Four years ago today, April 3, Puerto Rican artist Anuel AA was incarcerated for the first time in federal prison. Now, he’s released a freestyle song called “3 de Abril.”
Despite his effusive on-camera and social media personality, Anuel’s private life is always surrounded by mystery and controversy.
But with his new song, the singer, born Emmanuel Gazmey Santiago, has opened up to the world with lyrics that reveal his darkest secrets.
So what does he reveal in the new song? Below, Billboard has gathered Anuel AA’s most shocking confessions in “3 de Abril.”
Anuel AA didn’t trust in his “friends,” and spent most of his time hanging out in bad places.
Lyric: “Soy la mejor versión de mí cuando estoy bajo presión. Será porque yo crecí en el calentón. Donde la palabra “amigo” es sinónimo de traición.”
Translation: “I am the best version of me when I’m under pressure/ It will be because I grew up in the calentón — a place where crime abounds/ Where the word friend is synonymous with treason.”
He went down the wrong path in life at the age of 15, after his father lost his job and his family became poor.
Lyric: “A lo’ 15 año’ el banco no’ iba a quitar la casa / Mi mai’ llorando dice: ‘Todo va a estar bien’ y me abraza/Papi perdió el trabajo en Sony, eso e’ lo que pasa/ Ya se acabó el dinero y él no duerme ni descansa/Desde ese día yo me dediqué a la delincuencia/Abandoné los deporte’ y no temí a las consecuencia.”
Translation: “When I was 15 the bank took our house/My mother crying said, ‘Everything will be alright’ and hugged me/My father lost his job at Sony, that’s what is happening/ Money is gone he doesn’t sleep or rest/From that day I dedicated to be delinquent/ I abandoned sports ‘and I was not afraid of the consequences.”
Losing a friend at a young age turned him violent and perhaps even evil.
Lyric: “Mataron a mi amigo y lo vengamo’ con violencia, Y caminé con el diablo el resto de mi adolescencia.”
Translation: “They killed my friend and I avenged him with violence/And I walked with the devil the rest of my adolescence.”
He felt powerful when surrounded by drugs and weapons.
Lyric: “Bregué con droga por dinero y porque quería/Y me encantaba estar arma’o y correr de la policía.”
Translation: “I struggled with drugs for money and because I wanted/And I loved being armed and running from the police.”
His life was in danger and at one point, he almost got kidnapped.
Lyric: “Un día me trataron de secuestrar, pero salí con vida.”
Translation: “One day they tried to kidnap me, but I came out alive.”
When captured by the police, he was worried for his life. Anuel didn’t want to create more problems for his parents, and understood he was following the wrong path.
Lyric: “Ese día que me cogieron yo estaba pensando/Que el pana mío quería matarme y me estaba cazando/Más los problema’ viejos que yo seguía arrastrando/Entendí que la calle no quería verme triunfando.”
Translation: “That day they caught me I was thinking/That my friend wanted to kill me and was hunting me/More problems for my parents that I kept dragging/I understood that the street life did not want to see me triumphing.”
