Residente (2017)

Interesting facts

Residente is the debut solo album from Puerto Rican rapper of same name, released on March 31, 2017, by Sony Music Latin during the hiatus of his main band Calle 13.

Background and production

A few years before the album's release, Residente took a DNA test that revealed his roots trace back to 10 different locations around the world, including Armenia, Ghana, China, and his homeland, Puerto Rico. Such diversity inspired him to produce what would later result in a solo album, a documentary and a book released via Fusion Media Group (Univision Communications) under the same common title Residente.

The album was written and recorded over the course of two years and saw Residente travel around the world to the places where his roots are, including Siberia, Moscow, China, the Caucasus, France, Spain, England, Armenia, Ossetia in Georgia, Antigua, Ghana, Burkina Faso, and Niger, aside from Puerto Rico.

In all these places, he worked with local, mostly amateur or unknown artists, some of whom were poor or affected by war. Despite this, Residente rejects the idea of it being a world music album because he "wanted to do something new". All of the artists would be paid for their royalties. He also said:

I collaborated with talented artists, artists that the musical industry doesn't know of because they don't pay attention to them, artists that make music without expecting something in return, artists whom I share DNA with, just how they shared their stories with me.

About the album's general sound, he said, "at a sound level it is not the most organic [album he's ever made], but the most real and precise. All sounds are from those countries, the drums, the voices, anything that sounds comes from that place."

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