What Bad Bunny Was Like Growing Up: ‘I Wasn’t Ever, Like, an Athlete’
Bad Bunny may be one of the hottest names in music today, but as a child, he wasn’t nearly as popular as he seems today. The Puerto Rican rapper was more interested in the arts, but still able to make those around him laugh.
Bad Bunny’s upbringing in Puerto Rico
Bad Bunny opened up about his upbringing in Vega Baja, Puerto Rico in a 2022 interview with GQ.
“I liked being a clown,” he said. “But I was also, like, shy. I was always loving with my parents. I liked drawing. I liked playing a lot with my imagination. I wasn’t ever, like, an athlete.”
He went on to speak about his wild imagination as a kid. When he would play outside, he wouldn’t do something sporty like riding a bike, but pretend he was a Viking. “I have an image in my mind of a little rock that I would stand on, and damn, I’d feel like I was in a kingdom, and lightning would come down,” he recounted. “I remember there was a neighbor who would always tell my parents that I was talking to myself. And it was just me playing, making voices of the other characters because I was alone. She would say to my dad, ‘That boy is always talking to himself. You should have him checked out.’ And my dad was like, ‘The boy is playing.’ ”
His parents wouldn’t let him listen to certain reggaeton artists
Bad Bunny‘s artistic mind was evident from an early age. He sang in the church choir and would listen to anything his parents would play in the house. “A lot of salsa,” he said. “And my mom would listen to ballads, merengue, and Top 40 radio.”
Despite being a reggaeton superstar today, his early days of listening to it were done in secret, as his parents didn’t allow him to listen to different kinds of reggaeton artists, only making an exception for reggaeton pioneer Vico C after he started writing less explicit lyrics. He eventually moved on to reggaeton icon Tego Calderón.
“The only thing they’d allow me to listen to was Vico C,” he said. “At that time, Vico C was street, but they allowed me to listen to him when he started to make cleaner music. But the first O.G. street artist they’d let me listen to was Tego Calderón. And that was the first one I was really hooked on.”
His parents had to bribe him with listening to Tego Calderón
Bad Bunny’s love for Tego Calderón was so strong that his parents would use it as leverage to get him to do what they wanted him to.
“I always tell the story of when I was in school: If I was feeling lazy and I didn’t want to get up, they’d threaten me with not being allowed to listen to Tego Calderón. Man, I’d get up so fast and get dressed. I’d be ready. ‘You’re not going to listen to Tego’s song!’ And I’d say, ‘Okay, Mami, fine. I’m ready!’ ” he recalled.
