Erin Lanahan 
While some of us may be adding some Bad Bunny tunes to our playlists after his electric performance during the Super Bowl LX Halftime Show, some New Jersey college students have already mastered his history and discography in the classroom. A professor taught a seminar on Puerto Rican singer, rapper, and music producer Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio, who we all know as Bad Bunny, during the fall 2025 semester at Rutgers. The course went beyond the Grammy winner’s music, exploring the Puerto Rican history and culture that surrounds Bad Bunny’s work. Here’s what we know about the Bad Bunny course at Rutgers University and the other schools that taught similar courses.
Two students approached Rutgers professor Dámaris M. Otero-Torres, suggesting she teach a course on Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio, who many of us know as Bad Bunny. The professor is part of the Department of Spanish and Portuguese, School of Arts and Sciences. She typically focuses on courses about the literary works of the Spanish Golden Age, not modern Latin music.
The two students, Erin Foley and Rosselyn Rugama-Ruiz, grew up listening to Bad Bunny and were persistent that the course would be compelling for students studying Spanish.“I wanted to understand what he was saying in the songs, so I started taking Spanish, and the rest is history,” said Erin. She is majoring in Spanish and speech and hearing sciences in linguistics and wants to become a bilingual speech-language pathologist, working in underserved communities and advancing equity within the field.
Read more: A Comprehensive Guide to Hoboken + Jersey City Live Music Spots The students went to their professor when the album dropped to persuade her to start teaching a course around it. Professor Otero-Torres grew up in Puerto Rico, and when she listened to the album, she was moved.
“The (musical) fusion that he had; the way he honored the traditions; I don’t think I had seen that in Puerto Rican history,” Professor Otero-Torres shared. “And when I started listening to the words, I was like, ‘Oh my God, this album is so political.’” The professor eventually agreed, launching the seminar, “Topics in Hispanic Literature and Culture.” The course was devoted to Bad Bunny and the music of his 2025 album, Debí Tirar Más Fotos.
“It’s really a statement of resistance after Hurricane Maria hit the island,” said Rugama Ruiz, who is studying to become a nurse and promote healthcare equity. “It calls out the forces of gentrification and privatization and the people taking advantage of the island, which have resulted in people being pushed out.”
The album Debí Tirar Más Fotos explores traditional Puerto Rican music, like bomba, where the drummer plays to the rhythm of the dancer, and plena, a percussion-driven folk music genre of music. The songs also speak of the struggles Puerto Rico has faced in recent years. Just being a Bad Bunny fan isn’t enough to get an A in this course. The coursework takes a deep dive into Puerto Rican history, literature, and musicology. All the lectures and reading materials are in Spanish. The class was made up of 14 juniors and seniors majoring or minoring in Spanish.
“I wanted to learn the back stories behind the songs,” student Maya Guennouni shared. “As we explore how specific songs relate to Hurricane Maria or the Puerto Rican diaspora, you begin to understand there is a message and intent behind this music that is so much more than what we hear on the radio.”
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“I believe that as a scholar, I am there to provide for a need,” Professor Otero-Torres said. “And when students come to me and say, ‘We want to dig deep into this topic,’ I can only say ‘yes.’” The Hoboken Girl reached out to the professor to learn more about this course and will update this piece when we hear back.
Rutgers isn’t the only school that taught a course on the works and influence of Bad Bunny’s music. The New York Times reported Yale University, Wellesley College and Loyola Marymount University were among the other schools focusing on Benito’s music and the history that surrounds his work.
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