Bad Bunny's UK Concerts Highlight Latino Community's Push for Recognition

At the Seven Sisters Latin Village in north London, construction is under way.

The market, which has become a centre for the British Latino community and has fought off a long battle against redevelopment, is paying homage to the biggest Latino star on the planet: Bad Bunny (real name Benito Martínez Ocasio).

They’re building a replica of La Casita, the house that’s typical in the rapper’s home island of Puerto Rico and makes up a key part of the Bad Bunny stage set.

The small pink building has become known to millions worldwide who watched Ocasio’s Super Bowl half-time show, where he brought in a live audience of 128 million and presented a pluralistic anti-Trumpian take on what it meant to be American.

More than 30 of his songs have been streamed more than a billion times, making him one of the most listened-to artists in history. All of this while rapping in Spanish, something that usually caps a musician’s prospects in English-speaking countries – especially the UK.

But despite the language barrier, about 100,000 people will cram into the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium for two gigs this coming weekend, making them the largest Spanish-language shows in UK history.

The numbers are impressive and a UK stop on a huge worldwide tour is an event in itself, but Latino organisations and activists in the UK want to use the concerts to increase recognition in a country that often fails to acknowledge their presence.

In Spain, there are more than 4.5 million Latin Americans, but the UK’s population is not known because the census doesn’t provide a Latino category. Estimates put it at about 450,000, but the true figure could easily be a million.

Colombians, Ecuadorians, Bolivians and Brazilians dominate, with about 60% of the population based in London.

Jacobo Belilty – the coordinator of the Coalition of Latin Americans in the UK – says the rapper has a universal appeal for Britain’s Latin American communities.

“He’s become a beacon,” says Belilty, who is overseeing the building of La Casita and the week-long events at the village to mark the build up to the concerts. “He’s brought a new level of visibility to Latinos. He is something more than just a pop star.”

Belilty is referring to Ocasio’s subtle political messaging – often delivered through iconography in his stage sets – that address social issues, and the fact he chose not to tour in the US because of fears his concerts would be targeted by immigration raids.

His Super Bowl half-time performance was full of Easter eggs for fans, with nods to salsa stars and Puerto Rico’s notoriously unreliable electricity, while performers wore straw hats or pavas, which are used by agricultural workers.

“These gigs are unifying,” adds Belilty, who is pushing for Latin American recognition on the 2031 census. “It doesn’t really matter if you’re Colombian, you still get to celebrate this Puerto Rican guy who’s doing incredibly well. He’s a unifying voice.”

Birmingham-based Kimberley Ochoa, the founder of the Latin American Chamber and director of community interest company Latin Women UK, says the lack of visibility in the UK means some young Latinos are rejecting their heritage. “I see a lot of young people that have moved here in the UK, and it’s their third migration,” she said.

“Their parents are probably from Spain, and because of that, they don’t claim to be Latinos. This moment is about empowering young people – the second or third generation – to claim their roots.”