The life of J. Balvin

Brut America

He's a role model, advocate for greater Latino representation, and a reggaeton star. He released his newest album "Colores."  This is J Balvin.

Transcript

00:00One day, I could tell my grandsons that I was that man,

00:03you know, that made, you know, was made part of history.

00:07♪♪

00:15Hey, what's up, my people from Brood?

00:16I'm J Balvin, Latino gang.

00:18♪♪

00:32We had a really tough moment in our city.

00:37We just had one chance to just, like, create heaven on earth,

00:43you know, so that's pretty much what we're doing, you know.

00:47It's a culture that just want to be better every time.

00:49♪♪

01:06I started playing guitar when I was a kid,

01:08so I was just doing the covers,

01:11and I had that love for music,

01:17but I didn't know that I was going to take it as, you know,

01:19as my life.

01:21♪♪

01:30My dad had a bad moment economically,

01:34so that's when I decided I have to do something,

01:37and that's when I decided to be an artist

01:38because I think that was the only choice that I had.

01:42♪♪

02:00New York changed my life because New York gave me life,

02:03you know, like, and hope,

02:05and I remember just, like, walking around Times Square

02:09and be like, you know, one day,

02:11I want to be in those billboards, you know,

02:12and one day, I want to be at Madison Square Garden.

02:15♪♪

02:23I liked it, but it wasn't giving me, like, really happiness,

02:26so one day, I just called my mom and told her, like,

02:31I want to be an artist, and it was a beautiful moment

02:33because she believed in me,

02:36and it was even harder because she believed in me, you know,

02:39so she was like, you want to do whatever you want to do,

02:43just, you know, be the best.

02:46♪♪

03:14I always say for the culture, you know,

03:16because it's, like, really represent us as Latinos

03:21that we're, you know, breaking boundaries

03:23and showing a new face of what we do, you know,

03:28and stop that stereotype that we had before about Latinos,

03:34which maybe it was at that time,

03:36but everything's evolving, you know, like,

03:39so I'm really grateful to, you know, be part of that history.

03:44♪♪

03:53He's a teacher because he end up showing us

03:55how not to do things.

03:56We're not what Mr. President said, you know, Trump.

04:02You know, I think we're more than that.

04:04We're not, like, Latinos are not just Mexicans,

04:08which I love Mexico, but, you know,

04:10like, the way he speaks about him,

04:12last time, it was just, like, awful, you know,

04:16so, and really disrespectful.

04:18♪♪

04:28♪♪

04:38♪♪

04:45I have a lot of billion views on my videos,

04:49but you cannot physically see all those people, you know,

04:53so we have the amazing numbers,

04:56but I'm grateful, but I just don't let it go to my head.

05:02♪♪

05:12♪♪

05:18If I'm singing in English, I've been, like,

05:20I'm crossing over because I don't believe

05:22that I have enough potential,

05:24and I don't believe that my culture

05:26is brave enough to break barriers.

05:29You know, I'm not about that.

05:30You know, I'm about, you know, my history.

05:33That's what I want to do.

05:34♪♪

05:44♪♪

05:49It was one of the most happiest days of my life.

05:51You know, I was just grateful.

05:54I was chill.

05:55So everybody was like, you look so calm.

05:57You look so relaxed.

05:58I'm like, yeah.

05:59First of all, I've been wearing this since 1995,

06:02when I was born.

06:03I was born ready for this,

06:05and I've been training all my life

06:07to be at moments like this.

06:08♪♪

06:38My main dream has always been

06:41get global in Spanish,

06:42and that's what we're doing,

06:43and we're getting there,

06:44and I'm going to keep working for it.

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