Apple Music’s Beats 1 channel just released the first installment of their new show “La Formula With Guru,” based on the wildly popular urbano playlist “La Formula,” and they’ve tapped one of the most important arbiters of urbano culture to host, Rapeton founder El Guru. And appropriately, for their first guest, they have none other than Bad Bunny on to chat about his second full-length album, YHLQMDLG.
With the release of YHLQMDLG, Bad Bunny’s not only breaking streaming records, he’s breaking the preconceived notion of what kind of artist he is.
Benito sat down with El Guru to discuss exactly what he means by “Yo hago lo que me de la gana,” further explaining his new mantra. “I’m doing whatever I want. I’m having fun on this project,” Bad Bunny says. He further explains that his new 20-song album is a sort of choose your own adventure offering, in which people can and should pick the songs they like—a stark contrast to his debut album X100PRE, which plays as more of a cohesive traditional album experience.
The show, which airs on Thursdays at 2 p.m. PST, is the next logical step for the playlist. “’La Formula’ has always been a very well-performing playlist. It’s our second biggest Latin music playlist in the U.S.,” says Music Programmer for Apple Music Jerry Pullés. “We felt we really wanted to have a home on Beats 1 where we could give some more context to the playlist—to showcase interviews with the artists, but also to highlight newer artists.”
“I Thought [Guru] was a really authentic voice for what’s happening in this genre,” Pullés explains about their decision to have El Guru host the program. “I just think El Guru is one of the people who is really authentic with how he covers the culture. He gets it, the artists feel really comfortable around him because he’s one of them and he’s literally the only person we wanted for this. I want people to understand that ‘La Formula’ is a reflection of Latin urban culture—not just a reflection of what’s happening, but it’s happening right there on the show,” he adds.
“When I started Rapeton, I never thought I’d interview artists,” says El Guru about his position in urbano culture, and how he came to be the perfect host for ‘La Formula.’ “In fact, at first I never even showed myself and who I was [on Rapeton]. But there was a moment where I decided to take a little control and once I started showing my face more and becoming a part of it, I felt like it really took off because people could put a face and a name behind it.”
“Rapeton is very niche. It’s just about urbano, and there was nothing like that before. Now with ‘La Formula,’” he reflects, “who would have ever thought that I would be the host for something like this. The public and the artist themselves have turned me into a voice for the genre, and I think that will be important moving forward for this show.”
“La Formula with El Guru” debuts Thursday, March 5 at 2pm PT and will air every Friday at 3pm PT on Apple Music’s Beats 1.
Listeners can tune in live here.
Read our review of YHLQMDLG here.