Show 16: The Puerto Rico Group Chat (feat. Bad Bunny & Tainy's Hits)

What happens in Puerto Rico doesn’t always stay in Puerto Rico.

But it stays in the group chat.

The group chat contains a few Dominicans, another of East African/Middle Eastern heritage, and some Filipino guy who looks like he was adopted into the brotherhood.

The group chat includes leading a attorney who fiercely defends the rights people, not the profiteers. It features professionals in AdTech, MarTech, Media and private equity. It features seasoned professionals in education and social entrepreneurship.

We attract for free what some are desperate enough to pay for.

We achieved educational and professional goals by paving our own paths on our own timelines, in turn creating our own legacies—while many in the modern world coast through life riding waves of legacy admissions, nepotism, and inheritances that question accomplishments as resulting from talent or the luck of birth.

The group chat is the worst nightmare of bigoted, anti-immigrant, anti-Black/Latine folks all over the world because of our accomplishments, charisma, intelligence, and savvy.

The group chat lives on, even after 2 years after we took our talents to Condado Beach, Puerto Rico in late Summer 2023. It was my first time going to La Isla del Encanto.

We made the rounds between San Juan, La Placita, and Old San Juan. That might be the standard loop for many tourists, but the group chat has a way of elevating the ordinary.

One night, we we sang the chorus to Beyonce’s “Single Ladies” in the Uber on the way to dinner at Ladi’s in San Juan. Our presence at dinner couldn’t just be illuminated by candlelight. The heavens preferred to send lightning strikes.

The fish tasted fresher. The rum tasted rummier. The celebratory drinks overflowed.

Overflow was also the case during a special event hosted by Jack Daniel’s ahead of the Puerto Rican Day parade in New York City. It featured the music of Tainy, the Puerto Rican super-producer and long-time collaborator of Bad Bunny. The weekend of the Puerto Rican Day parade is easy to remember—it’s always the weekend after my the Philippine festival/parade .

Think of the hits “Callaíta," “Lo Siento BB” with Julieta Venegas, and “Un Día” with J Balvin and Dua Lipa., not to mention the dozens of other award-winning, chart-topping hits produced by Tainy. He has been behind some of Bad Bunny’s most unforgettable songs since X 100pre.

Tainy didn’t just perform at Brooklyn Steel. He performed inside a steel cage at Brooklyn Steel. That environment initially felt restrictive for the type of music he makes. But now I see the steel enclosure as messaging to the audience that few can approach his super-producer greatness. We were able to witness, but not get close enough to touch. Greatness like that is out of reach for most of the audience. And that’s ok as long as we feel joy from it.

The steel cage did provide for an amazing visual and pyrotechnic display. Tainy’s explosive beats required equally forceful accompaniment.

Some complain that Reggaeton, Latin trap, and Latin pop can sometimes sound derivative or redundant, but viewing it from this lens distracts them from how the music makes people feel. It’s not just music to make audiences dance, smile, and make love. Because of artists like Tainy, Bad Bunny, Ozuna, and legends before them like Daddy Yankee, the youth of Puerto Rico are inspired to dream bigger despite being part of an America that sees La Isla del Encanto as merely a territory to extract value from instead of a place of future potential and rich heritage that morally requires the world’s superpower to invest in the people of Puerto Rico.

There are two images that I will always cherish during my first trip to Puerto Rico. I discretely took an image at Ladi’s of three members of the group chat laughing as they overlooked the ocean. We had just consumed a combined 15,000 calories worth of traditional Puerto Rican cuisine, seafood, and celebratory beverages and need to walk around a bit. They went to the same high school. I had met them as high school juniors preparing for college as I served a federally-funded TRiO Upward Bound program in West Harlem, NYC. I know their journeys. One of them used to put in 12 hour shifts to operating his family’s bodega while also having to do high school homework and apply for college applications. Two of them went to public colleges and universities.

They are a testament to the fact that a bit of investment combined with the transformative potential and unrelenting spirit of special individuals can yield great results for an America that sometimes ignores them, and sometimes demonizes them.

The Puerto Rico group chat is simultaneously a testament to American ideals, in defiance of America’s faults, and a testament to individual accomplishments with global resonance and roots in communal good. I see the island of Puerto Rico in the same way.

As the world witnesses the music of Bad Bunny, some of which are produced by Tainy, during the Super Bowl, it is my hope that the performance reminds everyone of the grand beauty that can come from such a small island—an island with people so great that it is the closest reminder I have of my homeland that consists of 7,641 islands. Puerto Rico isn’t my homeland. I just believe that Puerto Rico is the closest thing to it. I don’t remember my years in the Philippines anymore, but Puerto Rico reminded me of what I think the Philippines looks like.

I’m sure there’s a random cock roaming the streets of Quezon City like the one I saw in San Juan.

I’m certain there are pristine beach views in the Philippines like the view from Condado Beach.

But I’m not sure there’s a group chat as awesome as my Puerto Rico group chat.

The other image that I will always cherish from this trip to Puerto Rico is one that I also took discretely. I laugh wildly each time I see it.

What happens in Puerto Rico doesn’t stay in Puerto Rico.

But it stays in the group chat.

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Concert access + more:

1. ROSALÍA’s “LUX TOUR” is a must see

2. Bad Bunny’s World Tour continues

3. Some anointed Peso Pluma as the the next Benito. Go see him on tour to judge for yourself

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Job/Career Opportunities in Music and Entertainment:

1. Warner Music Group has marketing, creative, and finance roles currently open

2. Sony Music Group has open jobs in analytics, marketing, and more

3. Universal Music Group has open roles ranging from strategy, product, and operations roles

4. Spotify has many open roles in business development, HR, and engineering

5. Sirius XM is ramping up hiring for engineers, technical program managers, and more

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About the author:

Cris is the award-winning Founder & CEO of GrantAnswers, an NYC-based data, strategy & consulting firm founded in 2013. His journey to becoming an award-winning entrepreneur has been highlighted in NYT, WSJ, MTV, and Forbes. He has directly impacted +1000 individuals in launching careers in tech & securing acceptances to top colleges & programs. His speaking engagements for the likes of Columbia Business School, Teach for America and the US Chamber of Commerce encompass immigration, career development, entrepreneurship, and tech diversity & inclusion. He is also an avid concertgoer for +25 years and counting, and likes to tell stories about it.