You probably can’t go a full week without hearing about rapper Bad Bunny at least once. Over the past few years, the buzz over his name has only kept growing, with 2026 reaching new heights. With humble beginnings and a loud pride for Puerto Rico, Bad Bunny’s flowers are certainly deserved.
Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio, better known as Bad Bunny, began singing at a young age. His notorious stage name came about when he posted a picture of himself as a kid in a bunny suit, looking upset. He later created an X, formerly Twitter, account under his stage name and kept it as he rose to fame.
Bad Bunny attended the University of Puerto Rico at Arecibo, where he studied Audiovisual Communications, with aspirations to become a radio host. At night, he would work on creating songs among the reggaeton and trap genres, eventually leading him to drop out of college to focus on music.
Bad Bunny first posted his music on SoundCloud, a major audio-streaming platform and social networking platform. His single “Diles” was discovered by Puerto Rican producer DJ Luian in 2016. This led to Bad Bunny’s signing to the Hear This Music label, founded by DJ Luian. In 2017, Bad Bunny began to make a name for himself by releasing more singles and collaborating with popular Latino artists like Prince Royce.
He earned his first No. 1 hit with a feature on the song “I Like It” by Cardi B with J Balvin. This broadened his United States audience, as well as a future collab with Drake titled “MÍA.”
He won his first Grammy Award for his album “YHLQMDLG” (an acronym for “Yo Hago Lo Que Me Da La Gana”). This album further cemented his success with hits like “Yo Perreo Sola.”
In late 2020, he released another album titled “Un Verano Sin Ti,” which won a Latin Grammy for Best Música Urbana (Best Urban Music) and was the first Spanish language album to debut at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 200 Chart.
Bad Bunny reached his magnum opus with “DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS,” which released in Jan. 2025. This album was a love letter to his homeland, Puerto Rico, and it received immense critical acclaim. To this day, it is still making history. It won Album of the Year at the 2026 Grammys, becoming the first fully Spanish-speaking album to do so.
With its release, Bad Bunny booked a month-long residency in Puerto Rico at the José Miguel Agrelot Coliseum. He titled the tour “No Me Quiero Ir de Aquí” – which translates to “I don’t want to leave here” – the perfect title for someone performing at the home they love dearly. He decided not to tour at all in the continental United States for this album, bringing dedicated fans to travel to his homeland. With all dates sold out, the tour made Puerto Rico’s economy flourish. Following this, he was picked as the 2026 Superbowl Halftime Show artist.
On Tuesday, Feb. 17, Bad Bunny made history with “DtMF” once again, when the single became the first all-Spanish language solo single to reach No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100.
With Bad Bunny’s landing his first lead acting role in a film called “Porto Rico,” directed by rapper Rene “Residente” Pérez Joglar, it is clear that his reign of success is far from over, as his legacy continues to inspire Latinos across the world to bet on themselves.
