J Balvin Apologizes for 'Perra' Video with Black Women on Leashes

J Balvin is issuing a mea culpa for a music video of his that portrayed Black people -- especially women -- as animals ... namely, dogs ... who were literally on all fours.

The Colombian reggaetón star took to IG to apologize for the controversial visual offering of his track "Perra" with Dominican rapper, Tokischa, who's of African descent herself. The track's all about how she (Tokischa) is a dog in heat ... and looking for a male to bang.

Naturally, the video would be provocative ... but it seems Balvin and co. went all in on the canine theme -- getting a lot of their dancers/background actors in animal-style makeup, in which many of these folks of color were made to look like actual pooches.

Not just that, but some of the Black people are in cages at certain points, Tokischa is depicted in a dog house throughout the video and eating from a bowl ... and the most striking image is when J Balvin himself is walking a couple of Black ladies on leashes.

The project was slammed by several critics, but the biggest may have been Colombia's very own Vice President and Chancellor Marta Lucia Ramirez ... who deemed it sexist, misogynistic and flat-out racist. After all the backlash -- it was taken down by Balvin.

In his video, Balvin says he's sorry to anyone who was offended ... especially women, and especially Black women. He says he didn't mean for it to be interpreted as degrading -- noting he was simply trying to help give some shine to an up-and-coming artist in the Dominican Republic.

Balvin says his work has always been about tolerance, love and inclusivity -- and after hearing how it affected people ... he felt the need to come on and address it on camera.

The guy even apologizes to his own mother at one point ... so you can tell he's taking it seriously. While the video was removed from YouTube ... the official audio is still up.