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You know, I think he's known as the thinking man's salsa.

Which, um, is actually true.

He has a great intellect and a seriousness about him.

He's just a musical guy.

You know, I mean, you can't break it down... any more than that.

He's got a great gift, you know.

And he's got a great heart.

You know, it comes-- really comes through.

You can feel that.

♪ When somebody loves you ♪ ♪ It's no good unless they love you ♪♪ ♪ All the way ♪ ♪ Through the good old-- lean years ♪♪ ♪ And for all the in-between years ♪ ♪ Come what may ♪♪ ♪ Who knows where the road will lead us ♪ ♪ Only a fool would say ♪ ♪ But if you let me love you ♪♪ ♪ It's for sure I'm gonna love you ♪♪ ♪ All the way ♪ ♪ All ♪♪ ♪ The way ♪ -Here you go.

-Okay.

And we became famous.

The guys from Fania became famous.

So I became a very good producer.

And a very prolific producer for Fania.

And I was given an office in-- in-- in the main office at 888 Seventh Avenue.

And next door to me was the mail room.

And who was working in the mail room?

A little young Panamanian guy named Rubén Blades.

And I didn't know who Rubén was.

But I would sit in my office and hear him play guitar and write songs.

And I said, "Well, this kid is good."

But Jerry would send them, "Ah, go get this here.

"Bring this to the post office, lick these stamps.

Take this over over here.

Deliver that over here."

And that's what he... But he hung out, he hung out with Tito Puente, and he hung out with-- with Pacheco, and he hung out with all the great musicians and composers of that time.

And salsa was just starting to heat up.

He knows what out-- what's awaiting for... The same neighborhood, old neighborhood.

With the same corner.

With the same, uh, trash cans... Come on.

Good work.

And one more on the other side.

Come on, bubba.

Good work.

Boom.

Boom.

Boom.

One, two, three, four.

Huh?

One, two, three!

-Tomorrow... -Oh, tomorrow.

Good evening, ladies and gentlemen.

The Capitol Theater is proud to present Fania recording artists Willie Colón and Rubén Blades!

Hold it!

Put those guns down.

I think we better slow down here.

Tell these people to back off!

I'm taking 'em in.

No, you're not.

Like the Beatles!

♪ Ooh ooh ♪ You know.

♪ I know she will love me♪ ♪ Bam bam bam bam bam ♪♪ Don't do this.

It's different.

You don't need the trouble, you don't need the money.

You know, can give it-- I remember, uh... I would go to some of his shows, and the women literally threw themselves onto him.

I mean, physically.

I mean, they would just be like, "whck," you know.

Right in front of me.

And... I was a little taken aback by that.

And, um, but I'm not one of these people, like, starting to punch somebody and, like, "Get away from my man," or any... I'm not, you know... I mean, I under-- I realized he is who he is.

I mean, it was, this is... part of my process of discovering who Rubén was early on.

But, yeah, I have to say... that on the other hand, like, sometimes when he comes home from a tour, uh... I kind of have to get him back down on earth again.

You know, you're home now, you gotta take out the garbage.

You gotta wash the dishes.

You know, let's make the bed.

You know, you know, kind of get him back to earth again, you know.

But he likes that, he likes that.

Whoo!

The first meeting that we had was, uh, was good.

You know, um... you know, he was-- He was, um, in shock.

You know what I mean?

But, uh, no, it turned out-- it turned out pretty good, you know.

That's where, you know, we decided to move forward, you know what I mean?

And, uh, and not so much backtrack.

You know what I mean?

'Cause there's, you know, there's all kinds of... with like, you know, with, you know, inside my family and everything like that, there's very strong feelings sometimes, you know what I mean?

So when it comes down to backtracking, I don't want to backtrack.

You know, let's just move forward and, uh, and... Just, you know, for the sake of everybody, especially my daughter, uh, his granddaughter and everything, you know.

And I'm so happy that she got to, uh... that he and she got to be in each other's lives as well.

You know what I mean?

So that's really important to me.

It was difficult for me at first.

Because when his son surfaced, um... yeah, there was a part of me that... I wanted to give him that son.

You know, that was difficult at first.

Um... And I, again, I had to really... wrap my head around that one, too.

It wasn't easy.

Um... But he was... this is something that happened 36, 37 years ago.

It was nothing... that happened personally to me.

I mean, it didn't involve me.

It was something that happened a long time ago.

And... it happened, um... And I had a choice either to be upset or angry about it, or embrace this-- this son.

One, two, one, two, three, four.

Oh, yeah.

Oh, yeah.

-You look like my mother.

-Huh?

You look like my mother.

Oh.

Charlie!

Now.

Okay, so, where do you want me to put the new things?

Um... I'll clear some space here at the table.

Okay.

And these are all coming to us directly from him?

Yes, yes.

These were the copies of "Maestra Vida"... the first part and the second part, that he gave to Paula in 1980.

"Paula C., can you believe it's out?

Thank you for the support.

Love always, Rubén."

The handwritten "El Cantante" on a napkin.

There's the part B and part C. I don't know why it's two different colors.

Then handwritten "Pedro Navaja" on this falling-apart piece of paper.

Including a doodle.

So this would be the-- yeah, the typed-up lyrics for "Amor y control."

And all kinds of notes, phone numbers.

This is... what I find often.

Just, I love this.

I mean, I just love this, um... -That's a sketch?

-Yeah.

His-- his I.D., Pan-- student I.D.

And... So the-- the thesis, it's in... This is part one, that's part-- the second.

It's in two different folders.

But he dedicates it to his grandmother and his parents.

When you don't have political, social, and economic power, yeah, the number one violence that is committed against us is that the people who have power tell our stories.

I know, as a writer, I know that growing up, I'm surrounded by, uh... Rubén's songs, his characters, his political conscience.

That certainly encouraged and helped me think about the kinds of stories we have to tell.

Everything is political, you know.

At a time when, um... the news media, the media is under attack, and the truth itself is under attack, it's more and more important that artists speak the truth.

Or say, speak truth to power.

Say, "You're lying."