2004–2005: early years Residente and Visitante met when they were both two years old, when Residente's mother married Visitante's father. The family developed strong ties to the Puerto Rican arts community; Residente's mother, Flor Joglar de Gracia, was an actress in Teatro del Sesenta, a local acting troupe, while Visitante's father (who later became Residente's stepfather) is currently a lawyer, but at one time was a musician. Although their parents later divorced, the stepbrothers remained close. Before living there, they lived at Calle 11. Residente originally studied to be an accountant, and Visitante finished a computer science degree. An art course prompted Residente to pursue a career as a
multimedia designer, and Visitante became a full-time musician and producer. Residente states that his degree in design has influenced his musical style: "What I used to do with my visual art is the same thing I do now with my lyrics. My songs are descriptive, very visual." After Residente finished studying in
Georgia at the
Savannah College of Art and Design and earned a master of fine arts in animation, illustration, sequential art and film, he returned to Puerto Rico. Public controversy about the song's lyrics ensured immediate attention from mainstream media in Puerto Rico. The song, according to critics, "redefined what a reggaeton vocalist's relationship to Puerto Rico should be." ,
Nicaragua. Soon after this, the duo rose to fame in 2005 with two back-to-back hits on Puerto Rican radio stations: "Se Vale Tó-Tó" and "
Atrevete-te-te!" Both songs were later included on their
eponymously titled debut album, which was released on November 29, 2005. After this rise to fame, the duo was sought by other reggaetón artists, and they collaborated with artists such as
Julio Voltio in the song "Ojalai" (also known as "Chulin Culin Chunfly", whose name is a minor variation of a song written by Mexican comedy writer
Roberto Gómez Bolaños, of whose comedic characters Residente is a fan—by citing the name, Gómez Bolaños is legally a co-author of the song,) and with the
Three 6 Mafia in the remix, singing or co-writing songs. At the end of 2005, they finally released their album, which received great critical praise. In 2006 the duo kept on working as they broke into a wider-music scene with at least two more smash hits that were played throughout Puerto Rico and U.S. Urban music radio and television stations, including the songs "Japón" ("Japan"), and "Suave" ("Soft/Slow"). The group had their first massive-venue concert on May 6, 2006, at the
José Miguel Agrelot Coliseum in
San Juan. They also toured Central and South America, playing "Atrévete-te-te" before an
escola de samba in Venezuelan television, and also visiting, among others, Guatemala, Chile, Honduras and Colombia. In light of the criticism directed towards the band, Calle 13 has become a cultural reference to be reckoned with in Puerto Rico. An example of this is the constant references made to the band and to Residente by satirical writer
Fiquito Yunqué in the weekly pro-independence newspaper
Claridad. Yunqué's columns sometimes feature Calle 13 lyrics as their titles, and Yunqué even introduced the band onstage at one of their live performances in Puerto Rico. Acceptance of Calle 13's music even influenced the former
Governor of Puerto Rico,
Aníbal Acevedo Vilá who, in December 2005, admitted to listening to Calle 13 because his son had copied some of their songs to his
iPod. Acevedo claimed that "songs such as Calle 13's were eye openers" to him. As a result, since the country had a chronic problem of people being unknowingly injured or killed by stray bullets fired to the air on
New Year's Eve, Acevedo felt compelled to invite the duo to
La Fortaleza and to have them record a song against shootings bullets in the air as a way of celebrating the holiday. The single, "Ley De Gravedad" (Law of Gravity) was released as part of a public-service campaign for that matter. Some political adversaries of Acevedo dismissed this as a trick to ingratiate himself with Puerto Rican youth and pro-independence advocates, and was criticized by the local press due to the fact that an artist who seemingly promoted violence with their "Querido FBI" song was now supposed to be a
role model for anti-violence. However, the campaign was thought to be effective in reducing the injured, from twelve (and one death) the previous year, to three the year the campaign was run, though many members of the artistic community contributed to this effort in separate campaigns.
2007: Residente o Visitante As the duo has risen to fame, other international artists of various genres have sought them. In 2006 and 2007, they recorded songs with Canadian
Nelly Furtado and Spanish
Alejandro Sanz. In their recent album, they feature contributions with such diverse groups like
Orishas (a
hip hop group whose members had emigrated from Cuba), Mexican
Café Tacuba, Argentine Vicentico (from
Los Fabulosos Cadillacs), and
La Mala Rodríguez (from Spain), among others. On May 19, 2006, the band celebrated their first international concert, held in
Panama City to a crowd of 5,000. During the summer of 2006 Calle 13 was featured on
MTV's
My Block: Puerto Rico. From September 15 – October 31
Calle 13 was
Artist Speaking Tr3s on
MTV Tr3s. On November 2, 2006, the band won three
Latin Grammys (Best New Artist; Best Urban Album; and Best Short Version Video, for the song "Atrévete-te-te"). They later filmed a video along with
Julio Voltio for "Chulín Culín Chunfly", where Residente, dressed as a priest and later as
Bruce Lee, is given a severe beating by a gang. On April 24, 2007, their second album
Residente o Visitante was released. Tracks in the album were partially recorded in
Puerto Rico and while on tour in Colombia, Argentina and Venezuela. While recording the album, Residente and Visitante took a trip to South America to explore areas populated by
Latin America's indigenous and African-descended minorities. The duo was strongly influenced by the experience; Visitante discovered and purchased several new musical instruments on the trip including a
quijada, a
charango and a
bombo legüero, all of which were used on the duo's song "Lllegale a Mi Guarida". As part of the album, Calle 13 filmed the video for their first single off the album, "
Tango del Pecado", on February 25, 2007. In May 2007, the duo performed at
Vive Latino, and the public answered them by throwing beer bottles filled with urine. In 2010, when taking part of the same festival, they were less bitterly welcomed. After recording a song titled "Tributo a la Policía", Calle 13 distributed the single free on the streets in front of the Police Headquarters of
San Juan. On November 8, 2007, Calle 13, along with Orishas, performed the song "Pa'l Norte" at the
8th Annual Latin Grammy Awards, held at the
Mandalay Bay Events Center in
Las Vegas,
Nevada. Their live performance featured the percussion/dance group
Stomp. A troupe of dancers dressed in traditional Latin American garb and wearing
bandannas in their faces (as if they were
bandits) were also featured. Two members of the traditional Colombian folk cumbia band
Los Gaiteros de San Jacinto, as well as members from an indigenous tribe local to the Gaiteros' hometown in northern Colombia, followed Residente to the stage at the beginning of the song. The subtext of the presentation was that Latin Americans were "invading the North" (the United States) and were there to stay. Calle 13 earned two Latin Grammys later that night: "Best Urban Music Album" for
Residente o Visitante and "Best Urban Song" for "Pal Norte". They were nominated for two other categories, the others being
Best Short Form Music Video and
Album of the Year. The Gaiteros de San Jacinto, who had also received a Grammy for their album
Un Fuego de Sangre Pura, could only accept it when Calle 13 intervened to finance their trip to Las Vegas and obtain a temporary visa to visit the United States on their behalf. A later tour of the Americas had Calle 13 perform to sell-out crowds in Colombia, Peru, Bolivia, Chile, Uruguay and Argentina. The band also performed in the United States, including an appearance at the
New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival on April 27, 2008. The band received all three possible audience acceptance awards when they performed at the 2008
Viña del Mar International Song Festival in
Viña del Mar, Chile, taming the usually demanding crowd (traditionally nicknamed "El Monstruo", or "The Monster"—because of its fickleness—by Chilean media). They also performed to a sold-out crowd at
Luna Park in
Buenos Aires, Argentina. They finished their tour at the 34th Annual
Claridad Support Festival in San Juan on April 24, 2008.
Denise Quiñones joined the band onstage for their abbreviated song set.
2008–2010: Los de Atrás Vienen Conmigo On 2008, their "Atrévete-te-te" song was a featured track on the game
Grand Theft Auto IV, playing in the lineup of the fictional
San Juan Sounds radio station. On October 9, 2008, Calle 13 participated in the "MTV Tr3s Pass Tour". In an interview done during the production of their third album,
Los de Atrás Vienen Conmigo, Calle 13 stated that the production would include songs discussing poverty. The duo also noted that the production would include
cumbia villera and "sounds from Eastern Europe". Pérez made a cameo appearance in the 2009 film
Old Dogs, being cast to interpret a tattoo artist. On October 15, 2009, Calle 13 won the Premios MTV Latinoamérica for Best Urban Artist. Pérez also served as host throughout the ceremony, using this exposure to insult Puerto Rican governor
Luis Fortuño and comment about a civilian general strike that was organized earlier that day, held to protest the firing of more than 25,000 public employees by Fortuño's administration. The phrase is commonly translated as "son of a bitch", although the phrase places emphasis on the mother of the subject being a prostitute, which many found disrespectful to Fortuño's mother. Fortuño responded by saying "This individual disrespected all Puerto Rican women, all Puerto Rican mothers and the people of Puerto Rico in general." On March 23, 2010, the band performed their first concert in Cuba, the event was held at the
José Martí Anti-Imperialist Plaza before an estimated crowd that ranged between 500,000 and 900,000 fans. The band performed "No Hay Nadie Como Tú", "La Cumbia de los Aburridos", "Se Vale Tó-Tó", "La Hormiga Brava", "Un Beso de Desayuno", "Pa'l Norte", "Fiesta de Locos", "Querido FBI", "La Jirafa" and "Tango del Pecado", before adding "Electro Movimiento" and "Atrévete te-te" due to popular demand. During this event, Calle 13 received the international Cubadisco award from representatives of the Instituto Cubano de la Música (lit. Cuban Music Institute). The group originally planned to participate in
Paz Sin Fronteras II, but were unable to acquire visas in time. The band has also filmed a documentary. The film,
Sin Mapa, is about their journeys through South America and the land's indigenous culture and art. The movie became available on iTunes and DVD on July 28, 2010.
2010–2012: Entren Los Que Quieran Calle 13 released their latest album,
Entren Los Que Quieran, on November 22, 2010. The singles "Calma Pueblo" and "Vamo' a Portarnos Mal" have been released to the
iTunes Store. Visitante explained that the title of the album means that "Everyone's invited to enter. If you don't want to, well don't." On November 19, 2011, the group offered a concert in El Salvador where the entrance gate was fully paid in rice and beans, the collected food was subsequently donated to flood victims in that country. Pérez also remixed an exclusive version of "El Hormiguero" for four-time world boxing champion
Miguel Cotto, who used it in his entrance prior to a successful title defense on December 3, 2011. Upon release, the music video for "Calma Pueblo" generated controversy for its violence and full-frontal nudity, which the band claims is a metaphor for self-liberation. The album received more nominations for the
12th Latin Grammy Awards than any other production that year. It went on to win nine categories in total "Album of the Year", "Best Urban Music Album" and "Producer of the Year" in general; "Best Urban Song" for "Baile de los Pobres"; "Best Tropical Song" for "Vamo' a Potarnos Mal"; "Best Short Form Music Video" for "Calma Pueblo"; "Song of the Year" and "Record of the Year" for "Latinoamérica". Following this ceremony, Calle 13 emerged as the artist or group with most awards won in the event with 19, besting Juanes' 17. This accomplishment also shattered several records, including "Most Honored Album", "Most Latin Grammies won in one night" and increased their leadership in the "Most Latin Grammies won by a group" category to 13 more than their closest competitors. In the press conference that followed, the group was interviewed by journalist Elvis Castillo of VENFM regarding his support to some elements of the Latin American left-wing. The journalist, a member of the conservative Venezuelan opposition, cited the work of local cartoonist Edo, a sketch of one of Pérez's characteristic black shirts scribbled with the phrase
A Calle 13: No es lo mismo ver la Revolución como Visitante que como Residente (lit. "To Calle 13: It is not the same to see the
Revolution as a Visitor as it is as a Resident") to question a supposed sympathy for
Chavismo. Pérez disregarded that notion, stating that "[Calle 13] does not support any president, because when we support any president we stop belonging to the people." On June 22, 2011, Calle 13 performed at The Pachamama Peace Festival and supported the project together with 8 Latin American embassies as the Godparent of the Pachamama Project. On December 22, 2011, the group received the Medalla Ramón Emeterio Betances from the Ateneo Puertorriqueño, the oldest cultural institution in Puerto Rico, as part of their Puerto Rican Flag Day celebrations. In the event, Pérez was heralded as the "
Roberto Clemente of modern music" by host
Luis Gutierrez, only to respond that he was "merely another member of [the Puerto Rican people] who decided to express [his] message". However, he admitted that being recognized in his motherland held more weight than any other award received during his career.
2013–present: Multi Viral and hiatus On November 13, 2013, the group released the track and video "
Multi Viral", which featured
WikiLeaks founder
Julian Assange and Palestinian singer Kamilya Jubran on vocals and
Tom Morello on guitar. In December 2013, they announced that their new album would be named
Multi Viral and it would be followed by a Latin American tour, which saw the band performing in Paraguay, Uruguay, Chile, Venezuela, Colombia, Costa Rica and Mexico. The album was released through their new own label, El Abismo, The tour unofficially began at the
University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras Campus in San Juan, where Calle 13 held an impromptu free concert on February 25, 2014. The event was announced only six days before and did not receive formal promotion. The concert, which featured interludes where the group opposed a revision in the UPR's enrollment fee and allowed a low income child to voice the concerns of his community, managed to attract an estimate of 50,000 fans. Despite recognizing that his political ideology conflicted with the inmovilist conservative ideals of governor
Alejandro García Padilla, Pérez accompanied the same child to a reunion in
La Fortaleza the following day. In May 2014, the duo once again performed at Vive Latino. When they were playing "El Aguante", one spectator jumped onto the stage and tried to take Residente's microphone. Five security guards grabbed the invader and Residente tried to punch him. They also included a video in which Residente is shown with the attacker sharing a drink and celebrating the fifth album. Though at the time of his album's release some media outlets referred to Calle 13 as a defunct band, Residente had previously said on multiple occasions that the band is not over and is just taking a break. ==Musical style==