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Bad Bunny has become one of the buzzwords of the music industry within a very short period. From being a grocery bagger struggling to make a career in music, the Puerto Rican has managed to become one of the highest-streamed artists on Spotify in less than a decade.
Bad Bunny (aka Benito Martínez Ocasio) had humble beginnings and was brought up by his parents, Tito Martinez and Lysaurie Ocasio. His mother Laysaurie was a school teacher, while his father Tito was a truck driver in his hometown, Vega Baja. Bunny grew up with his parents and two siblings, Bernie and Bysael.
It is interesting to note that Bad Bunny's introduction to music was initiated by his mother, who got him into a local church choir. He would attend the church's choir group and sing every week till he was 13.
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In the cover story of The Fader magazine published on August 28, 2018, Bad Bunny shared that being part of the church’s choir marked the beginning of his love for music. He started listening to singers like Daddy Yankee and Hector Lavoe to accentuate his interests even further.
"I liked to be at home with my family" — Bad Bunny was a wallflower growing up
In an interview with Rolling Stone on May 14, 2020, Bernie Martinez Ocasio and Bad Bunny revealed tidbits about the Grammy artist's childhood and how he was growing up in the suburbs of Puerto Rico. According to the 22-year-old, his elder brother was a wallflower and would often spend time at home listening to music.
“At Christmas, all the other kids would play with their toys, but Benito would play his CDs,” Bernie recalled.
Bad Bunny agreed with his brother and added:
“I wasn’t the kid who got involved in the streets. I liked to be at home with my family."
A major transition came in Bad Bunny's life when the singer left the church choir group at the age of thirteen and started creating and improvising music. He would stay up late and create his own beats to test on his friends at school the next day. He would often improvise with preexisting salsa tunes and sing tracks by famous Puerto Rican musicians like Hector Lavoe to entertain his neighbors and friends.
In the same Rolling Stone interview, the 30-year-old compared the various musical obsessions in his life to seasons. Some of the major 'seasons' growing up were the Bee Gees season, indie-pop season and the bachta season.
“There was a time where I would only listen to the Bee Gees. Bee Gees, Bee Gees, Bee Gees. And West Coast rap classics,” Bunny inferred.
Beyond music, school life was a drag for Bad Bunny as his parents would not allow him to listen to modern singers of the day and would force him to go to school and study. In an interview with GQ on May 25, 2022, the reggaeton singer talked about his days in school and recalled how his parents used to threaten him:
“I always tell the story of when I was in school: If I was feeling lazy and I didn’t want to get up, they’d threaten me with not being allowed to listen to Tego Calderón. Man, I’d get up so fast and get dressed. I’d be ready. ‘You’re not going to listen to Tego’s song!’ And I’d say, ‘Okay, Mami, fine. I’m ready!’ ”
In a conversation with The Fader in August 2018, the rapper shared how much his family loves his music:
“They’re always listening to the radio waiting for one of my songs to come on. And when it does, they turn up the volume — and turn it back down when it’s over."
Bad Bunny went from being a grocery bagger to getting the first Puerto Rican YouTube monetization deal for his record label
As stated in GQ, Bad Bunny enrolled in a course focussing on Visual Communications at the University of Puerto Rico at Arecibo after passing out of school. However, he wasn't interested in studies and just wanted to create music. This resulted in him failing all his courses except for the major ones.
It was at this time that his friends convinced him to make an account on SoundCloud and start uploading songs. His 2016 hit Diles finally took off and the Puerto Rican singer gained visibility.
“In one week I got 1 million plays. Producers started calling me at work. I would go to the bathroom to respond to them!” Bunny commented in the 2020 Rolling Stone interview.
Soon after, Bad Bunny dropped out of college and started earning money by working as a grocery bagger and computer cleaner. In a 2018 interview with People CHICA, the Puerto Rican Grammy winner described his life as an aspiring musician who was once working as a grocery bagger.
"All I wanted was for my shift to end so I could go home. It was really motivating because you never really want to be doing that. All you want is to reach your dreams and earn money doing what you like," the singer commented.
He also recalled how he would write songs while working his shifts.
"There were also a lot of songs that I started creating while working [at the supermarket.] I would write songs outside or in my mind and then I would sing them multiple times throughout my shift to just remember the lyrics."
It was at this time that the singer met Noag Assas, the founder of Rimas Entertainment. Assad made him quit his job and sign a contract with him. The two started releasing musical tracks on YouTube and racked up visibility and interactions with several mixes, collaborations, and musical numbers.
This led to Assad acquiring YouTube's first monetization deal for the record label and allowed Bunny to finally start earning properly through his talents.
