WATCH: Is Residente Rehashing Hot Dog Gate?

In the age of social media, you can’t really do subtle. You can try, but people will pick up on it and speculate away. This is exactly what happened when Residente uploaded a video talking about a new track he’s releasing – or not, and the backstory that has led to this question.

There’s some self-awareness in the message, which Residente released in Spanish, because he starts with the admission that “this message is one of the least important things you’ll hear today, especially in the middle of a war.” But then, he truly gets into it, explaining that when you mess with “urban influencers,” these things happen.

He goes on to explain he was about to release a track, one where he talked about “many things about the music industry that are important” to him. He then adds that, at the end of the song, he’s got a few lines for someone – no names, though he does mention it’s someone in the urban genre.

Then, the plot thickens, as Residente explains that person heard about the track, got mad, and called a lot of people to try to prevent him from releasing it. According to Residente, there are even lawsuit threats, and all because of a “simple diss that wasn’t even completely about him.”

Again, no names, though people quickly went on Twitter to highlight who the likeliest suspect was: J Balvin. 

People were also quick to point out how unnecessary it was for an artist of Residente’s caliber to focus so much on this beef.

As for the song, Residente said he’d leave it to the people to decide if it was released but added that he “didn’t care if he was sued” or if he “didn’t make it into playlists,” because the difference between him and this other, unnamed artist is that “he is free,” while that person is “another slave of the industry.”