Ever since "Gasolina" became a worldwide hit, Raymond Ayala — a.k.a. Daddy Yankee — has been a Latin celebrity. He helped reggaeton break through to the English-language market with his multi-platinum album Barrio Fino. He was the first to franchise into clothing and sponsoring. He has his own movie releasing soon (Talento de Barrio, due this fall). And, he's probably the most experienced reggaetonero in the business: El Cartel 3: The Big Boss is his eighth studio album.
El Cartel starts out badly, though. "Jefe" is the extensive and boring intro, where DY does the obligatory bragging about being the best, and calling out to all Latinos. "En Sus Marcas Listo Fuera" is the type of aggressive-sounding reggaeton Daddy Yankee got famous with, which is also the type I profoundly dislike. And "Fuera De Control" must be a mistake: this slow, irritating track should have gone straight to the trash.
But things get better. Scattered throughout the album, some tracks show quite a different Yankee, and it becomes clear why he calls himself 'the evolution of reggaeton.' There's a clear influence of U.S. club-style hip-hop and R&B, with some great producing from big names like Mr. Collipark, Scott Storch, Akon, and Will.I.Am. A good attempt to cash in on both the Anglo and Latino market.
You've already heard the bomb single "Impacto," with Storch's innovating beats. Though it seems the track isn't doing as well as expected in the charts, I love it: it's just made for the dance floor, with the quick tempo and electronic influences (a vocoder!). The remix version featuring Fergie is the probably the best track on the album.
"A Lo Clásico" (recommended) is a chaos of crazy beats and bumps — great party stuff. "Cambio" keeps its distinctive reggaeton bass and snare, but everything else is mainstream hip-hop. "Me Quedaría" feels delightfully old-school thanks to the skipping and scratching samples, and has the socially conscious text (about immigration) a true hip-hop track needs.
To my surprise, a few tracks on El Cartel truly impressed me. "Who's Your Daddy" is the weirdest reggaeton track I've heard in ages. I'd never expect a big name like DY to go this experimental. Electro-club influences and metal synths in reggaeton? Lyrically it's rubbish, but this kind of musical metamorphosis can only be encouraged. "Papi Lover" (recommended) features Nicole Sherzinger (the main Pussycat Doll) on a very sexy arabic/banghra/ragga rhythm: ¡a fuego!. It has flow like no other song on this album, and is deliciously contagious. If this isn't his next single, someone at Machete Music has to be fired. And though Will.I.Am (the main Black Eyed Pea) didn't seem to have a lot of lyrical inspiration for "Plane To PR", the production is excellent: it has a revolutionary, fast dembow beat that can be seamlessly mixed with any dance track.
Article comments
1 - Don Omar
el cd fue basura!
the cd was Garbarage!
2 - flow borikua
daddy yankee cd is wack for real and im puertorican but sorry that cd is garbarage
3 - Diana
Daddy Yankee is THE BEST, I have leasen to the whole CD a hundred time and will leasen to it again and again for ever. This is one of the best CDs of the year.
4 - rebeca
Daddy yankee!U Is the thing!It just another hater 2 your list unless they doin sum thing better."Shut up"