Calle 13: An Interview

Rolling Stone Magazine

Calle 13- Latin America’s Most Controversial Artists

Calle 13 (Street 13) was formed by stepbrothers René Pérez Joglar and Eduardo José Cabra Martínez. Originally from San Juan, Puerto Rico, the two siblings decided to chase their dreams by traveling around Latin America and performing. What started off as two siblings rapping about raunchy and vulgar music evolved into an international phenomenon whose message extends far beyond the Latin world. Today, their music is considered either empowering or outright demeaning.  

Give us a little background on yourselves.

We began our career in the early 2000’s but we did not gain notoriety until we released our song “Querido F.B.I” in 2008 as that generated both controversy and popularity. Clearly, we are strong supporters of the Puerto Rican independence movement. Because we show that stance clearly in our music, we have been called the “Most hated and most loved musical group in Latin America”. We have won ten Latin Grammy Awards and two Grammy Awards.

You began your career with raunchy and unfiltered music and then you shifted to a more politically targeted genre. Why did you have such a sudden change?

From the beginning, our music has always had a small political streak in it. Our music did not completely shift but rather the political stances we had continued to grow in our music. Back when we began our career, our political positions were not strong and we did not think about them much. We began going around Latin America and we began seeing all the problems that people face daily. One of our fans began asking us to talk about our thoughts on certain topics. Soon enough, it was two fans that were asking us. Eventually, we had thousands of people that began wanting us to publically discuss these issues. We began breaking certain barriers and eventually, we paved our status as a socially mindful band.

Who would you say your target audience is and why?

We are not going to sit here and discuss how our target audience is “aged 16-25” middle class society. Rather, our target audience is anyone who has ever been oppressed, denied rights, or unjustly treated. We aim to educate and empower the society that has been blinded by the higher powers. We aim to educate the youth of our society about how to grow up and understand the world around them and not be brainwashed by the threats of society.

Why do you think your music makes a large portion of Latin America uncomfortable?

Many will say that our music is “rude and disrespectful” and that it is not something that they will allow their children to listen to. We get a lot of negative criticism and even death threats. It is obvious that people have developed deep hatred and disgust for us. The matter of the fact is that the reason that many people have hatred towards our music is because we have exposed the ugly truth of societies such as Puerto Rico. We uncover things that the people of Puerto Rico certainly would not want the rest of the world to know. We say the truth about tyrants and oppressors who have brainwashed their society in not speaking out. In a society like Puerto Rico where people discuss the issues of corruption, the high unemployment rate, or the poor and dirty neighborhoods over a cup of tea, we bring these issues to light. We are so hated not because we are raunchy or wrong, we are hated because we are right.

How do you think the actual language of your songs and your choice of words have an impact on the theme and the message of your music?

It is clear that we use vulgar and angry words to express our messages. We break many sexual, political, and social barriers and we do not do so with formal wording. That would never get our message across. We use Puerto Rico’s street lingo in order for people to listen and understand something they would not otherwise. Because we use curse words and slang, we are able to reach a wider audience and include everyone from the lowest class to the richest. No one would listen to us talk about police brutality if it were worded in a way that is meant for students in school to read. We use such vulgar and angry sounding words because we are angry. We are angry about the oppression and the corruption. We have learned that it is not only the content that is vital to delivering our message, it is also the language.

What impact would you like your music to have?

That’s a very simple question. We want our music to empower and educate. We want to empower the people who feel like they do not have a say in society and who feel like they are constantly targeted by higher powers. We want to show them that we are all Latin America and Latin America sticks together. We want to educate the youth of our society to grow up and not hide and do something about the issues in society. Although we are just standing on stage and singing, we believe our music can have a lasting influence.

Finally, what successes or accomplishments has your music earned you?              

As stated before, we have won 10 Latin Grammy Awards and two Grammy Awards. We are joining forces with UNICEF to raise awareness about violence in Latin America. We just released our new song, “La Bala” (The Bullet) in order to speak up about rising violence.  The most important thing for us is that we are the voice of Latin America’s oppressed. We do not speak about our political positions, we are simple the face of millions of people who do not have a voice. That would have to be our greatest accomplishment.

Here is a part of one of Calle 13’s songs, "Vamos a Portarnos Mal" (Let's Behave Badly) translated in English.

 Suban el telón, abran las cortinas,

enciendan las turbinas con nitroglicerina.

El desorden es tu penicilina

brincando curas los dolores sin aspirina.

Vamos a provocar un cortocircuito,

antes de que en el 2012 caiga un meteorito.

A portarnos mal, a cometer delitos,

a comernos a Caperucita con los tres cerditos.

Esto no se trata de rebeldía,

esto se trata de ser indisciplinado por un día.

Los incomprendidos del nuevo testamento,

tenemos nuestras reglas, nuestro propio mandamiento.

Como no comprenden nuestro comportamiento,

a todos los psicólogos les damos tratamiento.

Pa' romper con la rutina repetitiva,

que el sol salga de noche y que llueva para arriba.

Nos quieren controlar, como a control remoto,

pero la autoridad, no puede con nosotros.

Nos gusta el desorden

rompemos con las reglas

somos indisciplinados

todos los malcriados...

vamo' a portarnos mal,

vamo' a portarnos mal,

vamo' a portarnos mal.

English 

Raise the curtain, open the curtains,

Light the turbines with nitroglycerin.

The disorder is your penicillin.

Jumping cures your pains without aspirin.

Let's cause a short circuit

Before a meteor falls in 2012

We'll misbehave, commit crimes,

We'll eat Little Red Riding Hood with the three little pigs.

This is not about rebellion,

This is about being undisciplined for a day.

The misunderstood parts of the New Testament,

We have our rules, our own command.

If they don't understand our behavior,

We give treatment to all the psychologists.

To break the repetitive routine,

The sun comes out at right and rain pours up.

They want to control us, like a remote control,

But the authority can't do that with us.

We like disorder

We break the rules

We're undisciplined

All the spoiled brats...

Let's behave badly

Let's behave badly
Let's behave badly!