A Timeline Of Residente And J Balvin’s Feud — From The ‘Hot Dog’ Fiasco To That New Diss Track
As you might know by now, Residente and J Balvin are in the midst of a major feud.
The dissing broke out on September 2021, and while some believed it would dwindle down — it’s showing no signs of stopping anytime soon.
In fact, René Pérez Joglar, better known as Residente, just dropped a diss track aimed at Balvin titled “Residente: Bzrp Music Sessions, Vol. 49” with Argentine producer Bizarrap — and listeners can barely believe their ears. The Puerto Rican rapper did not hold back, and the tea is piping hot.
Residente’s new eight-minute diss track is so full of insults, some people are questioning if the rapper went too far — especially in saying that the “Mi Gente” singer used his mental illness to promote his documentary “The Boy From Medellín.”
Still, others are applauding Residente for telling it like it is and calling out Balvin for being a culture vulture to the Afro-Latino community: “the color brown doesn’t exist in your rainbow.”
Residente also refers to Balvin’s now-deleted racist music video for his song “Perra” featuring Dominican rapper Tokischa, which showed Black women on leashes — and his disheartening acceptance of an award meant for Afro-Latinos. The feud between the two rappers is complex, so we made a complete timeline with everything you need to know.
1. It all started with a comment about Spotify hits.
Residente told Rolling Stone Español that Balvin made a stinging comment about the “No Hay Nadie Como Tú” rapper’s Spotify streams the first time they ever met. “[Balvin] started making fun of me, because I didn’t ‘have hits on Spotify.’ I was talking to Daddy Yankee and after that I didn’t say anything.”
2. Then came the infamous hot dog diss.
On September 28, 2021, J Balvin posted a since-deleted tweet, “The Grammy’s don’t value us, but they need us.” He continued, “that’s my opinion and nothing against other genres because they deserve all the respect. But the trick is boring. We give them ratings but they don’t give us respect. (P.S. I’m nominated so don’t say I’m hurt) JOSE.”
Residente saw the tweet and took to social media to express his frustration.
He posted a now-deleted video titled “Querido Jose” on Twitter and Instagram stating, “if the Grammy’s don’t value us, then why do I have 31 Grammy’s?” Naming all the people who were nominated in 2021 and referring to legendary Panamanian artist Ruben Blades being honored that year, he said, “you’re telling people from the urban music community to boycott the awards and not to go celebrate the artistic life of Ruben Blades… a guy who changed the history of Latin American music, a guy who unlike you, writes his songs and feels them.”
As if that didn’t cement the diss enough, Resident kept going: “I would believe you about the boycott if last year when they nominated you 13 times, you didn’t go to the Grammy’s. But you didn’t ask for a boycott then.”
And then, the iconic hot dog comparison: “it’s like if a hot dog cart would get angry for not earning a Michelin star. And don’t misunderstand me Jose, everyone likes hot dogs.” Clarifying the comment, he explained, “your music is like a hot dog cart. A lot of people can like them… but when those people want to eat well, they go to a restaurant. And that restaurant earns Michelin stars.”
He said, “if you want to get nominated, you have to stop making hot dogs and open a restaurant. Or… make an [amazing] hot dog… the point is, if you don’t [write your songs] you have to tone it down.”
3. J Balvin strikes back with a legendary hot dog cart photo.
The Colombian singer and rapper might have taken offense at Residente’s comment, but his reply was cool and collected. He commented on Residente’s video “🙏 RESPETO TU OPINIÓN 🙏” and simply posted two pictures of himself next to a hot dog cart, clearly poking fun at Residente’s comparison.
Meanwhile, the Calle 13 rapper replied by posting a photo of a man eating a hot dog and taking a swig of Residente beer, captioning it, “for every hot dog, there’s a Residente.”
4. Residente posts another video directed at Balvin.
The “La Vuelta Al Mundo” rapper posted another now-deleted video on October 2 aimed at Balvin after the Colombian singer released a line of merchandise with pictures of hot dogs. “Don’t worry, I’m not going to diss you, because we talked about it and I’m a man of my word unlike you.” He continued, “not everything in life is money. Money is important, it’s necessary… but it’s not everything, honesty and loyalty also exist.”
Residente then revealed, “you sent me like eight messages on WhatsApp saying I’m fake and on social media you write ‘I respect your opinion.’ What’s more fake than texting me a [expletive] through WhatsApp and in front of people making yourself look good.”
Meanwhile, Residente said he is “the same person on social media and in person, with my thousands of mistakes… but at least I’m real… not twenty different people like you.”
5. Then, J Balvin releases the racist “Perra” video… and wins an Afro-Latin Artist of the Year Award.
J Balvin released a music video for his song “Perra” featuring Tokischa in mid-October 2021 that many viewers were quick to call out as racist and offensive to the Black community.
Showing Black women being led on dog leashes by Balvin, the video was swiftly deleted with an apology on Balvin’s part. The Colombian rapper posted a video saying, “I want to offer my apologies to anyone who felt offended, especially women and the Black community.”
He continued, “that’s not who I am. I have always expressed tolerance, love and inclusivity.” About Dominican artist Tokischa, he said, “I also like to support new artists, in this case Tokischa, a woman who supports her people, her community and also empowers women.”
To add insult to injury, Balvin infamously won an Afro-Latin Artist of the Year Award on December 26 despite not being Black.
The “Verde” singer celebrated the win on social media, but quickly deleted the post once he faced backlash. He quickly changed his tone, stating on Instagram, “I am not Afro-Latino… but thank you for giving me a place in the contribution to Afrobeat music and its movement.” While the African Entertainment Awards decided to change the name of the award to Best Latin Artist of the Year and let Balvin keep it, fans still expressed their confusion and dismay all over Twitter:
6. Residente posts a video last week announcing he’s releasing a diss track — and it did not disappoint.
While many people believed the feud between the two artists was dead and gone, Residente’s new track shows that’s far from the truth.
Before dropping it, the rapper took to Instagram to talk about the song, starting off by saying, “this message is the least important thing you’ll hear today… especially in the middle of [the Ukraine-Russia war].” He describes that the song is about several issues he has with the current music industry, and only includes “a few lines” about Balvin.
Still, Residente said that Balvin found out about the diss track, and “hasn’t stopped calling everyone” to make sure Residente doesn’t release it.
In the video, Residente says that Balvin even got in touch with his 23-year-old producer Bizarrap to try to stop the song from coming out, but the producer refused.
He even says that the “La Canción” singer threatened to sue Residente’s label, even getting the label president involved. Residente said: “I don’t care if you sue me. I don’t care if they don’t include me in playlists. I don’t care about being number one in anything that has to do with payola,” referring to the illegal practice of paying to be on the radio. He continued, “the difference between me and you is that I’m free to do whatever I want. And you are a slave to the industry.”
The rapper released the track “Residente: Bzrp Music Sessions, Vol. 49” on March 3, and as promised, it was immediately widespread — and full of many burns. The track is more than eight minutes long, and first talks about the state of the music industry with lines like, “I don’t believe in digital platform stars, or your cake frosting Billboards, or your Instagram stories, Dolce & Gabbana and Cartier. I only believe in my level, and in my pencil lead running on top of the paper.”
By the last part, Residente directs his rap at Balvin, calling him “the copy of a clone, the Logan Paul of reggaeton.”
He continues, “the people are fighting, they’re getting killed, and he uploads photos of Gandhi praying.” Saying he uses mental illness to sell his documentary, Residente refers to Balvin as fake and a liar throughout the song.
The “Calma Pueblo” artist talks about Balvin “announcing on Instagram how much money he earns” and how he “doesn’t understand life values,” saying he has to tattoo the word “loyalty” because he forgets it. Referring to both the racist “Perra” video imagery and the award meant for Afro-Latinos, Residente says Balvin is “racist and doesn’t know it.”
Residente also says Balvin “doesn’t understand… privilege” and sets himself apart from the singer, saying, “my thing isn’t business, we’re different. For music, my heart is at the forefront.”
