To say we adore Puerto Rican rapper Bad Bunny here at Jezebel would be an understatement, but no one could’ve expected this—on Wednesday, Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio made his late night television debut on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, with a performance that was directly political and a true celebration of Puerto Rico and the pride he feels calling the island home.
His performance begins with a black screen and white text that reads, “On September 20, 2017, Puerto Rico was exposed to the full force of nature’s ferocity,” and cuts to images of Hurricane Maria’s destruction. Then our boy Bad Bunny appears and gives this chill-inducing introduction to his hit, “Estamos Bien”:
“After one year of the hurricane there’s still people without electricity in their homes, more than 3,000 people died and Trump is still in denial but you know what ‘Tamos Bien!’”He starts to sing, that husky voice at moments pitchy but mostly forceful, while the official video for the track plays behind him—a smart choice, as it includes home recordings of him and his friends living their best boricua lives as well as scenes from some of the island’s most beautiful places—Arecibo, El Yunque, Viejo San Juan, some crucially ignored places on the west coast like Faro Los Morillos in Cabo Rojo. I could go on.
In a country that continues to treat Puerto Rico like a modern day colony, one led by a man who continues to ignore the 3,000-plus Americans who died Hurricane Maria-related deaths in the last year, this feels crucial.