Key Sentence:
- Colombian star J Balvin has apologized for his latest music video, Perra, a week after it was removed from YouTube.
In September, the video shows J Balvin keeping two black women on leashes while other black actors are made to look like dogs. Rapper Dominica Tokischa, involved in the song, also performed a four-legged scene in a doghouse. “He want to apologize to anyone who has been offended, especially the black community,” Balvin said on Instagram.
“This is not me. I am for tolerance, love, and inclusion.
“I also love supporting new artists, in this case, Takisha, a woman who supports her people, her community and also gives women opportunities.” @JBALVIN apologizes for Perra’s video with #Tokischa. “My message has always been tolerance, love, and integration,” he added.
Balvin, 36, is one of the most prominent artists in Latin American music, with sales of more than 35 million records worldwide. She has two top 10 hits in the UK – Mi Gente for 2017, including a guest verse from Beyoncé, and her collaboration with Cardi B for 2018. I Like It.
Perra is from the sixth studio album by star José-Opus with 24 tracks, which blends her colorful and friendly reggaeton with more intimate reflections on her upbringing and mental health issues.
The single title translates as “Bitch” in English, clearly falls into the former category.
A street song full of sexuality, he sees how Balvin swaps rhymes with Tokisha, who calls himself a “dog in the heat” and offers “Let’s fall in love like a homeless person. Both the song and video sparked criticism after its premiere on September 7. Colombian Vice President and Chancellor Martha Lucia Ramirez said the song was “sexist, racist, chauvinist and misogynistic.”
“In his videos, the artist uses images of women and people of African descent a population group with special constitutional protections. Which he shows with dog ears,” he wrote in an open letter published on October 11. In addition, while walking, the singer carried two women of African descent. Who were with necklaces and crawle on the ground like animals or slaves. She encouraged Balvin and the music industry to sign a petition containing “multiple commitments to promote women’s rights in music and prevent violence against them.”
Last week, Balvin’s mother told a Colombian news channel that she scolded her son for the song.
“When I found out, I called him [and asked] ‘Where is the Josesi I know? “Alba Mary Balvin told Cosmovisión.” This song isn’t… I don’t even know what to say. I haven’t seen my Jose anywhere. The star removed the video from YouTube on October 17 but waited a week before apologizing.
“Out of respect, I deleted the video eight days ago,” he said on his Instagram story. “But while the criticism continues, I’m here to make a statement. “Mom, I’m sorry too. Life is getting better every day. Thank you for listening to me.” Takisha also apologized in an interview with Rolling Stone, trying to explain the thinking behind the visuals.
“It was very conceptual. If you, as a creative, had a song that talked about dogs, you would create this world,” he said. As a “satire presentation” of “the many contexts of the word “perra. As well as life in the Dominican Republic’s poor barrios and the way people live in it.
“Our creative process was never designed to promote racism or misogyny,” she said. “The Dominican Republic is a country where most of the population is black. And our darkness dominates the underground scene in which it was filmed and inspired by the video. Perra is a video shot in that neighborhood, with people from that neighborhood. And the use of the colorful people in Perra is nothing more than our people’s involvement in it.”