The two kings of global music. One tells the story of Puerto Rico in the 1980s, the most prosperous period for the Caribbean country in North America, between pride and popular identity. This is how he dreams of seeing his homeland again. The other describes Black identity, social distances, and racism in the United States. Welcome to the world of Bad Bunny and Kendrick Lamar. Different in almost everything, yet they have something in common.

Bunny is the youngest, a 31-year-old deeply Latin artist, who likes himself a lot, stylish in his way, and an ambassador for various fashion brands. Irreverent, with ideas about his future not entirely clear. By his admission, he is sexually “fluid” and has a passion for wrestling.

Kendrick is instead a 38-year-old who knows exactly what he wants. An icon of the West Coast. He dislikes gossip and is also a familiar face in fashion, an ambassador for Reebok, Nike, and Chanel. Musically eclectic, he writes socially engaged lyrics, enough to have won the Pulitzer Prize for Music. Not something that happens every year: he is the first and, for now, the only artist awarded this recognition outside the Jazz or classical music context.

Who is Bad Bunny: Puerto Rican roots

Benito Antonio Martinez Ocasio, known as Bad Bunny, is many things: above all, a Puerto Rican. From a Catholic family, his truck driver father wanted his son to become a professional baseball player. His mother, a teacher, suggested he become a firefighter. She sang in the church choir: that’s where the spark ignited.

From the start, music was a vocation. In the 1990s in Puerto Rico, alongside Puerto Rican salsa bands, a cultural treasure exported worldwide, radio also played prominent American rap artists. As a teenager, his idols were two local masters: Héctor Lavoe and a certain Daddy Yankee. The latter is a global reggaeton icon.

The decisive turning point in Bunny’s music career came with tracks published on the online platform Soundcloud. Independent artists upload their work online; the lucky ones get noticed by record labels, and the opportunity arrives. At almost 20, a label noticed him and signed him, allowing him to leave his job at a supermarket checkout to start making music with some of the biggest names in Latin American music.

It was the start of his success: between 2018 and 2019, doors opened for Bad Bunny‘s trap. His songs entered the Billboard charts, he appeared at world festivals like Tomorrowland in Belgium, and collaborated with music legends such as Marc Anthony, Drake, and Jennifer Lopez. Puerto Rico had officially given birth to another star of Latin music.

The Super Bowl and the Playboy cover

Gold records, millions of views online, Grammy Awards, and Latin Awards. Bad Bunny’s Latin pop goes beyond his homeland, making him an idol in the United States as well. The 31-year-old speaks to young people in the age of influencers because he is one of them. In 2020, he appeared on the cover of Playboy, the first man in the history of the popular adult magazine to do so. That same year, he staged an impromptu concert on the streets of New York, standing on the hood of a truck. The song Pero ya no was chosen for the electoral campaign of former US President Joe Biden.

But above all, he was one of the stars in the halftime show during the break of the 54th Super Bowl with Shakira and Jennifer Lopez—a global image boost, just like what happened in 2025 to Kendrick Lamar. Participating in the world’s most-watched sporting event was for both artists their universal consecration. In 2021, Bunny appeared on several episodes of Saturday Night Live, the quintessential American Saturday night show. Time included him among the 100 most influential people of the year.

Bad Bunny’s style: reggaeton and social messages

It’s a way of being. Quite different from other great Puerto Rican icons like Ricky Martin or Luis Fonsi. The 31-year-old enjoys critical acclaim for his talent. He appeals to the masses because his songs range from humor to love, from youth discomfort to social anger. Behind an carefree style, with a strong erotic charge, Benito also speaks about Puerto Rico’s cultural hardships, a victim of unfulfilled promises from the United States. His masculinity is far from stereotypes. The artist has admitted to being fluid, saying he likes women but has not ruled out the possibility of loving a man in the future. Very close to the LGBT world, he has championed its cause in some of his songs, defending homosexuality and the transgender community.

Politically, during the last presidential elections, he often reshared on his social media videos of Kamala Harris’s speeches. Bunny runs his foundation that raises funds to help his country. His audience, mostly young people, is rewarding him with sold-out dates of his gigantic 2025 tour. The fans’ passion for the artist has rekindled interest in an island that seemed forgotten. Tourism in Puerto Rico has increased by 30%—all this to see and sing with Bad Bunny.

Who is Kendrick Lamar: origins and career

Despite the seven-year age difference between the two artists, the personal journeys of Kendrick and Bad are, in a sense, comparable. So much so that in the future, imagining a collaboration wouldn’t be far-fetched.

Kendrick Lamar is a son of Compton, Los Angeles County, California. The 38-year-old rapper also started from the bottom: hardships, public housing, and social workers. His beginnings were in the Californian underground before his rise to King of Hip-Hop. His father worked in a supermarket chain and had been a member of a Chicago street gang. Once again, the vocation for music came from family roots. His mother was a cashier at McDonald’s. He has three younger siblings and was named Kendrick in honor of Eddie Kendricks, one of the founders of The Temptations, a historic group of Detroit black music in the 1960s.

With such a background, it’s easy to imagine music as destiny for Lamar. At the age of five, he witnessed a murder—an event he would later say marked him forever. Despite the difficulties of life in Los Angeles’ suburbs in the 1990s, he was an outstanding student at school. Teachers recognized his personality early on, especially in his writing. His first mixtape, at the age of 16, earned him a contract with a small independent record label.

Influences and the Super Bowl pinnacle

He began a successful career that, in just a few years, brought him to the top of the world charts. His songs dominate Spotify; on YouTube, they garner millions of views. Over more than twenty years of music, he has received numerous awards. One fact stands out: he is the third rapper in history with the most awards, alongside Kanye West and Jay-Z. The latter, along with Eminem, DMX, and Snoop Dogg, are the four figures who inspired him.

Among his influences, he cites trumpeter Miles Davis, the godfather of Jazz. Politically, he leans toward the Democrats: in the past, he supported the campaigns of former US Presidents Obama and Joe Biden. In 2025 came the pinnacle: he was the star of the 59th edition of the Super Bowl. It set a record for American television audiences: his halftime show drew 133.5 million viewers, smashing Michael Jackson’s record that had stood since 1993.

Kendrick Lamar’s style: a master storyteller

According to most critics, Lamar is a master storyteller. His works are almost always concept albums: they should be listened to from start to finish to grasp their whole meaning. The artist manages to bring together a multitude of styles in his songs and excels in all of them.

Bad Bunny has a defined style; Lamar instead explores alternative genres, finding the key to blending them into unique sounds. Billboard even dared to speak of “lyricism” in Kendrick Lamar’s songs—much to the dismay of his Puerto Rican rival.