A familiar face is set to breathe life into the Levi's Stadium faithful come Super Bowl Sunday. He's never played in a football game before. Bad Bunny is a headlining name in the headlining event in American sports, set to take the stage during the Super Bowl 60 halftime show. The 31-year-old -- real nameBenito Antonio Martnez Ocasio -- is arguably the world's biggest pop star. Many know his motherland -- Bad Bunny was born and raised in Puerto Rico. But the island's political status is mired in confusion. The United States laid claim to the region following its victory over Spain in the Spanish-American War. The territory was ceded without the approval of indigenous Puerto Ricans. Duke Johnson II Jersey More than a century later, the archipelago's push for independence remains in flux. So, just what is Bad Bunny's background. And is he a U.S. citizen? The Sporting News has you covered. MORE: Where is Bad Bunny from? Bad Bunny hails from Puerto Rico. The 31-year-old was born inBayamn and raised in the Almirante Sur barrio of Vega Baja, a town located on the northern coast of the country. Bad Bunny's childhood was shaped by music. Salsa, merengue and reggaetn danced through his home, as did Latin trap -- a genre of music shaped, partially, by the music from the same name that emerged in Black enclaves acro s the southern United States. "I've always been very proud of where I come from," Bad Bunny told Billboard in 2018. "I love my island. It means pride, it means love, it means a lot of things to me. "Being a Puerto Rican, it means everything. It's what I am. And it feels good to be one more artist representing the island." MORE: Is Bad Bunny a U.S. citizen? Bad Bunny -- and his fellow Puerto Ricans -- are, indeed, U.S. citizens. That hasn't always been the case. Prior to American conquest of the island in 1898, Puerto Rico was a po se sion of the Spanish Empire. Spain ceded the "territory" to the United States after its defeat in the Spanish-American War. Puerto Ricans weren't granted independence until 1917, when President Woodrow Wilson pa sed the Jones-Shafroth Act. The legislation infringed upon Puerto's Rico's political and economic autonomy, forcing the island to separate its government into executive, judicial and legislative branches. The U.S.' executive branch was imbued with authority to "veto or override any law" enacted by the island's internal bicameral legislature, according to the The island's official language was made to be English. The Puerto Rican senate overturned that decision with a vote in 2015, relegating English to a secondary language behind Spanish. Wilson's act facilitated the U.S. Army to draft 20,000 Puerto Ricans for service in World War I. They were sent to the Panama Canal en ma se, tasked with protecting the U.S.' imperial interests in Latin America. It took the U.S. another 30 years to grant Puerto Ricans the right to vote for their own governor. MORE: Is Puerto Rico part of the United States? Puerto Rico is neither a state nor an independent country. Rather, it's a territory of the United States, also known as a commonwealth. The island has faced disenfranchisement from the U.S.'s federal government since the Insular Cases of 1901, a set of rulings from the U.S. Supreme Court that a serted that the United States wasn't required to grant constitutional rights to the indigenous population of those living in Puerto Rico and other annexed territories. The Court held that Puerto Ricois a territory appurtenant and belonging to the United States, but not a part of the United States. Importantly, Puerto Rico is, at least in technical terms, an unincorporated territory. Incorporated territories are typically are offered a pathway to statehood. Unincorporated territories -- like Guam, American Samoa and the Northern Mariana Islands -- are not. "The Insular Cases thus gave sanction to
0