‘This Is For the Street, Not For the Radio’: Don Omar & Residente Team Up for ‘Flow HP’

Puerto Rican music artists Don Omar and Residente have released a new single, “Flow HP.” It’s the first time they have collaborated in their careers. Billboard called the song “an ode to Puerto Rico.”

“Flow HP” is about daily life in Puerto Rico and the roots of reggaetón. The black and white music video shows Omar, Residente, and their crew inside a warehouse alongside Puerto Rican flags, Vejigante masks, motorcycles, limoncillos, and a crowd of women twerking.

“The wait is over,” Omar wrote on social media. “Go visit my YouTube channel and enjoy my first collaboration with Residente.” The single and music video came out the same week Omar signed a multi-year deal with Saban Music Group.

“For my return to music, I had to expose who I am, as a performer and as a Puerto Rican,” Omar said in a statement. “Without warm clothes and with all the strength that has always characterized me. It was very easy to work on this reggaeton collaboration with René in this song. He left his unique style reflected and from what we knew of him in the beginning.”

Residente says it was a conscious decision to make “Flow HP” sound unconventional in the world of reggaetón. “The idea was to do the opposite of what is being done with commercial reggaeton,” he says. “Letting go of 64 bars of rhymes each and forgetting the easy hooks that the music industry looks for on a daily basis.”

On social media, Residente tweeted: “This is for the street, not for the radio.”