title: Puerto Rico

text: Puerto Ricans have participated in many United States military conflicts, including the American Revolution, when volunteers from Puerto Rico, Cuba, and Mexico fought the British in 1779 under the command of General Bernardo de Gálvez (1746–1786). They continue to be disproportionately represented in present-day conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. The most notable example is the 65th Infantry Regiment of the United States Army, nicknamed "The Borinqueneers," from the original Taíno name of the island (Borinquen). The all-Puerto Rican regiment participated in World War I, World War II, the Korean War, and the War on Terror; in 2014, it was awarded the Congressional Gold Medal for its heroism during the Korean War.


title: Puerto Rico

text: A significant number of Puerto Ricans serve in the U.S. Armed Forces, largely as National Guard members and civilian employees. The size of the overall military-related community is estimated to be 100,000, including retired personnel. Fort Buchanan has about 4,000 military and civilian personnel. In addition, approximately 17,000 people are members of the Puerto Rico Army and Air National Guards, or the U.S. Reserve forces.


title: Puerto Rico

text: Unlike the vast majority of U.S. states, Puerto Rico has no first-order administrative divisions akin to counties, but has 78 municipalities or "municipios" as the secondary unit of administration; for U.S. Census purposes, the municipalities are considered county equivalents. Municipalities are subdivided into "barrios", and those into sectors. Each municipality has a mayor and a municipal legislature elected for four-year terms, per the Autonomous Municipalities Act of 1991.


title: Puerto Rico

text: Puerto Rico is classified as a high income economy by the World Bank and International Monetary Fund. It is considered the most competitive economy in Latin America by the World Economic Forum and ranks highly on the Human Development Index. According to World Bank, gross national income per capita in Puerto Rico in 2020 was $21,740. Puerto Rico's economy is mainly driven by manufacturing (primarily pharmaceuticals, textiles, petrochemicals and electronics) followed by services (primarily finance, insurance, real estate and tourism); agriculture represents less than 1% of GNP. In recent years, it has also become a popular destination for MICE (meetings, incentives, conferencing, exhibitions), with a modern convention centre district overlooking the Port of San Juan.


title: Puerto Rico

text: Responsibility for San Juan port inspections lies with PPQ. So high is the volume of cargo traffic that between 19842000 the San Juan PPQ station recorded 7.74% of all interceptions, #4 in the country, #2 for insects and #3 for pathogens. Most species are originally from South America or elsewhere in the Caribbean due to PR's position as an intermediary on the way to the mainland. This is one of the worst locations for cut flowers and other plant parts both in terms of number of problems and diversity of species for insects in plant parts in baggage, and for pathogens in plant parts in baggage and cargo. Pathogen interceptions were dramatically (17%) higher 19992000 than in 19851986.


title: Puerto Rico

text: Puerto Rico's geography and political status are both determining factors for its economic prosperity, primarily due to its relatively small size; lack of natural resources and subsequent dependence on imports; and vulnberability to U.S. foreign policy and trading restrictions, particularly concerning its shipping industry.


title: Puerto Rico

text: Puerto Rico experienced a recession from 2006 to 2011, interrupted by four quarters of economic growth, and entered into recession again in 2013, following growing fiscal imbalance and the expiration of the IRS Section 936 corporate incentives that the U.S. Internal Revenue Code had applied to Puerto Rico. This IRS section was critical to the economy, as it established tax exemptions for U.S. corporations that settled in Puerto Rico, and allowed their insular subsidiaries to send their earnings to the parent corporation at any time, without paying federal tax on corporate income. Puerto Rico has surprisingly been able to maintain a relatively low inflation in the past decade while maintaining a purchasing power parity per capita higher than 80% of the rest of the world.


title: Puerto Rico

text: Academically, most of Puerto Rico's economic woes stem from federal regulations that expired, have been repealed, or no longer apply to Puerto Rico; its inability to become self-sufficient and self-sustainable throughout history; its highly politicized public policy which tends to change whenever a political party gains power; as well as its highly inefficient local government which has accrued a public debt equal to 68% of its gross domestic product throughout time. Puerto Rico currently has a public debt of $72.204 billion (equivalent to 103% of GNP), and a government deficit of $2.5 billion.


title: Puerto Rico

text: By American standards, Puerto Rico is underdeveloped: It is poorer than Mississippi, the poorest state of the U.S., with 41% of its population below the poverty line. However, it has the highest GDP per capita in Latin America. Puerto Rico's main trading partners are the United States, Ireland, and Japan, with most products coming from East Asia, mainly China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan. Puerto Rico's dependency on oil for transportation and electricity generation, as well as its dependency on food imports and raw materials, makes Puerto Rico volatile and highly reactive to changes in the world economy and climate.


title: Puerto Rico

text: Tourism in Puerto Rico is also an important part of the economy. In 2017, Hurricane Maria caused severe damage to the island and its infrastructure, disrupting tourism for many months. The damage was estimated at $100 billion. An April 2019 report indicated that by that time, only a few hotels were still closed, that life for tourists in and around the capital had, for the most part, returned to normal. By October 2019, nearly all of the popular amenities for tourists, in the major destinations such as San Juan, Ponce and Arecibo, were in operation on the island and tourism was rebounding. This was important for the economy, since tourism provides up to 10% of Puerto Rico's GDP, according to Discover Puerto Rico.


title: Puerto Rico

text: The latest Discover Puerto Rico campaign started in July 2018. An April 2019 report stated that the tourism team "after hitting the one-year anniversary of the storm in September [2018], the organization began to shift towards more optimistic messaging. The "Have We Met Yet?" campaign was intended to highlight the island's culture and history, making it distinct, different from other Caribbean destinations. In 2019, Discover Puerto Rico planned to continue that campaign, including "streaming options for branded content".


title: Puerto Rico

text: In late November 2019, reports indicated that 90 calls to San Juan by Royal Caribbean ships would be cancelled during 2020 and 2021. This step would mean 360,000 fewer visitors, with a loss to the island's economy of 44 million. As well, 30 ship departures from San Juan were being canceled. The rationale for this decision was discussed in a news report:The reason for the cancellations is the privatization of the cruise docks in San Juan due to much-needed maintenance that is needed. Around $250 million investment is needed to make sure cruise ships can continue to dock there in the years to come. There is an urge for governor Wanda Vazquez to not go ahead with the privatization so this news is fluid.


title: Puerto Rico

text: In early 2017, the Puerto Rican government-debt crisis posed serious problems for the government which was saddled with outstanding bond debt that had climbed to $70 billion. The debt had been increasing during a decade-long recession.


title: Puerto Rico

text: The Commonwealth had been defaulting on many debts, including bonds, since 2015. With debt payments due, the governor was facing the risk of a government shutdown and failure to fund the managed health care system. "Without action before April, Puerto Rico's ability to execute contracts for Fiscal Year 2018 with its managed care organizations will be threatened, thereby putting at risk beginning July 1, 2017 the health care of up to 900,000 poor U.S. citizens living in Puerto Rico", according to a letter sent to Congress by the Secretary of the Treasury and the Secretary of Health and Human Services. They also said that "Congress must enact measures recommended by both Republicans and Democrats that fix Puerto Rico's inequitable health care financing structure and promote sustained economic growth."


title: Puerto Rico

text: Initially, the oversight board created under PROMESA called for Puerto Rico's governor Ricardo Rosselló to deliver a fiscal turnaround plan by 28 January. Just before that deadline, the control board gave the Commonwealth government until 28 February to present a fiscal plan (including negotiations with creditors for restructuring debt) to solve the problems. A moratorium on lawsuits by debtors was extended to 31 May. It is essential for Puerto Rico to reach restructuring deals to avoid a bankruptcy-like process under PROMESA. An internal survey conducted by the Puerto Rican Economists Association revealed that the majority of Puerto Rican economists reject the policy recommendations of the Board and the Rosselló government, with more than 80% of economists arguing in favor of auditing the debt.


title: Puerto Rico

text: In early August 2017, the island's financial oversight board (created by PROMESA) planned to institute two days off without pay per month for government employees, down from the original plan of four days per month; the latter had been expected to achieve $218 million in savings. Governor Rossello rejected this plan as unjustified and unnecessary. Pension reforms were also discussed including a proposal for a 10% reduction in benefits to begin addressing the $50 billion in unfunded pension liabilities.


title: Puerto Rico

text: Puerto Rico has an operating budget of about U.S.$9.8 billion with expenses at about $10.4 billion, creating a structural deficit of $775 million (about 7.9% of the budget). The practice of approving budgets with a structural deficit has been done for consecutive years starting in 2000. Throughout those years, including present time, all budgets contemplated issuing bonds to cover these projected deficits rather than making structural adjustments. This practice increased Puerto Rico's cumulative debt, as the government had already been issuing bonds to balance its actual budget for four decades beginning in 1973.


title: Puerto Rico

text: Projected deficits added substantial burdens to an already indebted nation which accrued a public debt of $71B or about 70% of Puerto Rico's gross domestic product. This sparked an ongoing government-debt crisis after Puerto Rico's general obligation bonds were downgraded to speculative non-investment grade ("junk status") by three credit-rating agencies. In terms of financial control, almost 9.6%—or about $1.5 billion—of Puerto Rico's central government budget expenses for FY2014 is expected to be spent on debt service. Harsher budget cuts are expected as Puerto Rico must now repay larger chunks of debts in the coming years.


title: Puerto Rico

text: For practical reasons the budget is divided into two aspects: a "general budget" which comprises the assignments funded exclusively by the Department of Treasury of Puerto Rico, and the "consolidated budget" which comprises the assignments funded by the general budget, by Puerto Rico's government-owned corporations, by revenue expected from loans, by the sale of government bonds, by subsidies extended by the federal government of the United States, and by other funds.


title: Puerto Rico

text: Both budgets contrast each other drastically, with the consolidated budget being usually thrice the size of the general budget; currently $29B and $9.0B respectively. Almost one out of every four dollars in the consolidated budget comes from U.S. federal subsidies while government-owned corporations compose more than 31% of the consolidated budget.


title: Puerto Rico

text: The critical aspects come from the sale of bonds, which comprise 7% of the consolidated budget – a ratio that increased annually due to the government's inability to prepare a balanced budget in addition to being incapable of generating enough income to cover all its expenses. In particular, the government-owned corporations add a heavy burden to the overall budget and public debt, as none is self-sufficient. For example, in FY2011 the government-owned corporations reported aggregated losses of more than $1.3B with the Puerto Rico Highways and Transportation Authority (PRHTA) reporting losses of $409M, the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority (PREPA; the government monopoly that controls all electricity on the island) reporting losses of $272M, while the Puerto Rico Aqueducts and Sewers Authority (PRASA; the government monopoly that controls all water utilities on the island) reported losses of $112M.


title: Puerto Rico

text: Losses by government-owned corporations have been defrayed through the issuance of bonds compounding more than 40% of Puerto Rico's entire public debt today. Holistically, from FY2000–FY2010 Puerto Rico's debt grew at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 9% while GDP remained stagnant. This has not always provided a long-term solution. In early July 2017 for example, the PREPA power authority was effectively bankrupt after defaulting in a plan to restructure $9 billion in bond debt; the agency planned to seek Court protection.


title: Puerto Rico

text: In terms of protocol, the governor, together with the Puerto Rico Office of Management and Budget (OGP in Spanish), formulates the budget he believes is required to operate all government branches for the ensuing fiscal year. He then submits this formulation as a budget request to the Puerto Rican legislature before 1 July, the date established by law as the beginning of Puerto Rico's fiscal year. While the constitution establishes that the request must be submitted "at the beginning of each regular session", the request is typically submitted during the first week of May as the regular sessions of the legislature begin in January and it would be impractical to submit a request so far in advance. Once submitted, the budget is then approved by the legislature, typically with amendments, through a joint resolution and is referred back to the governor for his approval. The governor then either approves it or vetoes it. If vetoed, the legislature can then either refer it back with amendments for the governor's approval, or approve it without the governor's consent by two-thirds of the bodies of each chamber.


title: Puerto Rico

text: Once the budget is approved, the Department of Treasury disburses funds to the Office of Management and Budget which in turn disburses the funds to the respective agencies, while the Puerto Rico Government Development Bank (the government's intergovernmental bank) manages all related banking affairs including those related to the government-owned corporations.


title: Puerto Rico

text: Statistics used for cost of living sometimes do not take into account certain costs, such as the high cost of electricity, which has hovered in the 24¢ to 30¢ range per kilowatt/hour, two to three times the national average, increased travel costs for longer flights, additional shipping fees, and the loss of promotional participation opportunities for customers "outside the continental United States". While some online stores do offer free shipping on orders to Puerto Rico, many merchants exclude Hawaii, Alaska, Puerto Rico and other United States territories.


title: Puerto Rico

text: The household median income is stated as $19,350 and the mean income as $30,463 in the U.S. Census Bureau's 2015 update. The report also indicates that 45.5% of individuals are below the poverty level. The median home value in Puerto Rico ranges from U.S.$100,000 to U.S.$214,000, while the national median home value sits at $119,600.


title: Puerto Rico

text: One of the most cited contributors to the high cost of living in Puerto Rico is the Merchant Marine Act of 1920, also known as the Jones Act, which prevents foreign-flagged ships from carrying cargo between two American ports, a practice known as cabotage. Because of the Jones Act, foreign ships inbound with goods from Central and South America, Western Europe, and Africa cannot stop in Puerto Rico, offload Puerto Rico-bound goods, load mainland-bound Puerto Rico-manufactured goods, and continue to U.S. ports. Instead, they must proceed directly to U.S. ports, where distributors break bulk and send Puerto Rico-bound manufactured goods to Puerto Rico across the ocean by U.S.-flagged ships.


title: Puerto Rico

text: The local government of Puerto Rico has requested several times to the U.S. Congress to exclude Puerto Rico from the Jones Act restrictions without success. The most recent measure has been taken by the 17th Legislative Assembly of Puerto Rico through R. Conc. del S. 21. These measures have always received support from all the major local political parties.


title: Puerto Rico

text: In 2013 the Government Accountability Office published a report which concluded that "repealing or amending the Jones Act cabotage law might cut Puerto Rico shipping costs" and that "shippers believed that opening the trade to non-U.S.-flag competition could lower costs". The same GAO report also found that "[shippers] doing business in Puerto Rico that GAO contacted reported that the freight rates are often—although not always—lower for foreign carriers going to and from Puerto Rico and foreign locations than the rates shippers pay to ship similar cargo to and from the United States, despite longer distances. Data were not available to allow us to validate the examples given or verify the extent to which this difference occurred." Ultimately, the report concluded that "[the] effects of modifying the application of the Jones Act for Puerto Rico are highly uncertain" for both Puerto Rico and the United States, particularly for the U.S. shipping industry and the military preparedness of the United States.


title: Puerto Rico

text: A 2018 study by economists at Boston-based Reeve & Associates and Puerto Rico-based Estudios Tecnicos has concluded that the 1920 Jones Act has no impact on either retail prices or the cost of livings on Puerto Rico. The study found that Puerto Rico received very similar or lower shipping freight rates when compared to neighboring islands, and that the transportation costs have no impact on retail prices on the island. The study was based in part on actual comparison of consumer goods at retail stores in San Juan, Puerto Rico, and Jacksonville, Florida, finding: no significant difference in the prices of either grocery items or durable goods between the two locations.


title: Puerto Rico

text: The first school in Puerto Rico was the "Escuela de Gramática" (Grammar School). It was established by Bishop Alonso Manso in 1513, in the area where the Cathedral of San Juan was to be constructed. The school was free of charge and the courses taught were Latin language, literature, history, science, art, philosophy and theology.


title: Puerto Rico

text: Education in Puerto Rico is divided in three levels—Primary (elementary school grades 1–6), Secondary (intermediate and high school grades 7–12), and Higher Level (undergraduate and graduate studies). As of 2002, the literacy rate of the Puerto Rican population was 94.1%; by gender, it was 93.9% for males and 94.4% for females. According to the 2000 Census, 60.0% of the population attained a high school degree or higher level of education, and 18.3% has a bachelor's degree or higher.


title: Puerto Rico

text: Instruction at the primary school level is compulsory between the ages of 5 and 18. , there are 1539 public schools and 806 private schools.


title: Puerto Rico

text: The largest and oldest university system is the public University of Puerto Rico (UPR) with 11 campuses. The largest private university systems on the island are the Sistema Universitario Ana G. Mendez which operates the Universidad del Turabo, Metropolitan University and Universidad del Este. Other private universities include the multi-campus Inter American University, the Pontifical Catholic University, Universidad Politécnica de Puerto Rico, and the Universidad del Sagrado Corazón. Puerto Rico has four schools of Medicine and three ABA-approved Law Schools.


title: Puerto Rico

text: "Reforma de Salud de Puerto Rico" (Puerto Rico Health Reform) – locally referred to as "La Reforma" (The Reform) – is a government-run program which provides medical and health care services to the indigent and impoverished, by means of contracting private health insurance companies, rather than employing government-owned hospitals and emergency centers. The Reform is administered by the Puerto Rico Health Insurance Administration.


title: Puerto Rico

text: The unincorporated territory has a high firearm homicide rate. The homicide rate of 19.2 per 100,000 inhabitants was significantly higher than any U.S. state in 2014. Most homicide victims are gang members and drug traffickers with about 80% of homicides in Puerto Rico being drug related.


title: Puerto Rico

text: Carjackings happen often in many areas of Puerto Rico. In 1992, the FBI made it a Federal crime and rates decreased per statistics, but as of 2019, the problem continued in municipalities like Guaynabo and others. From 1 January 2019, to 14 March 2019, thirty carjackings had occurred on the island.


title: Puerto Rico

text: Modern Puerto Rican culture is a unique mix of cultural antecedents: including European (predominantly Spanish, Italian, French, German and Irish), African, and, more recently, some North American and many South Americans. Many Cubans and Dominicans have relocated to the island in the past few decades.


title: Puerto Rico

text: From the Spanish, Puerto Rico received the Spanish language, the Catholic religion and the vast majority of their cultural and moral values and traditions. The United States added English-language influence, the university system and the adoption of some holidays and practices. On 12 March 1903, the University of Puerto Rico was officially founded, branching out from the "Escuela Normal Industrial", a smaller organization that was founded in Fajardo three years earlier.


title: Puerto Rico

text: Much of Puerto Rican culture centers on the influence of music and has been shaped by other cultures combining with local and traditional rhythms. Early in the history of Puerto Rican music, the influences of Spanish and African traditions were most noticeable. The cultural movements across the Caribbean and North America have played a vital role in the more recent musical influences which have reached Puerto Rico.


title: Puerto Rico

text: Puerto Rico has many symbols, but only the Flor de Maga has been made official by the Government of Puerto Rico. Other popular, traditional, or unofficial symbols of Puerto Rico are the reina mora bird, the kapok tree, the coquí frog, the jíbaro, the Taíno Indian, and the carite landmark.


title: Puerto Rico

text: The architecture of Puerto Rico demonstrates a broad variety of traditions, styles and national influences accumulated over four centuries of Spanish rule, and a century of American rule. Spanish colonial architecture, Ibero-Islamic, art deco, post-modern, and many other architectural forms are visible throughout the island. From town to town, there are also many regional distinctions.


title: Puerto Rico

text: Old San Juan is one of the two "barrios", in addition to Santurce, that made up the municipality of San Juan from 1864 to 1951, at which time the former independent municipality of Río Piedras was annexed. With its abundance of shops, historic places, museums, open air cafés, restaurants, gracious homes, tree-shaded plazas, and its old beauty and architectonical peculiarity, Old San Juan is a main spot for local and internal tourism. The district is also characterized by numerous public plazas and churches including San José Church and the Cathedral of San Juan Bautista, which contains the tomb of the Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de León. It also houses the oldest Catholic school for elementary education in Puerto Rico, the Colegio de Párvulos, built in 1865.


title: Puerto Rico

text: The oldest parts of the district of Old San Juan remain partly enclosed by massive walls. Several defensive structures and notable forts, such as the emblematic Fort San Felipe del Morro, Fort San Cristóbal, and El Palacio de Santa Catalina, also known as La Fortaleza, acted as the primary defenses of the settlement which was subjected to numerous attacks. La Fortaleza continues to serve also as the executive mansion for the governor of Puerto Rico. Many of the historic fortifications are part of San Juan National Historic Site.


title: Puerto Rico

text: During the 1940s, sections of Old San Juan fell into disrepair, and many renovation plans were suggested. There was even a strong push to develop Old San Juan as a "small Manhattan". Strict remodeling codes were implemented to prevent new constructions from affecting the common colonial Spanish architectural themes of the old city. When a project proposal suggested that the old Carmelite Convent in San Juan be demolished to erect a new hotel, the Institute had the building declared as a historic building, and then asked that it be converted to a hotel in a renewed facility. This was what became the "Hotel El Convento" in Old San Juan. The paradigm to reconstruct and renovate the old city and revitalize it has been followed by other cities in the Americas, particularly Havana, Lima and Cartagena de Indias.


title: Puerto Rico

text: Ponce Creole is an architectural style created in Ponce, Puerto Rico, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. This style of Puerto Rican buildings is found predominantly in residential homes in Ponce that developed between 1895 and 1920. Ponce Creole architecture borrows heavily from the traditions of the French, the Spaniards, and the Caribbean to create houses that were especially built to withstand the hot and dry climate of the region, and to take advantage of the sun and sea breezes characteristic of the southern Puerto Rico's Caribbean Sea coast. It is a blend of wood and masonry, incorporating architectural elements of other styles, from Classical revival and Spanish Revival to Victorian.


title: Puerto Rico

text: Puerto Rican art reflects many influences, much from its ethnically diverse background. A form of folk art, called "santos" evolved from the Catholic Church's use of sculptures to convert indigenous Puerto Ricans to Christianity. "Santos" depict figures of saints and other religious icons and are made from native wood, clay, and stone. After shaping simple, they are often finished by painting them in vivid colors. "Santos" vary in size, with the smallest examples around eight inches tall and the largest about twenty inches tall. Traditionally, santos were seen as messengers between the earth and Heaven. As such, they occupied a special place on household altars, where people prayed to them, asked for help, or tried to summon their protection.


title: Puerto Rico

text: Also popular, "caretas" or "vejigantes" are masks worn during carnivals. Similar masks signifying evil spirits were used in both Spain and Africa, though for different purposes. The Spanish used their masks to frighten lapsed Christians into returning to the church, while tribal Africans used them as protection from the evil spirits they represented. True to their historic origins, Puerto Rican "caretas" always bear at least several horns and fangs. While usually constructed of papier-mâché, coconut shells and fine metal screening are sometimes used as well. Red and black were the typical colors for "caretas" but their palette has expanded to include a wide variety of bright hues and patterns.


title: Puerto Rico

text: Puerto Rican literature evolved from the art of oral story telling to its present-day status. Written works by the native islanders of Puerto Rico were prohibited and repressed by the Spanish colonial government. Only those who were commissioned by the Spanish Crown to document the chronological history of the island were allowed to write.


title: Puerto Rico

text: Diego de Torres Vargas was allowed to circumvent this strict prohibition for three reasons: he was a priest, he came from a prosperous Spanish family, and his father was a Sergeant Major in the Spanish Army, who died while defending Puerto Rico from an invasion by the Dutch armada. In 1647, Torres Vargas wrote ("Description of the Island and City of Puerto Rico"). This historical book was the first to make a detailed geographic description of the island.


title: Puerto Rico

text: The book described all the fruits and commercial establishments of the time, mostly centered in the towns of San Juan and Ponce. The book also listed and described every mine, church, and hospital in the island at the time. The book contained notices on the State and Capital, plus an extensive and erudite bibliography. was the first successful attempt at writing a comprehensive history of Puerto Rico.


title: Puerto Rico

text: Some of Puerto Rico's earliest writers were influenced by the teachings of Rafael Cordero. Among these was Dr. Manuel A. Alonso, the first Puerto Rican writer of notable importance. In 1849 he published , a collection of verses whose main themes were the poor Puerto Rican country farmer. Eugenio María de Hostos wrote in 1863, which used Bartolomé de las Casas as a spring board to reflect on Caribbean identity. After this first novel, Hostos abandoned fiction in favor of the essay which he saw as offering greater possibilities for inspiring social change.


title: Puerto Rico

text: In the late 19th century, with the arrival of the first printing press and the founding of the Royal Academy of Belles Letters, Puerto Rican literature began to flourish. The first writers to express their political views in regard to Spanish colonial rule of the island were journalists. After the United States invaded Puerto Rico during the Spanish–American War and the island was ceded to the Americans as a condition of the Treaty of Paris of 1898, writers and poets began to express their opposition to the new colonial rule by writing about patriotic themes.


title: Puerto Rico

text: Alejandro Tapia y Rivera, also known as the Father of Puerto Rican Literature, ushered in a new age of historiography with the publication of "The Historical Library of Puerto Rico". Cayetano Coll y Toste was another Puerto Rican historian and writer. His work "The Indo-Antillano Vocabulary" is valuable in understanding the way the Taínos lived. Manuel Zeno Gandía in 1894 wrote and told about the harsh life in the remote and mountainous coffee regions in Puerto Rico. Antonio S. Pedreira, described in his work the cultural survival of the Puerto Rican identity after the American invasion.


title: Puerto Rico

text: With the Puerto Rican diaspora of the 1940s, Puerto Rican literature was greatly influenced by a phenomenon known as the Nuyorican Movement. Puerto Rican literature continued to flourish and many Puerto Ricans have since distinguished themselves as authors, journalists, poets, novelists, playwrights, essayists, and screenwriters. The influence of Puerto Rican literature has transcended the boundaries of the island to the United States and the rest of the world. Over the past fifty years, significant writers include Ed Vega (Omaha Bigelow), Miguel Piñero (Short Eyes), Piri Thomas (Down These Mean Streets), Giannina Braschi (Yo-Yo Boing!), Rosario Ferrer (Eccentric Neighborhoods). and Esmeralda Santiago ("When I was Puerto Rican)."


title: Puerto Rico

text: The mass media in Puerto Rico includes local radio stations, television stations and newspapers, the majority of which are conducted in Spanish. There are also three stations of the U.S. Armed Forces Radio and Television Service. Newspapers with daily distribution are , and , , and . is distributed free of charge, as are and .


title: Puerto Rico

text: Newspapers distributed on a weekly or regional basis include , , , , and , among others. Several television channels provide local content in the island. These include WIPR-TV, , Univision affiliate WLII-DT (), WAPA-TV, and WKAQ-TV.


title: Puerto Rico

text: The music of Puerto Rico has evolved as a heterogeneous and dynamic product of diverse cultural resources. The most conspicuous musical sources have been Spain and West Africa, although many aspects of Puerto Rican music reflect origins elsewhere in Europe and the Caribbean and, over the last century, from the U.S. Puerto Rican music culture today comprises a wide and rich variety of genres, ranging from indigenous genres like bomba, plena, aguinaldo, danza and salsa to recent hybrids like reggaeton.


title: Puerto Rico

text: Puerto Rico has some national instruments, like the cuatro (Spanish for "four"). The cuatro is a local instrument that was made by the "Jibaro" or people from the mountains. Originally, the Cuatro consisted of four steel strings, hence its name, but currently the Cuatro consists of five double steel strings. It is easily confused with a guitar, even by locals. When held upright, from right to left, the strings are G, D, A, E, B.


title: Puerto Rico

text: In the realm of classical music, the island hosts two main orchestras, the Orquesta Sinfónica de Puerto Rico and the Orquesta Filarmónica de Puerto Rico. The Casals Festival takes place annually in San Juan, drawing in classical musicians from around the world.


title: Puerto Rico

text: With respect to opera, the legendary Puerto Rican tenor Antonio Paoli was so celebrated, that he performed private recitals for Pope Pius X and Tsar Nicholas II of Russia. In 1907, Paoli was the first operatic artist in world history to record an entire opera – when he participated in a performance of "Pagliacci" by Ruggiero Leoncavallo in Milan, Italy.


title: Puerto Rico

text: Puerto Rican cuisine has its roots in the cooking traditions and practices of Europe (Spain), Africa and the native Taínos. In the latter part of the 19th century, the cuisine of Puerto Rico was greatly influenced by the United States in the ingredients used in its preparation. Puerto Rican cuisine has transcended the boundaries of the island, and can be found in several countries outside the archipelago. Basic ingredients include grains and legumes, herbs and spices, starchy tropical tubers, vegetables, meat and poultry, seafood and shellfish, and fruits. Main dishes include "mofongo", "arroz con gandules", "pasteles", "alcapurrias" and pig roast (or lechón). Beverages include "maví" and "piña colada". Desserts include flan, "arroz con dulce" (sweet rice pudding), "piraguas", "brazo gitanos", "tembleque", "polvorones", and "dulce de leche".


title: Puerto Rico

text: Locals call their cuisine cocina criolla. The traditional Puerto Rican cuisine was well established by the end of the 19th century. By 1848 the first restaurant, La Mallorquina, opened in Old San Juan. "El Cocinero Puertorriqueño", the island's first cookbook was published in 1849.


title: Puerto Rico

text: From the diet of the Taíno people come many tropical roots and tubers like "yautía" (taro) and especially "Yuca" (cassava), from which thin cracker-like "casabe" bread is made. Ajicito or cachucha pepper, a slightly hot habanero pepper, "recao/culantro" (spiny leaf), "achiote" (annatto), "peppers", allspice, "ají caballero" (the hottest pepper native to Puerto Rico), peanuts, guavas, pineapples, "jicacos" (cocoplum), "quenepas" (mamoncillo), "lerenes" (Guinea arrowroot), "calabazas" (tropical pumpkins), and "guanabanas" (soursops) are all Taíno foods. The Taínos also grew varieties of beans and some maize/corn, but maize was not as dominant in their cooking as it was for the peoples living on the mainland of Mesoamerica. This is due to the frequent hurricanes that Puerto Rico experiences, which destroy crops of maize, leaving more safeguarded plants like "conucos" (hills of "yuca" grown together).


title: Puerto Rico

text: Spanish / European influence is also seen in Puerto Rican cuisine. Wheat, chickpeas, capers, olives, onions, garlic, rice, cilantro, oregano, basil, sugarcane, citrus, eggplant, chicken, salted cod, beef, pork, lamb, dairy and a variety of other fruits, herbs and spices all came to Puerto Rico from Spain. The tradition of cooking complex stews and rice dishes in pots such as rice and beans are also thought to be originally European (much like Italians, Spaniards, and the British). Early Dutch, French, Italian, and Chinese immigrants influenced not only the culture but Puerto Rican cooking as well. This great variety of traditions came together to form La Cocina Criolla.


title: Puerto Rico

text: Coconuts, coffee (brought by the Arabs and Corsos to Yauco from Kafa, Ethiopia), okra, yams, orégano brujo, sesame seeds, "gandules" (pigeon peas in English), bananas, plantains, Guinea hen,


title: Puerto Rico

text: Puerto Rico has been commemorated on four U.S. postal stamps and four personalities have been featured. Insular Territories were commemorated in 1937, the third stamp honored Puerto Rico featuring 'La Fortaleza', the Spanish Governor's Palace. The first free election for governor of the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico was honored on 27 April 1949, at San Juan, Puerto Rico. 'Inauguration' on the 3-cent stamp refers to the election of Luis Muñoz Marín, the first democratically elected governor of Puerto Rico. San Juan, Puerto Rico was commemorated with an 8-cent stamp on its 450th anniversary issued 12 September 1971, featuring a sentry box from Castillo San Felipe del Morro. In the "Flags of our nation series" 2008–2012, of the fifty-five, five territorial flags were featured. Forever stamps included the Puerto Rico Flag illustrated by a bird issued 2011.


title: Puerto Rico

text: Four Puerto Rican personalities have been featured on U.S. postage stamps. These include Roberto Clemente in 1984 as an individual and in the Legends of Baseball series issued in 2000. Luis Muñoz Marín in the Great Americans series, on 18 February 1990, Julia de Burgos in the Literary Arts series, issued 2010, and José Ferrer in the Distinguished American series, issued 2012.


title: Puerto Rico

text: Baseball was one of the first sports to gain widespread popularity in Puerto Rico. The Puerto Rico Baseball League serves as the only active professional league, operating as a winter league. No Major League Baseball franchise or affiliate plays in Puerto Rico; however, San Juan hosted the Montreal Expos for several series in 2003 and 2004 before they moved to Washington, D.C. and became the Washington Nationals.


title: Puerto Rico

text: The Puerto Rico national baseball team has participated in the World Cup of Baseball winning one gold (1951), four silver and four bronze medals, the Caribbean Series (winning fourteen times) and the World Baseball Classic. On , San Juan's Hiram Bithorn Stadium hosted the opening round as well as the second round of the newly formed World Baseball Classic. Puerto Rican baseball players include Hall of Famers Roberto Clemente, Orlando Cepeda and Roberto Alomar, enshrined in 1973, 1999, and 2011 respectively.


title: Puerto Rico

text: Boxing, basketball, and volleyball are considered popular sports as well. Wilfredo Gómez and McWilliams Arroyo have won their respective divisions at the World Amateur Boxing Championships. Other medalists include José Pedraza, who holds a silver medal, and three boxers who finished in third place, José Luis Vellón, Nelson Dieppa and McJoe Arroyo. In the professional circuit, Puerto Rico has the third-most boxing world champions and it is the global leader in champions per capita. These include Miguel Cotto, Félix Trinidad, Wilfred Benítez and Gómez among others.


title: Puerto Rico

text: The Puerto Rico national basketball team joined the International Basketball Federation in 1957. Since then, it has won more than 30 medals in international competitions, including gold in three FIBA Americas Championships and the 1994 Goodwill Games 8 August 2004, became a landmark date for the team when it became the first team to defeat the United States in an Olympic tournament since the integration of National Basketball Association players. Winning the inaugural game with scores of 92–73 as part of the 2004 Summer Olympics organized in Athens, Greece. Baloncesto Superior Nacional acts as the top-level professional basketball league in Puerto Rico, and has experienced success since its beginning in 1930.


title: Puerto Rico

text: Puerto Rico is also a member of FIFA and CONCACAF. In 2008, the archipelago's first unified league, the Puerto Rico Soccer League, was established.


title: Puerto Rico

text: Other sports include professional wrestling and road running. The World Wrestling Council and International Wrestling Association are the largest wrestling promotions in the main island. The World's Best 10K, held annually in San Juan, has been ranked among the 20 most competitive races globally. The "Puerto Rico All Stars" team, which has won twelve world championships in unicycle basketball.


title: Puerto Rico

text: Organized Streetball has gathered some exposition, with teams like "Puerto Rico Street Ball" competing against established organizations including the Capitanes de Arecibo and AND1's Mixtape Tour Team. Six years after the first visit, AND1 returned as part of their renamed Live Tour, losing to the Puerto Rico Streetballers. Consequently, practitioners of this style have earned participation in international teams, including Orlando "El Gato" Meléndez, who became the first Puerto Rican born athlete to play for the Harlem Globetrotters. Orlando Antigua, whose mother is Puerto Rican, in 1995 became the first Latino and the first non-black in 52 years to play for the Harlem Globetrotters.


title: Puerto Rico

text: Puerto Rico has representation in all international competitions including the Summer and Winter Olympics, the Pan American Games, the Caribbean World Series, and the Central American and Caribbean Games. Puerto Rico hosted the Pan Am Games in 1979 (officially in San Juan), and The Central American and Caribbean Games were hosted in 1993 in Ponce and in 2010 in Mayagüez.


title: Puerto Rico

text: Puerto Rican athletes have won ten medals in Olympic competition (two gold, two silver, six bronze), the first one in 1948 by boxer Juan Evangelista Venegas. Monica Puig won the first gold medal for Puerto Rico in the Olympic Games by winning the Women's Tennis singles title in Rio 2016.


title: Puerto Rico

text: In her poem "The Messenger-Bird", Felicia Hemans refers to a Puerto Rican legend concerning "The Fountain of Youth", supposedly to be found in the Lucayan Archipelago. She sourced this from Robertson's History of America. Some books that talk about folklore/myths in Puerto Rico are "Stories from Puerto Rico" written by Robert L. Muckley and Adela Martínez-Santiago and "Cuentos: An Anthology of Short Stories from Puerto Rico" written by Kal Wagenheim.


title: Puerto Rico

text: Cities and towns in Puerto Rico are interconnected by a system of roads, freeways, expressways, and highways maintained by the Highways and Transportation Authority under the jurisdiction of the U.S. Department of Transportation, and patrolled by the Puerto Rico Police Department. The island's metropolitan area is served by a public bus transit system and a metro system called "Tren Urbano" (in English: Urban Train). Other forms of public transportation include seaborne ferries (that serve Puerto Rico's archipelago) as well as "Carros Públicos" (private mini buses).


title: Puerto Rico

text: Puerto Rico has three international airports, the Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport in Carolina, Mercedita Airport in Ponce, and the Rafael Hernández Airport in Aguadilla, and 27 local airports. The Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport is the largest aerial transportation hub in the Caribbean.


title: Puerto Rico

text: Puerto Rico has nine ports in different cities across the main island. The San Juan Port is the largest in Puerto Rico, and the busiest port in the Caribbean and the 10th busiest in the United States in terms of commercial activity and cargo movement, respectively. The second largest port is the Port of the Americas in Ponce, currently under expansion to increase cargo capacity to twenty-foot containers (TEUs) per year.


title: Puerto Rico

text: The Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority (PREPA)—Spanish: "Autoridad de Energía Eléctrica" (AEE)—is an electric power company and the government-owned corporation of Puerto Rico responsible for electricity generation, power transmission, and power distribution in Puerto Rico. PREPA was, by law, the only entity authorized to conduct such business in Puerto Rico, effectively making it a government monopoly until 2018. The Authority is ruled by a governing board appointed by the governor with the advice and consent of the Senate of Puerto Rico, and is run by an executive director.


title: Puerto Rico

text: On 20 July 2018, Puerto Rico Law 120-2018 ("Ley para Transformar el Sistema Eléctrico de Puerto Rico") was signed. This law authorized PREPA to sell infrastructure and services to other providers. As a result, a contract was signed on 22 June 2020, making LUMA Energy the new operator of the energy distribution and transmission infrastructure, as well as other areas of PREPA's operations, in effect partially privatizing the Puerto Rican power grid. The takeover was set for 1 June 2021, amidst protests and uncertainty from the point of view of the general public and the former-PREPA workers and union members.


title: Puerto Rico

text: Similarly, the Puerto Rico Aqueducts and Sewers Authority (PRASA) —Spanish: "Autoridad de Acueductos y Alcantarillados" (AAA)—is a water company and the government-owned corporation responsible for water quality, management, and supply in Puerto Rico. It is the only entity authorized to conduct such business in Puerto Rico, effectively making it a government monopoly. Its existence is designated by Law No. 40 of 1 May 1945, including the corresponding amendments.


title: Puerto Rico

text: Telecommunications in Puerto Rico includes radio, television, fixed and mobile telephones, and the Internet. Broadcasting in Puerto Rico is regulated by the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC). , there were 30 TV stations, 125 radio stations and roughly 1 million TV sets on the island. Cable TV subscription services are available and the U.S. Armed Forces Radio and Television Service also broadcast on the island. Puerto Rico also has its own amateur radio prefixes, which differ from those of the contiguous United States in that there are two letter before the number. The most well-known prefix is KP4, but others separated for use on the archipelago (including Desecheo and Mona) are: KP3/KP4/NP3/NP4/WP3/WP4 (Puerto Rico, Vieques and Culebra) and KP5/NP5/WP5 (Desecheo Island). Amateur radio operators (also known as ham radio operators) are a well-known group in the island and can obtain special vehicle license plates with their callsign on them. They have been a key element in disaster relief.


title: Blackpink

text: Blackpink (, commonly stylized in all caps or as BLɅϽKPIИK) is a South Korean girl group formed by YG Entertainment, consisting of members Jisoo, Jennie, Rosé, and Lisa. The group debuted in August 2016 with their single album "Square One", which featured "Whistle" and "Boombayah", their first number-one entries on South Korea's Gaon Digital Chart and the US "Billboard" World Digital Song Sales chart, respectively.


title: Blackpink

text: Referred to as the "biggest girl group in the world", Blackpink is the most successful Korean girl group internationally. They are the highest-charting female Korean act on the US "Billboard" Hot 100, peaking at number 13 with "Ice Cream" (2020), and on the "Billboard" 200, peaking at number one with their second studio album "Born Pink" (2022), which is the best-selling album of all time by a Korean girl group and the first to sell over two million copies. They were the first girl group to top the "Billboard" Artist 100 and the first Korean girl group to enter and top the "Billboard" Emerging Artists chart. Blackpink also became the first female Korean act to receive a certification from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) with their single "Ddu-Du Ddu-Du" (2018), whose music video was the first by a Korean group to surpass one billion views and is currently the most-viewed by a Korean group on YouTube. Their 2018 song "Kiss and Make Up", a collaboration with Dua Lipa, was the first by a Korean group to receive a certification from the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) and a platinum certification from the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA). The group's debut studio album, "The Album", (2020), was the first album by a Korean girl group to sell more than one million copies and the highest-charting female Korean album on the "Billboard" 200 at the time, at number two, both records surpassed by "Born Pink". "Born Pink" was the first album by a K-pop girl group to reach number one on the "Billboard" 200 and the UK Albums Chart; the album's lead single "Pink Venom" (2022) was the first song by a K-pop group to top the ARIA Singles Chart and the first song by a girl group to top the "Billboard" Global 200.


title: Blackpink

text: Blackpink has broken numerous online records throughout their career. Their music videos for "Kill This Love" (2019) and "How You Like That" (2020) each set records for the most-viewed music video within the first 24 hours of release, with the latter breaking three and setting two Guinness World Records. They are the first music group and Korean female act to have five music videos accumulate one billion views each on YouTube; the most-subscribed music act on the platform and the first to reach 80 million subscribers; and the most-followed girl group on Spotify. Their other accolades include the New Artist of the Year Award at the 31st Golden Disc Awards and the 26th Seoul Music Awards, the MAMA Award for Best Female Group in 2020 and 2022, the first MTV Music Video Award won by a Korean girl group, and recognition as the first female Korean group on "Forbes" 30 Under 30 Asia. They have been acknowledged as one of the most powerful celebrities in South Korea by "Forbes" Korea (placing first in 2019, third in 2020, and second in 2021) and by former South Korean President Moon Jae-in as a global K-pop phenomenon helping spread K-pop content worldwide. In 2022, Blackpink was named "Time"s Entertainer of the Year for their contributions to music.


title: Blackpink

text: Blackpink began forming when YG Entertainment held tryouts worldwide for preteen or teenage recruits to create a new girl group after launching its first major one, 2NE1, in 2009. According to the members, joining the label as trainees was akin to enrolling in a full-time pop-star academy, with Jennie describing the experience as "more strict than school" and Rosé comparing it to "The X Factor" with dorm rooms. For members who had left their lives outside of South Korea, the pace of training alongside the culture shock was especially difficult. Preparations for Blackpink's debut began as early as 2011, when YG Entertainment revealed on November 14 that their new girl group would debut in the early half of 2012 and feature at least seven members. Since then, numerous news and rumors surfaced surrounding the new girl group's debut being delayed, although there had been no official information. It was only on May 18, 2016 that YG Entertainment confirmed the girl group would debut that July, stating that the members were selected through years of stiff competition. The label later confirmed that Jang Hanna and Moon Sua, who were introduced to the public as potential members of the new girl group, were not included in the lineup.


title: Blackpink

text: Jennie was the first group member revealed, on June 1, 2016. She joined YG Entertainment as a trainee in 2010 after moving back to South Korea from New Zealand. She had been introduced to the public for the first time in 2012 in a photo titled "Who's that girl?" on YG Entertainment's website on April 10. Jennie continued to be promoted as a member of the new girl group through multiple collaborations: she starred in G-Dragon's 2012 music video for "That XX" from his "One of a Kind" EP and featured in the song "Black" from his 2013 album "Coup d'etat" (2013) and Lee Hi's song "Special" from her album "First Love" (2013).


title: Blackpink

text: Lisa was revealed as the new girl group's second member on June 8, 2016. She was the only individual among 4,000 applicants to pass the 2010 YG Entertainment audition in her native country Thailand and became the label's first foreign trainee in 2011. She was first introduced in May 2012 in a video that was posted on YG Entertainment's YouTube channel, titled "WHO'S THAT GIRL???". Lisa also appeared in the music video for Taeyang's "Ringa Linga" in 2013. She became a spokesperson for street-wear brand Nona9on in 2015 and cosmetics brand Moonshot in 2016.


title: Blackpink

text: Jisoo was revealed as the new group's third member on June 15, 2016. She joined YG Entertainment as a trainee in July 2011 and appeared in several advertisements and music videos in her pre-debut years, including "Spoiler + Happy Ending" (2014) from Epik High's studio album "Shoebox" and Hi Suhyun's music video "I'm Different" (2014). She also made a cameo appearance in 2015 drama "The Producers".


title: Blackpink

text: Rosé was the final member to be revealed, on June 22, 2016. She ranked first among 700 applicants in the 2012 YG Entertainment audition in Australia, after which she signed a trainee contract with the label and moved to Seoul to begin training. She featured in G-Dragon's track "Without You" (2012) from "One of a Kind", credited as "? from YG New Girl Group" until her official public introduction.


title: Blackpink

text: On June 29, YG Entertainment confirmed that the new girl group would have four members instead of the originally planned nine and revealed its official name as Blackpink. According to a label representative, the group's name meant "pretty isn't everything" and symbolized that "they are a team that encompasses not only beauty, but also great talent." Jisoo later disclosed in a press conference that other group names under consideration included Pink Punk, Baby Monster, and Magnum. Blackpink released their first dance practice video on July 6, which garnered much public attention. On July 29, YG Entertainment confirmed that Blackpink's debut would be on August 8, 2016.


title: Blackpink

text: Promotions for the group's debut began in the first week of August 2016 with the release of teaser images, videos, and advertisements. The first girl group to debut under YG Entertainment in seven years, Blackpink released their debut single album, "Square One", on August 8, 2016, consisting of tracks "Boombayah" and "Whistle". They charted at number one and two on the "Billboard" World Digital Song Sales chart, making Blackpink the fastest act to achieve such a feat and the third YG Entertainment artist to hold the top two positions simultaneously, after Psy and Big Bang. "Whistle" quickly topped the Gaon digital, download, streaming, and mobile charts. The group also reached number one on the weekly, popularity, music video, and K-pop music video charts of China's biggest music-streaming service, QQ Music. Blackpink's first music show performance aired on August 14, 2016, on SBS's "Inkigayo". They won first place on "Inkigayo" thirteen days after their debut, breaking the then-record for the shortest time from debut for a girl group to win on a music program. They wrapped up promotions for "Square One" on September 11, 2016, with another win on "Inkigayo".


title: Blackpink

text: Blackpink released their second single album, "Square Two", consisting of tracks "Playing with Fire" and "Stay", on November 1, 2016. The group began promotions on "Inkigayo" on November 6 and on Mnet's "M Countdown" on November 10. "Playing with Fire" was Blackpink's second single to reach number one on the "Billboard" World Digital Song Sales chart and the first K-pop girl group song to chart on the Canadian Hot 100. In South Korea, "Playing with Fire" peaked at number three, while "Stay" placed in the top ten. Blackpink's commercial success in their first five months earned them several rookie awards at major Korean year-end music award shows, including the Asia Artist Awards, Melon Music Awards, Golden Disc Awards, Seoul Music Awards, and Gaon Chart Music Awards. Additionally, "Billboard" named them one of the best new K-pop groups of 2016.


title: Blackpink

text: On January 17, 2017, Blackpink revealed the name of their fan club—"Blink", a portmanteau of "black" and "pink". On June 22, the group released their first standalone digital single, "As If It's Your Last". It was described as a "mixed genre of music" and a change of sound from their previous releases. The song peaked at number three on the Gaon Digital Chart and at number 13 on "Billboard"s Bubbling Under Hot 100 chart, which gave them the highest-charting Korean song by a group in America at the time and made Blackpink the highest-charting Korean group since Wonder Girls in 2009. It also debuted at number one on "Billboard"s World Digital Song Sales chart one day after release, making it their third number-one on the chart. The music video for the song later went on to break the record for the most-liked music video by a Korean girl group on YouTube, as well as the most-viewed K-pop group music video in the first 24 hours of release. On July 20, 2017, Blackpink held a showcase at Nippon Budokan in Tokyo, which was attended by over 14,000 people, with as many as 200,000 people attempting to purchase tickets. The group made their Japanese debut on August 30, 2017, with the release of a self-titled Japanese extended play that included Japanese versions of their previous singles. The EP debuted and peaked atop the Oricon Albums Chart. Blackpink ranked among YouTube's Global Top 25 Songs of the Summer for 2017 with "As If It's Your Last".


title: Blackpink

text: On January 6, 2018, Blackpink released the first episode of their first reality show, "Blackpink House", which comprised 12 episodes released throughout 2018 following the four members spending 100 days of vacation as they moved into their new dorm, via their official V Live and YouTube channels. On March 28, Blackpink re-released their debut Japanese EP under the name "Re:Blackpink". The digital version included the same songs as the original release, while the physical version included a DVD of all their music videos and six songs in the Korean language.


title: Blackpink

text: On June 15, 2018, the group released their first Korean-language EP, "Square Up". In South Korea, "Square Up" debuted at number one on Gaon Albums Chart and was certified Platinum by the Korea Music Content Association (KMCA) for selling 250,000 units. The lead single, "Ddu-Du Ddu-Du", peaked at number one on the digital, download, streaming, and mobile charts on Gaon for three weeks, while "Forever Young" peaked at number two; both songs were certified Platinum by the KMCA for surpassing 2,500,000 downloads and 100,000,000 streams in the country. "Ddu-Du Ddu-Du" debuted at number 55 on the "Billboard" Hot 100, making Blackpink the highest-charting Korean girl group in the US, and at number 39 on the U.S. Streaming Songs chart, making Blackpink the first K-pop girl group to enter the chart. "Square Up" also brought the group their first entry and the highest-charting album by an all-female K-pop group at the time of its release on the "Billboard" 200, debuting at number 40. The EP also topped the "Billboard" World Albums chart. YouTube's official tally saw the music video for "Ddu-Du Ddu-Du" garner a total of 36.2 million views within 24 hours after its release, making it the most-viewed online video in the first 24 hours by a Korean act and the second most-watched music video of all time in first 24 hours of release at the time.


title: Blackpink

text: Blackpink embarked on their sold-out first Japan tour, Blackpink Arena Tour 2018, in Osaka from July 24 to 25 to promote their Japanese EP. The tour was initially set for six shows across Osaka, Fukuoka and Chiba, but an additional show in Chiba was added due to overwhelming demand. A final tour stop was later added for December 24 at Kyocera Dome Osaka as a Christmas gift for fans, where Blackpink performed to a sold-out crowd of 50,000 people. On September 12, it was announced that the group would hold their first concert in Seoul, Blackpink 2018 Tour [In Your Area] Seoul x BC Card, at the Olympic Gymnastics Arena. The concert was the first show of the In Your Area World Tour, which continued throughout 2019 and early 2020 in North America, Europe, Oceania and Asia. By the end of its run, the tour became the highest-grossing tour by a Korean girl group.


title: Blackpink

text: On October 19, 2018, English singer Dua Lipa released "Kiss and Make Up" with Blackpink, a new track on the re-released edition of her self-titled debut album. "Kiss and Make Up" became the group's second entry in the UK Singles Chart, peaking at number 36, and their first top 40 entry. They were the first female Korean group and third Korean act overall to reach the top 40. It also debuted at number 93 on the "Billboard" Hot 100, marking Blackpink's second entry in the chart and making them the only Korean girl group to score multiple entries on the chart.


title: Blackpink

text: In October 2018, the group signed with Interscope Records in a global partnership with YG Entertainment; they were to be represented by Interscope and Universal Music Group outside of Asia. In November 2018, Blackpink announced additional tour dates for their In Your Area World Tour, which covered thirteen dates across Asia from January to March 2019. Jennie made her solo debut with her single "Solo" at Blackpink's Seoul concert on November 11; both the song and its official music video were released the following day. Their first Japanese studio album, "Blackpink in Your Area", was made available digitally on November 23 and physically on December 5. The album included Japanese versions of all of their previous releases and debuted at number nine on the Oricon Albums Chart.


title: Blackpink

text: Blackpink made their American debut at the Universal Music Group's 2019 Grammy Artist Showcase, an invite-only event at the ROW in Downtown Los Angeles on February 9, 2019. The group subsequently appeared on several American television shows, including "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert" and "Good Morning America". That March, they became the first-ever K-pop girl group to cover "Billboard" magazine.


title: Blackpink

text: Blackpink's third extended play, "Kill This Love", was released on April 5, 2019, alongside a single of the same name. The EP debuted at number three on the Gaon Album Chart and was certified 2× Platinum for selling 500,000 units in the country, and the lead single peaked at number two on the Gaon Digital Chart. "Kill This Love" also debuted at number 24 on the "Billboard" 200, while the lead single reached number 41 on the Hot 100, becoming the highest-charting releases by a female Korean act on the two major "Billboard" charts. "Kill This Love" ranked at number 66 on "Billboard"s list of the 100 Best Songs of 2019. Following the EP's release, Blackpink performed at the 2019 Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival on April 12 and 19, 2019, making them the first female K-pop group to do so. The group's Coachella set was well received by both critics and fans alike, with Gab Ginsberg of "Billboard" calling the show "electrifying" and "unforgettable".


title: Blackpink

text: On October 16, 2019, a Japanese version of "Kill This Love" was released to the Japanese market, peaking at number 17 on the Oricon Albums Chart. The group embarked to Japan for a variety of promotional activities, including appearances on Japanese music television programs TV Asahi's "Music Station" and Fuji TV's "Love Music". Blackpink were voted "PAPER" magazine's K-pop Sensation of the Year for the 2019 edition of their annual Break the Internet Awards™ list.


title: Blackpink

text: On April 22, it was confirmed the group would be working with Lady Gaga on her sixth studio album, "Chromatica." Their collaboration, "Sour Candy", was released as a promotional single on May 28, 2020. On the "Billboard" Hot 100, the song debuted at number 33, giving Blackpink their first top 40 hit and becoming the group's highest-charting song in the US at the time, as well as the highest-charting song by a K-pop girl group. In Australia, the song debuted at number eight, becoming Blackpink's highest-charting hit in the country. It was also their first top-twenty single in the UK, debuting at number 17.


title: Blackpink

text: On May 18, YG Entertainment announced the group would release a pre-release single in June, followed by an additional single release between July and August, to promote their first Korean studio album. On June 2, YG Entertainment confirmed that following the release of the studio album, members Rosé, Lisa, and Jisoo would release individual projects, with Rosé's coming first. In the midst of the group's comeback preparations, YG Entertainment released a prologue of Blackpink's newest reality show, "24/365 with Blackpink", on June 13, ahead of its launch on YouTube. The show documents their 2020 comebacks alongside sharing their daily lives through vlogs. The single "How You Like That" was heavily teased on social media in the lead up to its digital release on June 26. It peaked at number one on the Gaon Digital, Download, and Streaming charts for three weeks. "How You Like That" became Blackpink's fifth song to chart on the "Billboard" Hot 100 (peaking at number 33), and its music video broke five Guinness World Records. The song ranked first in Youtube Music's Global Top 10 Songs of Summer 2020 and won Song of Summer at the 2020 MTV Video Music Awards, making Blackpink the first Korean female act to win at the award show. On July 23, YG Entertainment announced that a second single, "Ice Cream" with American singer Selena Gomez, would be released on August 28. "Ice Cream" debuted and peaked at number 13 on the "Billboard" Hot 100, making it Blackpink's highest-charting song. Its debut at number 39 in the United Kingdom, made Blackpink the Korean artist with the most top-40 hits (five) in that region at the time.


title: Blackpink

text: Blackpink released their first Korean studio album, "The Album", on October 2, 2020, with "Lovesick Girls" as its third and main single. Leading up to the exclusive video premiere of their music video for "Lovesick Girls", Blackpink appeared on YouTube's new original music show "Released" as its first featured artist, which included "unfiltered access" moments of the group. "The Album" peaked at number two on the "Billboard" 200 and the UK Albums Chart, making Blackpink the highest-charting Korean female act on each. The album also set a first-week album sales record for a Korean girl group, with 590,000 copies sold in just one day after the physical album's release. Blackpink became the first-ever million-selling K-pop girl group with "The Album", selling approximately 1.2 million copies in less than one month after release. Blackpink performed "Lovesick Girls" on "Good Morning America" and "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" in the United States on October 21.


title: Blackpink

text: The group's first documentary film, "", premiered on Netflix on October 14, 2020, and covered the four years since the group's debut in 2016. The documentary included footage from their training days, looks at their home lives, behind-the-scenes stories and interviews with the members, as well as glimpses into the making of "The Album". The commercial success of "The Album", combined with the group's Netflix documentary, resulted in Blackpink topping "Bloomberg"s Pop Star Power Ranking for the month of October; they were the first Korean artist to top the ranking since its inception in April of that year.


title: Blackpink

text: On December 2, Blackpink announced their collaboration with YouTube Music for their first livestream concert. The live event, dubbed "The Show", was initially set to take place on December 27, 2020, but was rescheduled to January 31, 2021, due to new COVID-19 pandemic regulations introduced in South Korea. The concert featured the first-ever live performances of several songs from "The Album", as well as of Rosé's song "Gone" from her first solo single album "R". More than 280,000 people purchased memberships to access the show, and the concert was livestreamed across 100 countries.


title: Blackpink

text: Blackpink released a Japanese version of "The Album" on August 3, 2021 with Japanese versions for four out of the eight tracks ("How You Like That", "Pretty Savage", "Lovesick Girls", and "You Never Know"), which peaked at number three on the Oricon Albums Chart. To promote the album, they appeared on Japanese music television programs such as TV Asahi's "Music Station". On August 4, a documentary film entitled "" was released into theaters in South Korea and worldwide, which included exclusive interviews with the group as well as live performances from The Show and the In Your Area World Tour.


title: Blackpink

text: On July 6, 2022, YG Entertainment announced that Blackpink was in the final stages of recording for a new album, with plans to record a music video in mid-July and release a new song in August. They also confirmed that the group would embark on their second world tour at the end of the year. On July 12, YG Entertainment revealed that Blackpink would hold a virtual in-game concert in "PUBG Mobile" from July 22 to 30, including performances of the group's hit songs as well as a special track titled "Ready for Love" to be previewed during the event for the first time. It was released in full with an animated music video on July 29.


title: Blackpink

text: On July 31, it was announced that Blackpink would release a pre-release single titled "Pink Venom" on August 19, ahead of their second album in September, followed by an accompanying world tour, which began in Seoul on October 15 and is expected to run through June 2023. Upon release, "Pink Venom" topped the "Billboard" Global 200 for two weeks, becoming the first number-one song by a female K-pop act as well as the first Korean song to top the chart for multiple weeks. It peaked at number two on South Korea's Circle Digital Chart and number 22 on the "Billboard" Hot 100 and became the first song by a K-pop group to top the ARIA Singles Chart. On August 28, Blackpink performed "Pink Venom" at the 2022 MTV Video Music Awards, making them the first female K-pop group in history to perform at the show, and won the award for Best Metaverse Performance for "The Virtual".


title: Blackpink

text: On September 16, 2022, Blackpink released their second studio album "Born Pink" alongside a second single, "Shut Down", which topped the "Billboard" Global 200 and peaked at number three on the Circle Digital Chart and number 24 on the Hot 100. "Born Pink" debuted at number one on the Circle Album Chart with 2,141,281 copies sold in less than two days of tracking and became the first album by a K-pop girl group to sell over two million copies. In the United States, "Born Pink" debuted at number one on the "Billboard" 200, the first album by a female Korean act to top the chart and the first album by a female group to do so since Danity Kane's "Welcome to the Dollhouse" in 2008. In the United Kingdom, "Born Pink" also became the first album by a K-pop girl group to reach number one on the UK Albums Chart. It marked the first time a girl group simultaneously topped the album charts in the United States and United Kingdom since Destiny's Child's "Survivor" in 2001. On October 21, it was announced Blackpink would headline BST Hyde Park in London on July 2, 2023, making them the first K-pop act to headline a major UK festival. The group was named 2022 Entertainer of the Year by "Time" magazine.


title: Blackpink

text: Blackpink's music has been characterized as primarily EDM and pop with elements of hip hop and trap, although they have incorporated a variety of other genres in their discography, such as R&B, Arabic music, ballad and rock. They tend to feature bass drops frequently in their songs, especially immediately preceding the chorus, which some publications consider part of their characteristic sound. Vocally, Blackpink's music has been described as combining fierce and bold rapping with frequent use of an "edgy" singing style. Jisoo explained in an interview with "Rolling Stone" that the members are "involved from the beginning" in their creative process, from "building the blocks" to "adding this or that feeling" and "exchanging feedback".


title: Blackpink

text: Early in their career, Blackpink stated that they wanted to emulate labelmate 2NE1 and "show [their] own unique color". Blackpink has cited various other artists as their musical influences, including Lady Gaga, Ariana Grande, Cardi B and Selena Gomez.


title: Blackpink

text: Blackpink's concept is represented by their group name; the "black" side represents their more mature, "girl crush" image, while the "pink" side represents their more cute and colorful image. In an interview with Jimmy Kimmel, Rosé explained that the group feels that "there's two colors that represented us the most 'cause we're very girly but at the same time we're very savage too," naming their song "Pretty Savage" as the song that described them best because "it kind of goes with 'black pink.'"


title: Blackpink

text: The group's lyrics generally address themes of independence, female empowerment, breakups, and toxic relationships, as well as summer romances.


title: Blackpink

text: Since their debut, Blackpink have emerged as a prominent act in K-pop and have been labeled the "biggest girl group in the world", "biggest K-pop girl band on the planet", and "K-pop Queens". "Insider" wrote that they "[burst] onto the K-pop scene with a set of singles that set them on a path to becoming the ambassadors of the 'girl crush' concept", encapsulating "confidence, sexiness, and inspirational assurance, in the K-pop landscape." "Billboard" called them "K-pop's most visible representatives" of girl crush following their 2018 release "Ddu-Du Ddu-Du". In South Korea, they ranked first on "Forbes" Korea Power Celebrity 40 list in 2019, third in 2020, and second in 2021. International media outlets such as "Forbes", "Billboard" and "The Hollywood Reporter" have recognized the group's popularity and contribution toward spreading the Korean Wave globally. Blackpink were cited by "Rolling Stone" as an exception to the stereotype that most successful K-pop acts in the United States are boy groups.


title: Blackpink

text: The group was also credited as one of the two acts leading Korean music industry growth by the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI). Blackpink have appeared in multiple power listings. They were the first girl group to make "Forbes" 30 Under 30 Asia and were named to the 2019 "Time" 100 Next list of rising stars, credited with "heralding a new era of Korean acts stepping past language barriers to play global stages" when they became the first K-pop group to perform at Coachella, the world's largest music festival. In another first for a Korean act, Blackpink were named the biggest musicians in the world in the month of October 2020 in "Bloomberg"'s Pop Star Power Ranking. "People" magazine included Blackpink on their list of women changing the music industry. They became the third girl group in history to cover "Rolling Stone", after the Spice Girls and Destiny's Child, when they covered the magazine's June 2022 issue.


title: Blackpink

text: Blackpink have amassed a large following on social media and streaming platforms. They became the most-subscribed music group on YouTube in September 2019, the most-subscribed female artist in July 2020, and the most-subscribed music act overall in September 2021, with nearly 82 million subscribers as of September 2022. On Instagram, the group's members are also the four most-followed individuals based in South Korea (in order from first to fourth: Lisa, Jennie, Jisoo and Rosé). Blackpink became the most-followed girl group on Spotify in November 2019; as of September 2022, they have over 31 million followers.


title: Blackpink

text: Especially in South Korea, Blackpink's influence also extends to fashion. Each member has served as global ambassadors for different luxury brands: Jisoo for Dior, Jennie for Chanel, Rosé for Yves Saint Laurent, and Lisa for Bulgari and Celine. Additionally, Blackpink have been credited for drawing international attention to South Korean hanbok through their modern re-interpretations of the traditional costume in their "How You Like That" music video and performances. The group considers fashion to be an important part of their public image, with Jennie telling "Elle" magazine that it "definitely empowers us as much as music does" and Rosé describing it as inseparable from their music. Their style has been noted for blending group uniformity with individual tastes.


title: Blackpink

text: Blackpink have acquired numerous endorsement deals in various industries throughout their career. Globally, Blackpink were ambassadors for Kia Motors, which also served as title sponsor for the group's In Your Area World Tour. In North America, Blackpink partnered with toy company Jazwares to create a collection of dolls styled in outfits from their music videos, as well as other collectible toy lines. In June 2020, Blackpink collaborated with ZEPETO, a South Korean 3D avatar service operated by Naver Z, to offer fans characters that correspond to each member that allow fans to see the characters sing and dance, as well as take pictures together on the app. Blackpink's virtual fan-sign event on the app was popular among international fans, with the service surpassing 30 million participants as of September 11, 2020, and the number of new users increasing by 300,000 following the release of the "Ice Cream" dance performance video. Additionally, the group also teamed up with the popular battle royale game PUBG Mobile to release collaborative content and events within the game.


title: Blackpink

text: In Asia, Blackpink endorsed Samsung, working with the company on multiple campaigns to promote its electronics products, such as the #danceAwesome challenge to promote Galaxy A. In August 2019, Samsung launched a Blackpink Special Edition set in Southeast Asia, comprising its Galaxy A80, Galaxy Watch Active, and Galaxy Buds. The group featured Galaxy S10+ and Galaxy Buds in their "Kill This Love" music video. In November 2018, Blackpink became the first-ever regional brand ambassadors for Singaporean e-commerce platform, Shopee, as part of its partnership with YG Group in Southeast Asia and Taiwan. Thai bank KBank began its partnership with Blackpink in November 2019. In September 2020, Blackpink became spokesperson for Pepsi in the Asia-Pacific region, including Greater China, Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam. Philippine telecommunications company Globe Telecom began its partnership with Blackpink in December 2020 as its brand ambassadors.


title: Blackpink

text: In South Korea, Blackpink have been brand ambassadors or spoke-models of sportswear brand Adidas, luxury hotel and resort Paradise City, contact lens brand Olens, and hair-care brand Mise-En-Scène. In July 2018 and August 2020, the group ranked first among all artists in brand reputation based on analyses by The Korea Reputation Research Institute, making them the only female act to do so. In May 2017, Blackpink became honorary ambassadors for customs service company Incheon Main Customs; banners and videos featuring their images would greet foreign travelers at Incheon International Airport. In April 2018, Blackpink began advertising Sprite Korea. In January 2019, the group became the face of Woori Bank. The group also endorsed and collaborated with other high-end brands, such as sportswear brands Puma and Reebok, luxury fashion houses Louis Vuitton and Dior Cosmetics, cosmetics brand Moonshot, handbag brand St. Scott London, and department store Shibuya 109. Blackpink also released merchandise in collaboration with Tokyo Girls Collection x Cecil McBee in Japan.


title: Blackpink

text: In December 2018, Blackpink donated their prize money from the Elle Style Awards 2018, worth ₩20 million (around US$16,630), to low-income and single-parent households in South Korea. In April 2019, Blackpink made a donation of ₩40 million (around US$33,300) to the Hope Bridge Association of the National Disaster Relief for the victims of the Goseong wildfire in South Korea, doing the same in March 2022 by donating ₩500 million to pay for damage repair caused by the wildfires happening in Gangwon and Gyeongbuk In April 2020, Blackpink released face masks via UMG-affiliated merchandising company Bravado; all proceeds benefited the Recording Academy's MusiCares initiative, which launched a relief fund in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on the music industry. In December 2020, the group called for action on climate change and promoted the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26), hoping their fans will "join us on this journey" to "learn about what's happening, what needs to happen and how we can play our part." On February 25, 2021, Blackpink were formally appointed official advocates for COP26 in Seoul, where they received a personal appreciation letter written by the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Boris Johnson, for their work in the spread of climate change awareness. On October 23, 2021, the group was a part of the lineup for the YouTube Originals special entitled "Dear Earth", which focused on encouraging viewers to become more environmentally conscious.


title: Blackpink

text: Blackpink's accolades include two MTV Video Music Awards, one MTV Europe Music Award, three People's Choice Awards, one Teen Choice Award, nine Circle Chart Music Awards, six Golden Disc Awards, five Melon Music Awards, eleven MAMA Awards, two Seoul Music Awards, and six Guinness World Records.


title: Blackpink

text: Their music video for "Ddu-Du Ddu-Du" became the most-watched music video by a South Korean group in January 2019 and became the first K-pop group music video to surpass one billion views in November 2019. Following the release of "How You Like That" and its music video on June 26, 2020, Blackpink broke five Guinness World Records, including those for the most-viewed YouTube video in the first 24 hours of release (with 86.3 million views) and the most viewers for a video premiere on YouTube (reaching 1.66 million peak concurrent viewers for the live premiere). In 2021, Blackpink was awarded their sixth Guinness World Record for being the most-subscribed band on YouTube, with over 60 million subscribers.


title: Blackpink

text: Blackpink were recognized as one of the ten "2020 Visionary" figures, selected by CJ E&M, who inspired the global public with their pioneering work for Korean pop culture in 2020. "Time" named Blackpink the Entertainer of the Year in 2022, as the biggest girl group in the world.


title: The Notorious B.I.G.

text: Christopher George Latore Wallace (May 21, 1972 – March 9, 1997), better known by his stage names the Notorious B.I.G., Biggie Smalls, or simply Biggie, was an American rapper. Rooted in East Coast hip hop and particularly gangsta rap, he is widely considered one of the greatest rappers of all time. Wallace became known for his distinctive laid-back lyrical delivery, offsetting the lyrics' often grim content. His music was often semi-autobiographical, telling of hardship and criminality, but also of debauchery and celebration.


title: The Notorious B.I.G.

text: Born and raised in Brooklyn, New York City, Wallace signed to Sean "Puffy" Combs' label Bad Boy Records as it launched in 1993, and gained exposure through features on several other artists' singles that year. His debut album "Ready to Die" (1994) was met with widespread critical acclaim, and included his signature songs "Juicy" and "Big Poppa". The album made him the central figure in East Coast hip hop, and restored New York's visibility at a time when the West Coast hip hop scene was dominating hip hop music. Wallace was awarded the 1995 "Billboard" Music Awards' Rapper of the Year. The following year, he led his protégé group Junior M.A.F.I.A., a team of himself and longtime friends, including Lil' Kim, to chart success.


title: The Notorious B.I.G.

text: During 1996, while recording his second album, Wallace became ensnarled in the escalating East Coast–West Coast hip hop feud. Following Tupac Shakur's death in a drive-by shooting in Las Vegas in September 1996, speculations of involvement in Shakur's murder by criminal elements orbiting the Bad Boy circle circulated as a result of Wallace's public feud with Shakur. On March 9, 1997, six months after Shakur's death, Wallace was murdered by an unidentified assailant in a drive-by shooting while visiting Los Angeles. Wallace's second album "Life After Death", a double album, was released two weeks later. It reached number one on the "Billboard" 200, and eventually achieved a diamond certification in the United States.


title: The Notorious B.I.G.

text: With two more posthumous albums released, Wallace has certified sales of over 28 million copies in the United States, including 21 million albums. "Rolling Stone" has called him the "greatest rapper that ever lived", and "Billboard" named him the greatest rapper of all time. "The Source" magazine named him the greatest rapper of all time in its 150th issue. In 2006, MTV ranked him at No. 3 on their list of "The Greatest MCs of All Time", calling him possibly "the most skillful ever on the mic". In 2020, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.


title: The Notorious B.I.G.

text: Christopher George Latore Wallace was born at St. Mary's Hospital in the New York City borough of Brooklyn on May 21, 1972, the only child of Jamaican immigrant parents. His mother, Voletta Wallace, was a preschool teacher, while his father, Selwyn George Latore, was a welder and politician. His father left the family when Wallace was two years old, and his mother worked two jobs while raising him. Wallace grew up at 226 St. James Place in Brooklyn's Clinton Hill, near the border with Bedford-Stuyvesant. Raised Catholic, Wallace excelled at Queen of All Saints Middle School, winning several awards as an English student. He attended St Peter Claver Church in the borough. He was nicknamed "Big" because he was overweight by the age of 10. Wallace claimed to have begun dealing drugs at about age 12. His mother, often at work, first learned of this during his adulthood.


title: The Notorious B.I.G.

text: He began rapping as a teenager, entertaining people on the streets, and performed with local groups, the Old Gold Brothers as well as the Techniques. His earliest stage name was MC CWest. At his request, Wallace transferred from Bishop Loughlin Memorial High School in Fort Greene to George Westinghouse Career and Technical Education High School in Downtown Brooklyn, which future rappers Jay-Z and Busta Rhymes were also attending. According to his mother, Wallace was still a good student but developed a "smart-ass" attitude at the new school. At age 17 in 1989, Wallace dropped out of high school and became more involved in crime. That same year in 1989, he was arrested on weapons charges in Brooklyn and sentenced to five years' probation. In 1990, he was arrested on a violation of his probation. A year later, Wallace was arrested in North Carolina for dealing crack cocaine. He spent nine months in jail before making bail.


title: The Notorious B.I.G.

text: After release from jail, Wallace made a demo tape, "Microphone Murderer", while calling himself Biggie Smalls, alluding both to Calvin Lockhart's character in the 1975 film "Let's Do It Again" and to his own stature and obesity, and 300 to 380 lb (140–170 kg). Although Wallace reportedly lacked real ambition for the tape, local DJ Mister Cee, of Big Daddy Kane and Juice Crew association, discovered and promoted it, thus it was heard by "The Source" rap magazine's editor in 1992.


title: The Notorious B.I.G.

text: In March, "The Source" column "Unsigned Hype", dedicated to airing promising rappers, featured Wallace. He then spun the attention into a recording. Upon hearing the demo tape, Sean "Puffy" Combs, still with the A&R department of Uptown Records, arranged to meet Wallace. Promptly signed to Uptown, Wallace appeared on labelmates Heavy D & the Boyz's 1993 song "A Buncha Niggas". Mid-year, or a year after Wallace's signing, Uptown fired Combs, who, a week later, launched Bad Boy Records, instantly Wallace's new label.


title: The Notorious B.I.G.

text: On August 8, 1993, Wallace's longtime girlfriend gave birth to his first child, T'yanna, although the couple had split by then. A high-school dropout, Wallace promised his daughter "everything she wanted", in his reasoning that if he had had the same in childhood, he would have graduated at the top of his class. Although he continued dealing drugs, Combs discovered that and obliged him to quit. Later that year, Wallace gained exposure on a remix of Mary J. Blige's single "Real Love". Having found his moniker "Biggie Smalls" already claimed, he took a new one, holding for good, "The Notorious B.I.G".


title: The Notorious B.I.G.

text: Around this time, Wallace became friends with fellow rapper Tupac Shakur. Lil' Cease recalled the pair as close, often traveling together whenever they were not working. According to him, Wallace was a frequent guest at Shakur's home and they spent time together when Shakur was in California or Washington, D.C. Yukmouth, an Oakland emcee, claimed that Wallace's style was inspired by Shakur.


title: The Notorious B.I.G.

text: The "Real Love" remix single was followed by another remix of a Mary J. Blige song, "What's the 411?" Wallace's successes continued, if to a lesser extents, on remixes of Neneh Cherry's song "Buddy X" and of reggae artist Super Cat's song "Dolly My Baby", also featuring Combs, all in 1993. In April, Wallace's solo track "Party and Bullshit" was released on the "Who's the Man?" soundtrack. In July 1994, he appeared alongside LL Cool J and Busta Rhymes on a remix of his own labelmate Craig Mack's "Flava in Ya Ear", the remix reaching No. 9 on the "Billboard" Hot 100.


title: The Notorious B.I.G.

text: On August 4, 1994, Wallace married R&B singer Faith Evans, whom he had met eight days prior at a Bad Boy photoshoot. Five days later, Wallace had his first pop chart success as a solo artist with double A-side, "Juicy / Unbelievable", which reached No. 27 as the lead single to his debut album.


title: The Notorious B.I.G.

text: "Ready to Die" was released on September 13, 1994. It reached No. 13 on the "Billboard" 200 chart and was eventually certified four times platinum. The album shifted attention back to East Coast hip hop at a time when West Coast hip hop dominated US charts. It gained strong reviews and has received much praise in retrospect. In addition to "Juicy", the record produced two hit singles: the platinum-selling "Big Poppa", which reached No. 1 on the U.S. rap chart, and "One More Chance", which sold 1.1 million copies in 1995. Busta Rhymes claimed to have seen Wallace giving out free copies of "Ready to Die" from his home, which Rhymes reasoned as "his way of marketing himself".


title: The Notorious B.I.G.

text: Wallace also befriended basketball player Shaquille O'Neal. O'Neal said they were introduced during a listening session for "Gimme the Loot"; Wallace mentioned him in the lyrics and thereby attracted O'Neal to his music. O'Neal requested a collaboration with Wallace, which resulted in the song "You Can't Stop the Reign". According to Combs, Wallace would not collaborate with "anybody he didn't really respect" and that Wallace paid O'Neal his respect by "shouting him out". Wallace later met with O'Neal on Sunset Boulevard in 1997. In 2015, Daz Dillinger, a frequent Shakur collaborator, said that he and Wallace were "cool", with Wallace traveling to meet him to smoke cannabis and record two songs.


title: The Notorious B.I.G.

text: Wallace worked with pop singer Michael Jackson on the song "This Time Around", featured on Jackson's 1995 album "". Lil' Cease later claimed that while Wallace met Jackson, he was forced to stay behind, with Wallace citing that he did not "trust Michael with kids" following the 1993 child sexual abuse allegations against Jackson. Engineer John Van Nest and producer Dallas Austin recalled the sessions differently, saying that Wallace was eager to meet Jackson and nearly burst into tears upon doing so.


title: The Notorious B.I.G.

text: In the summer, Wallace met Charli Baltimore and they became involved in a romantic relationship. Several months into their relationship, she left him a voicemail of a rap verse that she had written and he began encouraging her to pursue a career in rap music.


title: The Notorious B.I.G.

text: Wallace was booked to a show in Sacramento, When they arrived at the venue they were not a lot of people there, and when they started performing they were getting coins tossed at them. When they left they were held at gunpoint in the venue's parking lot set up by E-40's goons. They were mad over an interview he did with a Canadian magazine, when asked to rank a handful of artists on a scale from one to 10, Wallace gave him a zero. One of Wallace's entourage said to get E-40 on the phone, Wallace explained how they had "got him drunk" and had got him "to say anything", E-40 told his men to stand down and safely escorted them to the airport.


title: The Notorious B.I.G.

text: In August 1995, Wallace's protégé group, Junior M.A.F.I.A. ("Junior Masters At Finding Intelligent Attitudes"), released their debut album "Conspiracy". The group consisted of his friends from childhood and included rappers such as Lil' Kim and Lil' Cease, who went on to have solo careers. The record went gold and its singles, "Player's Anthem" and "Get Money", both featuring Wallace, went gold and platinum. Wallace continued to work with R&B artists, collaborating with R&B groups 112 (on "Only You") and Total (on "Can't You See"), with both reaching the top 20 of the Hot 100. By the end of the year, Wallace was the top-selling male solo artist and rapper on the U.S. pop and R&B charts. In July 1995, he appeared on the cover of "The Source" with the caption "The King of New York Takes Over", a reference to his alias Frank White, based on a character from the 1990 film "King of New York". At the "Source" Awards in August 1995, he was named Best New Artist (Solo), Lyricist of the Year, Live Performer of the Year, and his debut Album of the Year. At the Billboard Awards, he was Rap Artist of the Year.


title: The Notorious B.I.G.

text: In his year of success, Wallace became involved in a rivalry between the East and West Coast hip hop scenes with Shakur, now his former friend. In an interview with "Vibe" in April 1995, while serving time in Clinton Correctional Facility, Shakur accused Uptown Records' founder Andre Harrell, Sean Combs, and Wallace of having prior knowledge of a robbery that resulted in him being shot five times and losing thousands of dollars worth of jewelry on the night of November 30, 1994. Though Wallace and his entourage were in the same Manhattan-based recording studio at the time of the shooting, they denied the accusation.


title: The Notorious B.I.G.

text: Wallace said: "It just happened to be a coincidence that he [Shakur] was in the studio. He just, he couldn't really say who really had something to do with it at the time. So he just kinda' leaned the blame on me." In 2012, a man named Dexter Isaac, serving a life sentence for unrelated crimes, claimed that he attacked Shakur that night and that the robbery was orchestrated by entertainment industry executive and former drug trafficker, Jimmy Henchman.


title: The Notorious B.I.G.

text: Following his release from prison, Shakur signed to Death Row Records on October 15, 1995. This made Bad Boy Records and Death Row business rivals, and thus intensified the quarrel.


title: The Notorious B.I.G.

text: On March 23, 1996, Wallace was arrested outside a Manhattan nightclub for chasing and threatening to kill two fans seeking autographs, smashing the windows of their taxicab, and punching one of them. He pleaded guilty to second-degree harassment and was sentenced to 100 hours of community service. In mid-1996, he was arrested at his home in Teaneck, New Jersey, for drug and weapons possession charges.


title: The Notorious B.I.G.

text: During the recording for his second album, Wallace was confronted by Shakur for the first time since "the rumors started" at the Soul Train Awards and a gun was pulled.


title: The Notorious B.I.G.

text: In June 1996, Shakur released "Hit 'Em Up", a diss track in which he claimed to have had sex with Faith Evans, who was estranged from Wallace at the time, and that Wallace had copied his style and image. Wallace referenced the first claim on Jay-Z's "Brooklyn's Finest", in which he raps: "If Faye have twins, she'd probably have two 'Pacs. Get it? 2Pac's?" However, he did not directly respond to the track, stating in a 1997 radio interview that it was "not [his] style" to respond.


title: The Notorious B.I.G.

text: On September 7, 1996, Shakur was shot multiple times in a drive-by shooting in Las Vegas and died six days later. Rumors of Wallace's involvement with Shakur's murder spread. In a 2002 "Los Angeles Times" series titled "Who Killed Tupac Shakur?", based on police reports and multiple sources, Chuck Philips reported that the shooting was carried out by a Compton gang, the Southside Crips, to avenge a beating by Shakur hours earlier, and that Wallace had paid for the gun.