Three weeks ago, rapper Akapellah launched a “tiradera” at Residente after mocking him in one of his songs. The Venezuelan’s song is called “You’re not a rapper” and in it the singer reveals various artistic and personal aspects of René in his own style.
Somewhat paradoxically, however Billboard has released a list of the 50 most influential Hispanic rappers in history And yes, as you can read in the title, Residente took first place.
According to Billboard Residente, it was more important than legends of the genre like Nach, Vico C and Canserbero. Naturally, this sparked a heated debate on the networks.
When selecting the artists, the magazine based itself on the achievements of rappers, which included gold and platinum records, among others; In addition, he appreciated the cultural influence of the 50 artists on popular culture and the development of the genre.
Undoubtedly, this last aspect is very subjective as it is not measurable. Perhaps this is where the disagreement of many lies when Residente was voted the best Hispanic rapper in history by Billboard.
In fact, there are those who believe that René shouldn’t have even been included in the list. Many say, like Akapellah, that Residente is not a rapper.
Music marketer and marketing specialist Albi Bravo, for example, went one step further and didn’t rule out buying the Billboard charts.
I’m curious how much Sony paid for Billboard to name Residente the best Latino rapper of all time. This is no coincidence, this is damage control. It’s a PR strategy. pic.twitter.com/WXtCUaEK4O
– Albi (@AlbiBravo) August 9, 2023
By ‘damage control’, Bravo is referring to the fact that Residente’s image has been blurry for the past few months, and he has also not been able to recover from the beating he received during the last ‘shootings’.
“What a laugh that Residente was turned on by the ‘Ranch’, that he wasn’t a rapper and magically agreed to Billboard that there was rap in Spanish.”, “Billboard made it clear that the source was unreliable because it named a local top 1 Latino rapper.” And “Residente best rapper of all time in Spanish.” Proof that titles are for sale»are some of the comments that are at the top of the networks.
For his part, Residente said on Instagram that “art is not a sport” and that lists and positions are not his thing. At that time he named some artists who were his favorites.
Resident on the Billboard charts. Photo: Instagram @resident
Do you agree that Residente is the most important Hispanic rapper in history?