Calderon, Tego– El Enemy de los Guasibiri (White Lion)
Reviewed by Sadie O., 7/26/06
¡¡Reggaeton!! Part Puerto Rican Latin dance music, part hip hop, a bit of Reggae, becoming the dominant musical form amongst Latins all over the Americas. Tego is the most “conscious” Reggaeton artist, kind of the KRS-One of the genre. So he’s probably the last guy to get us an FCC rap (ha!), but he is also probably closest to the spirit of hip hop, e.g., angry young black guy from the poorest of ‘hoods, and that sensibility pervades the record.
Tracks 2 and 3 have single FCC violations in Spanish.
I like 13 best, but 7 and 14-17 are great examples of the genre.
1. 0:44 cymbals, talking, bit of reggaeton beat, random
2. 2:44 ***accordion intro, very swingy beat, cool
3. 3:03 FCC: “chinga” *long intro, spare midtempo beat with hand claps. Can run directl into next song.
4. 3:21 FCC: “chingo” **nice midtempo syncopation.
5. 3:22 *LONG vocal intro about yanquis, downtempo
6. 3:13 **dramatic chord intro, midtempo 70’s funk sound. Definite street sensibilities.
7. 5:18 ***vocal interchange intro, prototypical reggaeton beat.
8. 3:24 **rather pretty vocal intro/chorus, midtempo, apparently more about dance than sociopolitics.
9. 0:31 tantalizing bit of what almost sounds like Bhangra beat.
10. 3:35 *downbeat and very sparce music, with lots of words
11. 3:49 **spoken intro in English, sweet female singing, midtempo beat with handclaps, not particularly reggaeton but groovy. Ends suddenly.
12. 3:33 **interesting combination of sounds – electronic bleats and flute. A bit downtempo
13. 3:22 ****energetic and a bit uptempo, great (electronic) beat, nice interchange of two voices
14. 3:09 ***dramatic intro, rather menacing sound, midtempo reggaeton sound – this is probably the most representative track
15. 2:53 ***midtempo, with lots of interesting added sounds, like pan pipes.
16. 2:53 **great beat, angry sound.
17. 3:02 ***long intro, cool midtempo beat with some actual singing