Getty Bad Bunny
Bad Bunny’s real name is Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio, according to his Facebook page. The 25-year-old Puerto Rican Latin trap artist has gone from freestyling about his friends in high school to selling out stadiums and auditoriums around the world.
Bad Bunny’s Facebook page says that he never took formal music classes or learned any instruments. However, his passion and determination led him to learn and perfect his talent singlehanded.
“He is a singer, songwriter and creator of his own songs of his own knowledge and his music transmits a much more special internal rhythm than any musical teaching he could have had,” Bad Bunny’s bio reads.
Here’s what you need to know:
Bad Bunny Grew Up in Vega Baja, Puerto Rico
According to a 2018 Billboard interview, Benito was born on March 10, 1994, in Vega Baja, Puerto Rico. Benito said he is proud of where he comes from and is honored to represent the island, which he said means pride, love, and so much more to him.
“I love where I’m from, where I was born, where I grew up, what I learned, what I lived,” the performer said.
According to an article from The Fader, Benito knew he wanted to be a performer from the age of 5. He grew up listening to different types of music with his father, a truck driver, and his mother, a schoolteacher. According to his Facebook page, although Benito’s parents were not musicians, they never prevented him from developing in art and allowed him to have a very early start.
Benito reportedly sang in the church choir until the age of 13, after which he began experimenting with sounds. By the time he was in high school, Benito was freestyling to entertain his friends. People immediately saw potential and suggested he start posting his music online. Initially, he said no, but shortly thereafter he changed his mind.
Bad Bunny Got His Stage Name is Inspired by a Childhood Photo
Benito was in high school when he started sharing his music, however, he chose not to promote his music under his real name. According to a YouTube video from the channel Before They Were Famous, Benito created a stage name inspired by a photo from his childhood.
Much to his chagrin, Benito’s family dressed him up as a bunny on Easter one year. He reportedly looked annoyed in the photos, so much so that people started calling him “bad bunny.” Years later, he chose that nickname as his professional moniker.
Benito shared the photo to his Instagram page after the release of his first album in December 2018. The young star can be seen wearing a white costume with tall bunny ears and holding an Easter basket full of treats.
“está es la foto de la que siempre he hablado por la que me puse BAD BUNNY,” he wrote in Spanish, which translates to “this is the photo I’ve always talked about that I put on BAD BUNNY.”
Bad Bunny is the ‘Hottest Latin Artist Right Now’
According to Forbes, Bad Bunny holds 40 percent of Billboard’s Hot Latin Songs top ten. His sensational Drake collab “MIA,” the more recent “Callaita,” and his Lunay feature “Soltera” with Daddy Yankee account for almost half of the Hot Latin Songs top ten.
Bad Bunny has two albums to date. He released X 100PRE in 2018 and OASIS in 2019. According to his discography, he has collaborated with superstars like Drake, Jennifer Lopez, Will Smith, Nicki Minaj, Cardi B, Daddy Yankee, J Balvin, and more.
Bad Bunny currently boasts almost 40 million monthly listeners on Spotify, 19 million subscribers on YouTube, and 19 million followers on Instagram.