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