Resident and J Balvin: What is the History of the “Conflict”?

Residente is absolute trend. After having a musical session with Bizarrap, an Argentine producer who is one of the most listened to artists on Spotify worldwide, the Puerto Rican rapper returned to appear on the front page of all the newspapers and in the trending topics of the main social media.

Basically, Bizarrap's “Session 49” had the ex-leader of Calle 13 as a guest and his production was immediately a success. On Spotify it debuted at number 7 on the global top, while on YouTube it achieved 3.5 million views in just 24 hours. A few days later, it already has more than 40 million visits.

Now, the song was not only a real success at a commercial and sound level, but it also brought repercussions in the world of entertainment. Basically, because René decided to dedicate part of the song to J Balvin, due to a conflicting history they have between the two. We tell you all the details!

Also read: J Balvin vs. Residente: who represents the real "urban genre"?

J Balvin and Residente: What is the origin of the fight?

Different artists reacted to what happened after Residente's new song. For example, Alejandro Sanz spoke of seeing a "murder committed with a pencil", while Lali Espósito reacted by tweeting "it had to be said and it was said". Other celebrities, such as Ricardo Montaner, were against the media and artistic fights, something common in the famous "tiraderas" of Residente.

Now, what has happened between the two artists? Well, you have to go back in time a bit. Although they were not best friends, they were part of the urban genre and there were even the occasional photo of the two. But it all started in 2021, when J Balvin issued a series of messages on Twitter showing himself against the Latin Grammys.

The reason? Well, from the perspective of the Colombian, they did not recognize urban artists as they deserved. Therefore, he made an invitation to boycott this award, asking that none of his interpreters of the genre be present, despite the fact that he was nominated for the category of best song of the year and best urban song with "Agua".

What he did not imagine is that his statements would have negative repercussions among some artists, such as Residente. Through his platforms, he mentioned that he had received 31 recognitions at the Latin Grammys, for which he tried to deny that reggaetoneros did not have the recognition they deserved. However, that was not all he said back then.

From Residente's point of view, Balvin had not achieved anything because his music was like that of a "hot dog", since many may like it, but it can never be compared to the food of Michelin-starred restaurants. Although it was believed that the confrontation ended at that moment, J Balvin decided to release a clothing line – highly criticized for its prices – with hot dogs , which was taken as a response to René.

From there, there was speculation about the possible response of Residente. While there was some back and forth on social media, the problem occurred when he started thinking about his next topic. Even days before the release of the new song, Residente mentioned that there had been an "attempt to censorship" by a person who is "a slave to an industry" , clearly alluding to Balvin.

Well, the answer was in sight with the new song that is full of references and mentions of the Colombian. For example, in the tiradera he mentioned that "for two minutes of songs, he has 20 writers", since his album Colors has a huge list of songwriters and he is not the true author of his songs.

He also discussed its artistic value, since J Balvin is the "Logan Paul of reggaeton", since he is a "'bobolón' who sings to Spongebob and Pokémon". In the same way, he told him that the people are fighting "and the guy uploads a photo of Gandhi praying", as a lukewarm reaction to the Colombian protests in 2021, compared to René's "social commitment".

In addition, Residente said that Balvin "does not understand the values of life" and that "he has to tattoo the word 'loyalty' in his neck because he forgets it," in addition to being an "imbecile who put black women with dog chains in the neck”, after a controversial song that was accused of being sexist and racist, along with other statements about Daddy Yankee, for example.

Will J Balvin react to Residente's new song? For now, the lyrical round seems to be in favor of the Puerto Rican singer.