“I’ll explain to you so that you understand: your music is as if it were a cart of hot dog, which may be liked by many people or by almost everyone. But when these people want to eat well, they go to a restaurant and that restaurant is the one that earns Michelin stars ”. The words of the Puerto Rican Resident towards the Colombian reggaeton artist J Balvin are the highest point of a controversy about the role of the urban genre in the Latin Grammy that is on social networks.
Last Tuesday, when the nominees for the award met, Balvin called for a boycott. “The Grammys don’t value us, but they need us,” he said. And it went further. “Those who have power in the genre, none should go. That is, everyone, because we are a movement, “he asked on Twitter.
But the representatives of the urban movement responded with a visceral rejection. “I would believe you about the boycott if, I don’t know, last year when you were nominated 13 times you weren’t going to the Grammys. But there you didn’t ask for a boycott. You surely had a change of clothes for each award. But as of the 13 nominations you won only one Grammy, now the boycott is back ”, Residente launched at him.
Although they were the most inflammatory, those of Residente were not the only criticisms against Balvin. “The urban movement did not start with you,” the Cuban Yotuel Romero, from Orishas, launched at him. The musician demanded respect and questioned Balvin’s concept of “powerful urban artists.” “Being a powerful urban artist is when with a song you take a town to the streets. (…) The day that you talk about Colombia in a song, that you put yourself in the shoes of the Colombian people in a song, and stop thinking about numbers and visits, then you and I are talking about urban movement ”.
Refers to the song Homeland and life, anthem of the protests in Cuba that was nominated for song of the year and best urban song. Beatriz Luengo from Madrid is one of the composers. “I have been blessed to be nominated 11 times before, but this one is more special because Maykel Osorbo, who is also a composer and one of the rappers of this song, is imprisoned in Cuba simply for having composed it. Congratulations, brother, Latin Grammy recognizes us ”, replied the artist.
An old controversy
The 22nd edition of the Latin Grammy, which takes place on November 18, will pay tribute to Rubén Blades. Icon of the history of salsa and urban chronicle, this year he receives the award for his artistic life. For this reason, several of the criticisms against Balvin were there. “A guy who marked the history of Latin American music, a guy who, unlike you, writes his songs and feels them,” Residente snapped to the reggaeton.
To the barrage of criticism, Balvin has only responded with a “I respect your opinion” on Residente’s Instagram. The number of followers on Instagram – 12 million from Balvin and 6.4 from Resident – have contributed to amplify a discussion that is not new.
In 2019, Balvin had also criticized the role of reggaeton at the awards. At that time he promoted Without reggaeton there is no Latin Grammy, that accompanied with the image of an X on a gramophone. Other figures such as Maluma, Nicky Jam and Daddy Yankee joined the campaign. But this time it has not happened.
Balvin is nominated for best song of the year, urban song and best reggaeton performance, but the panorama of nominees in urban genre this year is wide. For this reason, for other musicians of the genre, Balvin is not the one to champion criticism of the Latin Recording Academy. “So, the least of all is the leader of the revolution? There is no worse darkness than ignorance ”, commented Don Omar in Residente’s message.
Subscribe here to the newsletter from EL PAÍS América and receive all the informative keys of the current situation of the region
We would like to say thanks to the author of this write-up for this remarkable web content
Fight at the Latin Grammys: Residente compares the music of J Balvin with a cart of ‘hot dogs’