Bad Bunny has steered away from speaking English since he’s made the jump from SoundCloud to the mainstream. But, as he made his late night TV debut on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, the 24-year-old Puerto Rican rapper chose to speak English in his intro to remind audiences of his home island’s crisis after Hurricane María.
“A year later, many are still without electricity in their homes. More than 3,000 people died and Trump is still in denial,” he said, before starting his performance of “Estamos Bien.”
The song and visuals were a fitting choice for the occasion. Bad Bunny – born Benito Martinez Ocasio – has not been one to shy away from highlighting the aftermath of Hurricane María in Puerto Rico. Days after the hurricane hit, the rapper took to Instagram to share a freestyle in response to the collective anger and desperation after the island was left without electricity and communication. He also denounced Trump’s Twitter brawl with San Juan mayor Carmen Yulin Cruz during the One Voice: Somos! Live benefit concert in Miami, where he performed his María freestyle wearing a shirt that read, “¿Eres presidente o twitero?”
During his Tonight Show performance, Martinez Ocasio also showed visuals from the hurricane’s aftermath alongside clips from his video of “Estamos Bien.” The song was partly inspired by the crisis in Puerto Rico and alludes to the lack of electricity in his hometown of Vega Baja: “Aunque pa’ casa no ha llegado la luz rezo a Dios porque tengo salud.”
Hours before the show, Jimmy Fallon posted a side-by-side picture on Instagram of Martinez Ocasio posing beside him in the Tonight Show set – one from 2016 at Madame Tussauds Wax Museum and one from the show’s taping earlier that day. Bad Bunny also posted the images on his Instagram, saying, “Time goes by quickly, don’t waste it.”
Watch the performance below: