René Pérez Joglar, a.k.a Residente, is a rapper, singer, writer, producer, film director, and, with his stepbrother Visitante (Eduardo José Cabra Martínez) co-founder of the award-winning rap group Calle 13. They have won 24 Latin Grammys, the most awarded to a single group in Latin music history. Residente owns a Fine Arts degree and is known for his social and humanitarian work on behalf of UNICEF and Amnesty International.
Residente was born on February 23, 1978, in Hato Rey, a neighborhood in San Juan, capital of Puerto Rico. He is the son of actress Flor Joglar de Gracia and a lawyer, a former enthusiast of the Sandinista Revolution and activist for labor causes. He met his half-brother when he was two years old. At the time, Residente's mother married Visitante's father. The family had ties to the Caribbean island’s artistic community: Flor worked at Teatro del Sesenta, a local performing group, while her father had been a musician in the past. Residente says he and his family have had a relatively comfortable life, and he places himself in the group of Puerto Ricans who are “too poor to be rich and too rich to be poor”. Although his parents later divorced, he and Visitor remained close. He attended the Savannah College of Art and Design in Savannah, Georgia, where he earned a Master of Arts degree.
His first obsession was baseball (one that continues), but he learned to play guitar and drums; he was largely self-taught. In high school he was a drummer in the school band. After graduation, he studied Fine Arts at Escuela de Artes Plasticas, and upon completing his bachelor’s degree, he won a scholarship to Georgia's Savannah College of Arts & Design for post-graduate work. To relieve the pressure of school, he began to write poems and rap songs, choosing his stage name, “Residente Calle 13”, during those years. After receiving his master’s degree, he moved to Barcelona, where he studied and made films before returning to Puerto Rico. He earned his living for a time doing illustrations, but it grew bored. With reggaeton exploding in Puerto Rico, he eventually found his way into the music business by editing and directing videos.
In 2004 he formed Calle 13 with Visitante. After struggling for a number of years, the pair signed to White Lion Records, which issued their controversial singles “Querido F.B.I.” (the first track Residente sent them as a demo) and “Se Vale To-To” (their breakthrough hit) and got them a deal with Sony.
Calle 13 went on to become one of the best-selling groups in Puerto Rican music history and influential far beyond its borders, throughout Latin America, the United States, Europe, and even Asia with their distinctive, socially conscious, and utterly musical brand of hip-hop. They inspired and influenced an entire generation of rappers and musicians with their recordings, concerts, and videos. Though their music initially came under fire from journalists and politicians, it was the Puerto Rican governor himself, Anibal Acevedo Vilá, who in 2005 admitted listening to them and having his eyes opened by their music. Their reputation became one of artists, statesmen, and national heroes.
Calle 13 began a series of collaborations with other artists including Nelly Furtado, Alejandro Sanz, Cuba's Orishas and Maria Rita, to name a few. As their fame grew and awards were bestowed, the band's artistic ambitions knew no bounds and they added elements of bomba plena, salsa, funk, rock, and jazz to their sound.
From their self-titled debut in 2005 to 2013's Multi_Viral, each recording went platinum; all were placed globally on the rap charts , three made the pop Top 200, and all have made the Top 25 on the Latin albums and Tropical charts. IN addition, many singles have hit the top spot on several charts simultaneously. Calle 13 went on hiatus after Multi_Viral’s world tour. Residente almost immediately announced a solo album and began traveling and recording in different countries including China, Russia, Spain, Ghana, and even Siberia.
He appeared with K'naan, Snow Tha Product, and Riz MC on the track "Immigrants (We Get the Job Done)," which was featured on the Hamilton Mixtape. In December of 2016, Residente launched a website for his upcoming album that teased songs, offered video clips, and provided documentary information about his travels and recording. He dropped a pre-release video single in January entitled “Somos Anomales” – the provocative document was directed by Argentine film director Alejandro Agresti and garnered over four and a half million views within a few weeks of its release. His self-titled full-length album was issued by Sony in the spring of 2017. The high-charting release took home the Latin Grammy for Best Urban Music album. It was nominated for Best Latin Rock, Urban or Alternative Album at the 2018 Grammy Awards. July 2019 saw Residente issue the high-energy single “Bellacosa”. Recently, the rapper released the video for his new song, “This is Not America”, in which he harshly criticizes the interventionist and violent policy of the United States in Latin America.
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