Customer Reviews

Cartel: The Big Boss

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

It's been three years since Daddy Yankee's turbo-charged "Gasolina" roared to the top of the charts and signaled the mainstream arrival of reggaeton, the down-and-dirty Latino rap style cultivated in the urban barrios of Puerto Rico. The revved-up single triggered predictions of a hip-hop crossover and a new Latin music craze.


But the craze never came and the race for a crossover has since been canceled.

Now, Yankee returns with his first full studio album (in stores today) since the charismatic and disciplined rapper was crowned most likely to lead that elusive crossover bid. The Big Boss has thrust his engines in reverse and signaled the genre's new direction: A reggaeton retrenchment.

But not a retreat.

Like a good politician in shaky times, Yankee is playing to his base with 21 tracks that mostly stick to reggaeton's irresistibly bouncy rhythms and chest-thumping themes: sex, partying, nationalism, barrio loyalty and, as the title suggests, brash bragging about who's the best.

The new work gains a little hip-hop/R&B luster with the help of non-reggaeton collaborators such as will.i.am from Black Eyed Peas, Nicole Scherzinger from the Pussycat Dolls and Fergie, who's featured on the first single, "Impacto," produced by Canadian hitmeister Scott Storch.

Yet with the exception of a duet with Akon on the taut, politically defiant "Bring It On," the star power Doe's provide the best moments on a CD that could have been trimmed by a third.

Daddy Yankee (born Ramon Ayala) leaves no doubt that he still has the skill and style that made him stand out from reggaeton's crowded rank-and-file. He wrote or co-wrote every tune, delivering lines with a rat-a-tat torrent of syllables and Caribbean street cadence that makes his Spanish almost unrecognizable at times.

Yankee's rap camouflages in his lyrics, which the wicked wit and schooled artfulness of, say, the young duo Calle 13. But while newer acts test the limits of decency with depravity and foul language, Yankee stakes out high moral ground with unabashed thanks to God for his survival and his success. That spirituality coexists with his barrio bravado in autobiographical tunes such as "Soy Lo Que Soy" and "Coraza Divina."

In the end, Yankee takes on critics and gossipy reporters in the sarcastic, Fresh Prince-styled "Todos Quieren A Raymond" (Everybody Loves Raymond). The title is a play on his real name, which he uses to sign off: "Tell me what the devil I can do if there are bad people/ Just go on being me, Ramon Ayala." (Dime que rayos puedo hacer yo si hay gente mala/ Solamente seguir siendo yo, Ramon Ayala.)


This cd is basically the #1 Prime example for popping this in a Car stereo, Or of course in party's which will get everybody out of their Chair's And Hallucinate while dancing to "El Cartel".

I have been listening to this genre since the begining on 1992 out of the "marquesinas" when it used to be called "underground" and artist such as Vico C, DJ Playero, DJ Adam and The Noise were out there selling Casette Tapes. This genre have progress since then, what used to be a form of a bunch of friends hanging out have transform to what we listen on this CD, just like evolution adapt an overcome this genre have adapted to the times. The tracks on this album have different beats that we are not used too in this genre, DY came out fresh adapting his style and this genre to a whole new level. Themes like "Bring it on","Papi Lover", "Plane to P.R." are on a whole new level in this game targeting U.S. audiences. Themes like "El Jefe" brings a new twist to the Genre. If you expect to dance to the rythm of "Dem Bow" you might as well hang it and dont buy the CD, if you were expecting "Gasolina 2" hang it because thats yesterday's news, today's news and tomorrow's will be different. I highly recommend this Album because it means a change in the Genre that in some articles it's been said that people are getting ready for its funeral, hang your Suits people because just like RAP and HIP HOP this genre is here to Stay.

Daddy Yankee has done it again. I have not been able to quit listening to this cd since I recieved it. The music is infectious.

I've spent the last 3 days listening to El Cartel: The Big Boss, and I'm happy to report that Daddy Yankee's latest is actually very good. Back track- I picked up Barrio Fino about this time in '05, and truthfully, it took about 3 months to grow on me. Since then, however, it's become one of my all-time favorite CDs, and I still enjoy listening to it. Fast forward- The Big Boss grew on me in about three minutes. What I especially like about the tracks on The Big Boss is the skillful way that DY experiments sound but somehow manages to stay true to his reggaeton roots. The CD doesn't try to be too hip hop and seems to be tailored to an "American" audience without pandering. I found the blend of English and Spanish languages well thought out, playful, and pleasant. When I hit [REPEAT]- Bring it On, Papi Lover, Plane to P.R., Impacto (sin Fergie), and Me Quedaria. Anyway, as some would say "it's Daddy Yankee, so you know it's going to be good!"

El Cartel is a hot cd. It has a different flavor of reggaeton that makes you want to dance endlessly. Impacto of course is the most bangin' track on the cd. Some of the tracks are in English, which allows the non Spanish speaking audience the opportunity to truly appreciate this genre of music and Daddy Yankee's extreme talent. As Daddy Yankee says the King is back!

Excellent, just excellent. This is a new age of Reggaeton.
Almost every song is brilliant with right words.
Hope You gonna like it like I do.

if you like heavy Bass coupled to a fantastic background melody then this CD is for you. There is hardly any filler material at all; pure USDA choice music. ENERGY is crammed into every groove....

Get Ready Ladies and gentleman to a whole nother round of beef between Don Omar and "DY". I've waited patiently for this album and came out to be decent, but right off the bat you kno Daddy is lookin for fire and adds more wood with his first Track "Jefe." That Track has such a powerful beat and a lyrical stance sayin he aint goin nowhere, that he is the KING. His cockiness flows all ova the track, but thats what shows he still has it at battling and defending himself.

Alot of tracks on this album catch me production wise, more then lyrically. Reason being, Daddy Yankee is still the same with his quick lyrics on some tracks, which is fine, but much harder to understand now. He seems to stress his accent more and takes pauses before the next word which is annoyin sometimes but like i said the production makes up for it. Example, "En Sus Marcas Listos Fuera" is quick paced like some of his olda tracks with a ridiculous beat that will surely get the parties pumpin. It has such a catchy beat but tryin to hear da words is a struggle. Track 3, "Cambio", another catchy party pumpin beat talkin about people in da club and him cambiando da females. Now the Hottest Reggaeton track here is Fuera De Control, its an infectious beat that gets you perrando to death with a female/male and talks about this shorty who is like no other, who is FUERA DE CONTROL. Now the Lead Single Impacto and its remix are without a doubt infectious tracks dat get you pumped up, but dis is better lyrically cuz he is quick and you understand him more. "Ella Me Levanto" has a hard beat and describes about a shorty dat played him but the next came up and lifted his up world up, strong song without a doubt. "El Celular" has such a decent hip hop beat with a crazy electronic beat that has a tiny trance like flow in da back. He Flows perfectly with this beat and elevates it with his lyrics, its about him callin a shorty, but wats up, her number is disconnected. A song wit a beautiful hip hop beat is "Me Quedaria" whis is more a political in its lyrical content and shows his discontent for somethings, including our immigration problem ova here in da U.S.....ESTAMOS UNIDOS O DIVIDIDOS. Da best hip hop track shows he still has lyrics up his sleave and dats "Todos Quieren a Raymond" which he talks about everyone talkin shit about him but he loves them cuz the talk helps him. It gave him fire for this track.

Daddy Yankee tries to keep dis album solo, to show his lyrical superiority by himself, but Latin hip hop/reggaeton is not about that now a days and often times it hurts the album. I just wished there were other star artist like Wisin & Yandel, Franco "El Gorilla", Rakim & Ken-Y, Tito "El Bambino". I seemed to get this aura from him like its an honor for you to be on his album and you aint worth it right now. This is totally a horrible stance to take in reggaeton it reminds me of 50 cent and dats bad. He has graced everyone elses albums just to prepare himself and get everybody edgy for his album but he lacks collabs. His collab with Akon on "Bring it On" was truely off da hook and more hip hop. Once again the production is top notch on dis track. Impacto with Fergie more commercial in nature, and da one with Nicole in "Papi Lover" is more for da girls if they even like it. The Hottest Collab is with Hector "El Father" called "Tension", and dey both together put people in tense mood, i would like to truely see more collabs with these two....it has a reggaeton and hip hop type flow. Another good Collab was wit Will.I.Am on "Plane to P.R.", its easy to understand and off da hook to bump, trust me.

The overall Feel of this album was excellent for a mostly solo effort, and it hit superbly production wise, considering Scott Storch on a few tracks, but he needed some more of our P.R. DJ's on dis album i think tracks would have been hotter. I left out some tracks cuz they stand ok on their own and its everyones opinion for dis album. Collaborations were too few and 2 of them didnt really need to be on dis album, it lacked some great all stars. This is why i give it 4 out of 5 stars. Honest and true to da core from a fellow Yankee Fan. Lets see if beefs rise and burn harder

I am a Daddy Yankee fan, and considering the region of the country that I live in I will probaly never see him in concert unless I specifically travel to New York. So when I saw there was a dvd of MTV's $2 dollar bill concert, I purchased this cd/dvd. The interview was good, it was in English, and the concert footage was enjoyable, but I pulled up the concert on youtube and there were some highlights of this concert that I wish were included on this dvd. For example, a violinist played while he sang "Corazones", and I liked " Lo que paso paso". These highlights were not included and I wish they were. The dvd was only about 33 minutes long, I wish it were longer, but I was happy with the dvd. I already had most of the music from the cd, so I did not listen to the cd, he has other music that I like better than this cd. All in all, I liked it.

I enjoyed listening to this cd because of it's fun energy. The collaborating entertainers featured, helped it's flow. DY provides listeners with varying rythms and melodies; and, by listening to the lyrics, the listener hears how much DY enjoys making music.