Bad Bunny Just Made It Into the Ivy League

Bad Bunny is making his way into the Ivy League. Starting this fall, Yale University will offer a brand new course called “Bad Bunny: Aesthetic and Political Music.”

It’s a major move, putting the Puerto Rican superstar right next to artists like Beyoncé and Taylor Swift, who have also inspired university courses about their cultural impact.

The course was created by Albert Laguna, an associate professor of American Studies and Ethnicity, Race, and Migration at Yale. Laguna got the idea after listening to Bad Bunny’s latest album, Debí tirar más fotos. He describes it as Bad Bunny’s most “Puerto Rican” album yet: full of sounds like salsa, bomba, and plena, all mixed with reflections on colonialism, diaspora, and life on the island.

“I was walking around New Orleans, listening to the album, and I could feel the Caribbean influence in the air,” Laguna said. “It really hit me how much Bad Bunny is doing with this album. He’s talking about Puerto Rico’s colonial past and present challenges, but he does it with upbeat, joyful music.”

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The Yale University course will use Bad Bunny’s music to explore major topics: Puerto Rican politics, Caribbean culture, diaspora, colonialism, and the impact of Latin music on the global music scene. It’s not only about being a fan; it’s about understanding Bad Bunny as part of a broader history of Caribbean music’s influence worldwide.

Bad Bunny, whose real name is Benito Martínez Ocasio and is originally from Vega Baja, Puerto Rico, burst onto the scene with reggaetón and Latin trap but hasn’t confined himself to one genre. He’s tried out different sounds and hasn’t hesitated to speak up on political issues, like Puerto Rico’s protests against former Governor Ricardo Rosselló, or highlighting the island’s challenges following Hurricane Maria.

The course also comes at a complicated time. Across the U.S., there’s political pressure from Donald Trump’s government to cut back on diversity, equity, and inclusion programs in universities. Some view courses like Yale’s Bad Bunny class as “not serious” or “too political.”

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But Laguna believes that classes like this matter. “People think you have to study the past to study culture, but that’s wrong,” he said. “Bad Bunny is part of a longer chain of Caribbean artists who’ve changed the world.”

And students are excited. Yale’s Bad Bunny course will only have 18 spots, but Laguna mentioned that over 100 students have already expressed interest in enrolling. Even Yale alumni, especially those who are Puerto Rican graduates, have been showing their support with messages. “There’s huge demand for this kind of material,” Laguna remarked.

The course isn’t merely a celebration of Bad Bunny’s music. It’s about leveraging his work to tackle larger questions about identity, migration, and the politics of culture. It also acknowledges that music, even pop music, can wield significant political influence, particularly when it originates from voices that have often been marginalized. Bad Bunny is making history, and now, he’s part of the syllabus at Yale.