learn from this album is how to preserve culture and do it well. We live in an Americanized world, everything we do is about the USA, the influence of food, the culture (especially arts cultures, like music or films) how to continue to capitalize on this society forgetting the most important thing: take care of your family when you still have it, transmit your culture during some (family) events to never lose it, because when a tree cannot find water with its roots, leaves, and flowers will never appear. And life is less beautiful without flowers.

Terry Ruart

Sources:

Bad Bunny: The DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS Interview | Apple Music Bad Bunny Interview! On His

Trump Rally Outrage, New Album for Puerto Rico & Language Barriers

Puerto Rico angry after being called ‘floating island of garbage’ at Trump rally – Los Angeles Times