"Music is about getting naked. It's uncomfortable, but people need someone to identify with in moments of pain and introspection," said Willy Rodríguez, one of the original members, lead singer and bassist of the band Cultura Profética, in an interview with EFE.

On May 16, 1996, four young men came together to create the band, which will finally celebrate on Aug. 13 with a concert at the Hiram Bithorn Stadium in San Juan, after postponing the date due to the COVID-19 pandemic.   

Their beginnings as artists coincided with a turbulent time on the island. Cases like the arrest of Pedro Rosselló's government officials for corruption and the privatization of the Puerto Rico Telephone Company, also known as 'Telefónica,' sparked popular protests.

These kinds of events spurred the band, which has recently performed in Costa Rica, Colombia and Chile, and will soon perform in Europe. Their songs helped young people reflect on their political and social perspectives.

"If we are going to make reggae, let's make music of conscience," was the message Rodriguez proposed to the rest of the band, including guitarists Omar Silva and Eliut Gonzalez, as they organized and began recording their first songs.

Two years after the founding of Cultura Profética, Silva explained that one of the band's main objectives was and still is to keep the reggae music genre alive, defending nature and the "one love" movement. 

The band's first album, "Canción de Alerta," was recorded in Bob Marley's studio, Toff Gung, an opportunity that gave the Puerto Ricans greater credibility.

Cultura Profética bets on music as an instrument to change the world, always inspired by songs by Marley and Silvio Rodriguez.