Bad Bunny

Bad Bunny Bio

Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio, known professionally as Bad Bunny, is a Puerto Rican rapper, singer, songwriter, record producer, actor, and occasional professional wrestler. Born on March 10, 1994, in Bayamón, Puerto Rico, he rose to global prominence in the late 2010s and is widely credited with helping Spanish-language rap and reggaetón reach mainstream audiences around the world. He is regarded as one of the greatest Latino artists of his generation and has been Spotify’s most-streamed artist in the world four times.

Beyond music, Bad Bunny is known for his distinctive fashion sense, his advocacy for Puerto Rico, and his limited but notable forays into professional wrestling and film. He has headlined the Super Bowl LX halftime show, won multiple Grammy and Latin Grammy Awards, and released a string of chart-topping studio albums, including X 100pre, YHLQMDLG, El Último Tour Del Mundo, Un Verano Sin Ti, Nadie Sabe Lo Que Va a Pasar Mañana, and Debí Tirar Más Fotos.

Early Life and Background

Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio was born on March 10, 1994, in Bayamón, Puerto Rico, and was raised in the Almirante Sur barrio of Vega Baja. His father, Benito Martínez, worked as a truck driver, while his mother, Lysaurie Ocasio, is a retired schoolteacher. He has two younger brothers, Bernie and Bysael, and his family provided a stable, music-rich household during his upbringing.

His parents often listened to genres such as salsa, merengue, and pop ballads around the home. His earliest musical memory dates back to age five, when he received the record Aquel Que Había Muerto by Puerto Rican rapper and reggaetón pioneer Vico C as a Christmas gift. He later expanded his collection to include albums by Marc Anthony and Víctor Manuelle, helping shape his early appreciation for Caribbean and Latin music.

As a child, Martínez attended church weekly with his devoutly Catholic mother and sang in the church choir until age 13. After leaving the choir, he developed a stronger interest in the music he heard on the radio, particularly the work of Daddy Yankee and Héctor Lavoe. His stage name, Bad Bunny, reportedly came from a time when he was forced to wear a bunny costume and felt annoyed by the experience, later deciding the name would simply market well.

Path to Music

After graduating high school in 2012, Martínez enrolled in the audiovisual communications program at the University of Puerto Rico at Arecibo, with the goal of becoming a radio host. To support himself, he worked part-time as a bagger and cashier at an Econo supermarket, all while creating music in his free time. He eventually left the university without completing his degree in order to pursue music full-time.

He began writing and recording his own music at the age of 14, drawing on the diverse sounds he had absorbed growing up in Puerto Rico. In 2016, his song “Diles” caught the attention of producer DJ Luian on SoundCloud, leading to a recording contract with the Hear This Music label. Shortly afterward, his single “Soy Peor” climbed the Billboard Hot Latin Songs chart, signaling his arrival as a rising new voice in Latin urban music.

By 2017, he had secured a booking deal with Cardenas Marketing Network for several Latin American countries and had launched Beats 1’s first Spanish-language radio show, Trap Kingz. His collaboration with Ozuna and Nicky Jam on the remix of “Te Boté” reached number one on the Hot Latin Songs chart, setting the stage for his crossover success in 2018 with the Cardi B and J Balvin collaboration “I Like It.”

Bad Bunny Career

Early Career (2013–2019)

Bad Bunny released his debut studio album X 100pre on December 24, 2018, through the Rimas Entertainment label. The album peaked at number 11 on the US Billboard 200 and earned critical praise for its creative range, eventually being voted 447th in Rolling Stone’s 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. In 2019, he joined the collaborative album Oasis with J Balvin, which reached number nine on the Billboard 200 and topped the Billboard US Latin Albums chart.

During this period, he also scored major hits with “Mia” alongside Drake and the Cardi B and J Balvin collaboration “I Like It,” which became his first number-one single on the Billboard Hot 100. His rapid ascent in the Latin music scene earned him industry recognition, including multiple award nominations and a dedicated global fan base that would soon translate into historic streaming numbers.

Breakthrough (2020–2021)

In February 2020, Bad Bunny was a guest performer at the Super Bowl LIV halftime show, headlined by Shakira and Jennifer Lopez, giving him one of the largest mainstream platforms of his career. He released his second solo album YHLQMDLG on February 29, 2020, which debuted at number two on the Billboard 200, becoming the highest-charting all-Spanish album on the chart at that time. The album won the Grammy Award for Best Latin Pop or Urban Album at the 63rd Annual Grammy Awards.

He followed YHLQMDLG with the surprise compilation Las que no iban a salir in May 2020 and then released his third studio album, El Último Tour Del Mundo, on November 27, 2020. That album became the first all-Spanish-language album to reach number one on the Billboard 200, and its lead single “Dakiti” topped the Billboard Global 200. He was also named Spotify’s most-streamed artist globally for the year, the first non-English-language artist to top that year-end list.

In 2021, he won 10 awards at the 2021 Billboard Latin Music Awards, including Artist of the Year, and appeared on Time’s annual Time 100 list of the most influential people in the world. He was also cast in the David Leitch-directed film Bullet Train, starring Brad Pitt, marking a significant step in his move into Hollywood film work.

Notable Works and Milestones

His 2022 studio album Un Verano Sin Ti debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 and was declared the best-performing album of the year on the year-end Billboard 200 chart, as well as the world’s best-performing album of 2022 according to IFPI, making Bad Bunny the first Latino to win an IFPI Global Chart Award. The album also became the first Spanish-language project nominated for the Grammy Award for Album of the Year, capping a remarkable run of crossover success.

Bad Bunny Award Nominations

Throughout his career, Bad Bunny has earned a remarkable number of nominations across the major music awards. He has received sixteen Grammy Award nominations and fifty-two Latin Grammy Award nominations across his career, in addition to nominations at the Billboard Music Awards, Latin Billboard Music Awards, MTV Video Music Awards, American Music Awards, and Lo Nuestro Awards. He has also been nominated for honors celebrating his humanitarian and cultural work, including a nomination for Telemundo’s inaugural Premios Tu Música Urbano Humanitarian Award of the Year in 2019.

Bad Bunny Awards Won

Bad Bunny’s career has been defined by historic award wins across Latin and global music. He has won six Grammy Awards and seventeen Latin Grammy Awards, alongside eight Billboard Music Awards and thirteen Lo Nuestro Awards. In 2022, he became the first non-English-language artist to win Artist of the Year at the MTV Video Music Awards, and in 2026, his album Debí Tirar Más Fotos became the first Spanish-language album to win the Grammy Award for Album of the Year.

Bad Bunny Family

Bad Bunny was raised in a close-knit Puerto Rican family in the Almirante Sur barrio of Vega Baja. His father, Benito Martínez, worked as a truck driver, and his mother, Lysaurie Ocasio, was a schoolteacher who remains a strong presence in his life. He has two younger brothers, Bernie and Bysael, and he has often spoken about the importance of family in shaping his grounded, humble approach to fame.

He has credited his family, particularly his mother, with instilling the values and discipline that have helped him navigate his rapid rise in the music industry. His mother’s devout Catholicism also influenced his early years, as he attended church weekly and sang in the church choir until age 13.

Personal Life

Bad Bunny has been private about his personal life, telling Vanity Fair in 2023 that he is not interested in publicly clarifying details about his relationships. He started dating his college sweetheart, lawyer Carliz De La Cruz Hernández, in 2011, and the two were reportedly engaged in 2016 before breaking up several months later. They briefly reconciled in 2017 before ending their relationship for good.

He then entered an on-again, off-again relationship with jewelry designer Gabriela Berlingeri in 2017, who photographed his historic cover article for Rolling Stone in 2020. During their breakups, he dated Argentine rapper Cazzu and American model Kendall Jenner. Martínez has identified himself as sexually fluid, telling the Los Angeles Times in 2020 that he remains open about who he may love in the future.