Like most music industry beefs, the Residente, 44, and J. Balvin, 36, feud snowballed beyond the artists’ original points of contention. Residente upped the ante on Thursday (March 4) with an eight-minute diss track that attempts to eviscerate Balvin and his ultra-successful reggaeton career, according to Rolling Stone.
Last fall after the 2021 Latin Grammy nominations, Balvin said he felt reggaeton wasn’t being showcased properly and that his fellow reggaeton artists shouldn’t attend the ceremony.
Residente said that was disrespectful to the artists nominated and compared Balvin and his music to a hot dog cart, saying it was cheap and mass-produced. Balvin seemed to take the diss well, jumping on a trend of hot dog memes that kept popping up by posting a picture of himself behind a hot dog cart.
Residente’s freestyle, part of “BZRP Music Sessions” from producer Bizarrap, changed that tone significantly. On Instagram, Residente said (in Spanish) that Balvin tried to stop the track’s release, calling everyone he could to try and prevent it from seeing the light of day.
Rolling Stone provided the following translation:
“He called the producer, who’s a kid, to stop the track, but this kid has balls and he didn’t give in,” Residente said. “They threatened to sue my label if I released the track. They asked for a call with the head of my label to stop me for releasing the track.”
Residente also said he didn’t care if he got sued. The track starts with references to “an idiot dressed in colors” but later goes deeper into racial issues (Balvin is white Colombian) and how some feel Balvin is co-opting a Black style of music as his own.
Last year, Balvin apologized last year after he made a music video for “Perra” where he dragged around Black women on leashes. He also caught a lot of heat for accepting the award for Afro-Latino artist of the year.
Lines like “A white guy who lost his way, all divine, accepting his award for Afro-Latino” and “The worst and most grave thing is: This asshole is a racist and he doesn’t know it,” all feel like haymakers at Balvin’s career. The track clearly demonstrates that Residente’s distaste of Balvin runs deeper than fun hot dog memes and playful asides on the internet.