Afilando Los Cuchillos
Puerto Rico 2019 protest song
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
"Afilando Los Cuchillos" transl. "Sharpening the Knives" is a protest song by Puerto Rican musicians Bad Bunny, Residente, and iLe. It was released on July 17, 2019 through YouTube, in response to Ricardo Rosselló and the Telegramgate.
| "Afilando Los Cuchillos" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ||||
| Single by Residents de calle | ||||
| Released | December 13, 2019[1] | |||
| Recorded | July 16, 2019[2] | |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length |
| |||
| Label | Residents de calle | |||
| Songwriters | ||||
| Residents de calle singles chronology | ||||
| ||||
| Music video | ||||
| "Residente, iLe & Bad Bunny - Afilando los Cuchillos (Cover Audio)" on YouTube | ||||
The song was officially independently released as a single five months later, on December 13, 2019, credited to the pseudonym "Residents de calle".[1]
Background
The beat was produced by Trooko.[3] The song was written and recorded in one day and received 2.5 million views on YouTube within the first day of its release.[2] In the song, the artists accuse Rosselló of corruption, homophobia, and incompetence.[4] Residente raps about the emotions of the citizens of Puerto Rico who have experienced generations of government corruption. He also raps about how there are still houses without roofs as a result of Hurricane Maria. Bad Bunny raps about how the youth are disillusioned by the government's aggressive prosecution of petty crime while simultaneously underfunding education in Puerto Rico.[3]
Los 40 described iLe's hymn in the song as melodic.[5] NPR calls the song a clear example of a Latin American protest song and Pitchfork describes it as a diss track.[3][6]
On July 17, 2019, Residente, Bad Bunny, and Ricky Martin attended protests in front of the Capitol of Puerto Rico.[7]
