J Balvin joins DJ Khaled for the second episode of his podcast ‘The First One’
The artists talk Colombia, collaborating with Beyoncé, and why J Balvin can’t get ahold of Drake
Earlier this week, DJ Khaled released the first episode of his brand new podcast, The First One. Now, following an engaging conversation with hip-hop legend Lil Wayne, the super-producer is joined by international superstar J Balvin.
Developed by Amazon Music and the Springhill Company--the media conglomerate founded by LeBron James and Maverick Carter--’The First One’ features DJ Khaled delving into the biggest hits of all-time. He features his favorite artists to learn about the songs that made them iconic and eventually legendary.
In the latest episode, Balvin and Khaled speak at length about what the artist was like in his youth as he grew up in Medellin, Colombia. He also expresses, in detail, what it was like to grow up in the city ravaged by drug kingpin Pablo Escobar.
“Pablo Escobar taught the world how not to do things,” Balvin said about Colombia’s most notorious man. Luckily, his fame has helped change the narrative of the place he calls home.
“Now when we fly people out of our country and they ask where you from and you say ‘Colombia.’ Oh, that’s Balvin. They don’t say Pablo [Escobar] any more. That makes me feel proud,” he said.
Between musical influences, immigrating to the United States and eventually returning back home to Colombia, Balvin also gives first person accounts of taking the country by storm through songs like “Tranquila” and “Sola.”
When it comes to music, the artists go on to dissect the making of the worldwide hit single, “Mi Gente,” revealing how Blue Ivy Carter “A&R’d the remix” with her mom, Beyoncé.
“The only thing heard throughout the house was ‘Mi Gente, Mi Gente’ because Blue was in love with the song and Beyoncé was always jamming to it and Jay-Z was always jamming to it,” the artist reveals on the podcast. “So I said, if Beyoncé’s daughter loves it, why don’t she jump on the remix? The worst she can say is no, right?”
Still, with all of his success and huge collaborations with the likes of Beyoncé, Balvin still hasn’t worked with the one person he really wants to: Drake.
“The only guy that I haven’t met, man, what’s up. Never met him. Never in my life. And I’m his biggest fan. Drake!” he revealed on ‘The First One’. “I DM you. I haven’t heard [from] you. I hit Scooter Braun. He’s my manager. We haven’t heard from you. We need you, bro.”
Watch the entire second episode of ‘The First One’ with DJ Khaled and J Balvin below:
