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Bad Bunny fears Puerto Rico will become the new Hawaii. He's not alone.

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Bad Bunny fears Puerto Rico will become the new Hawaii. He's not alone.


  • Bad Bunny’s new album, “Debir Tirar Mas Fotos,” dropped earlier this month.
  • It features traditional folk music from Puerto Rico, where the artist is from.
  • The lyrics touch on the gentrification of Puerto Rico and draw a stark parallel with Hawaii.

Pristine sandy beaches, lush green rainforests, and azure waters that stretch as far as the eye can see.

To some, Hawaii is a paradise — but Bad Bunny has a different view.

His new album “Debir Tirar Mas Fotos,” or “I Should’ve Taken More Photos,” notched up more than 150 million streams in its first week of release this month, overtaking Taylor Swift on Billboard’s Top 200. He’s been one of the most-streamed artists on platforms such as Spotify for several years.

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Bad Bunny at the Billboard Latin Music Awards on October 05, 2023 in Coral Gables, Florida.

Bad Bunny’s real name is Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio.

Jason Koerner/Getty Images



Infused with traditional Puerto Rican folk music like plena, salsa, and bomba and featuring independent artists from the island like Los Pleneros de la Cresta and Chuwi, “Debir Tirar Mas Fotos” is an homage to Puerto Rico. It shows that Bunny no longer has to “lean on reggaeton” to dominate the charts, Nuria Net, a Latin music and culture journalist, told Business Insider.

But aside from the catchy rhythms and Bunny’s viral moments promoting the album on TV chat shows, “concern pervades this entire record,” Petra Rivera-Rideau, associate professor of American studies and co-creator of the Bad Bunny Syllabus, told BI.

It’s most obvious on track 14, “Lo Que Pasó a Hawaii,” which translates to “What happened to Hawaii” — a song reflecting growing concern among some Puerto Ricans that their island is in danger of suffering the same overdevelopment as Hawaii.

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A symbol of displacement

Those who grew up in Puerto Rico say it wasn’t uncommon to hear Hawaii mentioned in debates around statehood — a question the island has wrestled with for more than a century.

Like Hawaii, Puerto Rico was annexed to the US in the late 19th century. While the former went on to become a fully-fledged state, the latter remains a territory with limited voting privileges.

“There was a tendency of comparing,” said Daniel Nevárez Araújo, a professor at the University of Puerto Rico in Rio Piedras and coauthor of “The Bad Bunny Enigma: Culture, Resistance, and Uncertainty,” recalling his childhood.

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For those in favor of statehood, Hawaii was often held up as a “model example of what Puerto Rico should be — progress and fully American,” Net said.


An aerial view of Waikiki Beach in Hawaii with Diamond Head in the background.

Hawaii was the state with the highest cost of living in 2024.

James Kirkikis/Shutterstock



But the comparison has become more complicated in recent years, Illeana Rodriquez-Silva, an associate professor of Latin American and Caribbean history at the University of Washington-Seattle, told BI.

She said a wave of affluent settlers from the US mainland came in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria, which destroyed tens of thousands of homes in 2017 and forced about 130,000 people to relocate.

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Lured by tax breaks that sought to help Puerto Rico bring in investment and entrepreneurship, they bought up property and land, Rodriguez-Silva said.


Hurricane Maria Puerto Rico

After Hurricane Maria, some investors were drawn to the island looking for property bargains.

AFP Contributor/Getty Images



“That’s when I started hearing, ‘we’re going be like Hawaii,’” she said. “And what they are referring to is this moment in the late 19th century where US white elites were able to come in and actually start taking land” in Hawaii, she added.

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Just as some Hawaiians lament tourists treating their islands like theme parks and increasing the cost of living, Puerto Ricans started feeling the impact of gentrification, Nevárez Araújo said.

“If you look at Rincon, Aguada, even Mayagüez, Aguadilla, there’s a massive exodus of expats coming here buying properties,” he said. “Everyone else can’t afford to go to the grocery store.”

Nevárez Araújo said Bad Bunny is vocalizing concerns that the island is “slowly being emptied out” and becoming a place that’s “not for Puerto Ricans.”

Tempered optimism

On “Lo Que Pasó a Hawaii,” Bunny calls on Puerto Ricans to retain their flag and not forget their roots.

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It’s a stark warning, but in “subverting the narrative” that the island should aspire to be like Hawaii, Net said it offers hope and pride to Puerto Ricans who have grappled with a “nagging feeling that nothing we do is ever good enough.”


bad bunny

Bad Bunny holds a Puerto Rican flag in a demonstration calling for Gov. Ricardo Rosselló’s resignation in San Juan, Puerto Rico in July 2019.

ERIC ROJAS/AFP/Getty Images



Rivera-Rideau said the song also captures the political spirit of a new generation of Puerto Ricans, who, like Bunny, grew up seeing the island’s problems mount and now want change.

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“His concerns about electricity and infrastructure, gentrification, tourism, the economy, opportunities, growth for the future — those are concerns that many Puerto Ricans have,” she said.

In recent years, events like the ousting of the island’s former governor Ricardo Rosselló after widespread protests have shown that “young adults are really energized,” Rivera-Rideau said.


Bad Bunny performs during his Most Wanted Tour at Coliseo de Puerto Rico José Miguel Agrelot on June 7, 2024, in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

Bad Bunny’s seventh album voices his fears about the future of Puerto Rico.

Gladys Vega/Getty Images

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In “Marketing Puerto Rico,” Bunny runs a risk of attracting more mainlanders, people who listen to the music simply because they find it “exotic” and catchy, Nevárez Araújo cautioned.

Still, for many young Puerto Ricans, “Debir Tirar Mas Fotos” is “the closest they will get to voicing those fears and those anxieties” about the island’s future, he said.

Some TikTok users have taken to posting photos and videos of people and places they’ve lost, set to the album’s title track, indicating that Bunny’s music is resonating on the island and further afield.

“Many of these songs are pointing out the story of displacement,” Rodriquez-Silva said. “That is something that is so real to many of us today.”

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Hawaii

Hawaii Island man charged for allegedly hitting pedestrian with car on purpose

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Hawaii Island man charged for allegedly hitting pedestrian with car on purpose


HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) – On Hawaii Island, Spencer Kamuela Young Gun Chun was charged for allegedly hitting a pedestrian with his car on purpose. 

Police said the 40-year-old from Kurtistown hit a man who was in a parking lot crosswalk at a shopping center on Pahoa Village Road on Jan. 25. 

Officials said the man was knocked to the ground. 

Chun was charged with assault and driving without a license. 

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His bail has been set at $21,000.



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Rouhliadeff scores 14 with 11 rebounds; Hawaii beats Cal State Fullerton 82-57

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Rouhliadeff scores 14 with 11 rebounds; Hawaii beats Cal State Fullerton 82-57


Associated Press

HONOLULU (AP) — Harry Rouhliadeff scored 14 points and grabbed 11 rebounds on Saturday night to help Hawaii beat Cal State Fullerton 82-57.

Rouhliadeff made 6 of 11 from the field and 2 of 3 from 3-point range. Tom Beattie also scored 14 points, on 7-of-10 shooting, and had five assists for Hawaii (13-9, 5-6 Big West Conference). Akira Jacobs and Marcus Greene scored 10 points apiece.

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Donovan Oday led Cal State Fullerton (6-16, 1-9) with 13 points. Antwan Robinson and Zachary Visentin each added 10 points. The Titans have lost three games in a row and eight of their last nine.

___

The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.




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Watch: Drone highlights Maui flooding after powerful storm rakes Hawaiian islands

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Watch: Drone highlights Maui flooding after powerful storm rakes Hawaiian islands


MAUI, Hawaii — A powerful storm in Hawaii this week that left flights grounded, trees felled and vacation beach plans ruined also left a trail of flooding in its wake.

Drone video from the county of Maui released Friday shows some of the flooding aftermath on the south part of the island after as much as 6-10 inches of rain fell Thursday.

HAWAII SLAMMED BY TRIPLE THREAT OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS, BLISTERING WIND AND BLIZZARD-LIKE SNOW

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“South Kīhei Road’s history as a natural wetland once allowed it to receive rainwater and manage seasonal runoff from Haleakalā,” the county of Maui said. “Urban development, however, encroached into these wetlands, reducing the land’s natural flood control and making flooding experienced by development more common. Despite these changes, the area retains its natural flood-prone state during heavy rains.”

The island reported multiple water main breaks, affecting drinking supply in some neighborhoods. All Maui County pools, sports playing fields, tennis and basketball courts and stadiums, including the Waiehu Golf Course, remain closed due to storm-related impacts, according to the Department of Parks and Recreation.

Aside from the heavy rains, powerful winds gusting over 60 mph in the lowlands left over 50,000 people without power and multiple trees down.

That included this unlucky driver in Honolulu who came to find a large tree had smashed into his rear windshield.

At least one rock slide was also reported on Maui, with a giant boulder blocking a travel lane of the Kahekili Highway.

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Strong winds were seen partially blowing the shingles off a roof in Kaneohe, along the windward coast of Oahu.

Hawaii issued a ground stop for all interisland flights on Thursday for a few hours as the storms raged, with four flights being diverted to Lihue, according to the Hawaii Department of Transportation.

Boaters fared no better as the National Weather Service in Honolulu issued multiple marine warnings throughout the storm advising of strong winds, lightning and even potential waterspouts.

But even boats docked on shore were not immune from the storm impacts. The U.S. Coast Guard reports a 65-foot commercial catamaran broke free of its mooring on the north side of Honolua Bay in Maui early Friday morning and smashed into rocks, running around.

Maui firefighters were able to help safely get four crewmembers on board to shore. Another 38-foot boat ran aground onto a sand bottom near Maui’s Kihei.

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The winds were even higher – reaching well beyond hurricane force – along the mountain peaks. A communications tower atop the summit of Maui’s Haleakala around 10,000 feet recorded a gust of 120 mph. 



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