Not too many albums can honestly say they shake up the way that people view their music, but Daddy Yankee's 2004 release of Barrio Fino is one that just might. It's certainly the album that moved the genre of reggaeton from an often overlooked musical style of Puerto Rican barrios onto the dance floors of every big Latin American disco while knocking every other latin music album of the last year out of whatever lofty sales position it might have held on whatever chart you might be scanning (I always like using Billboard charts as the industry benchmark, and this album has been number 1 on Billboard's Top Latin Albums list for most of the past year).

That number 1 slot is usually dominated by much more pop-oriented artists, and that's definitely not where Daddy Yankee comes from...


Daddy Yankee's Roots...
His homies might call him "Daddy Yankee", but his mama named him Ramon Ayala (not to be confused with the king of the norteņa accordian), back when he when made his first debut in his home town of Rio Piedras Puerto Rico back in 1977.

Young dude. Makes sense that he's at the cutting edge of a young musical style.

Reggaeton hasn't been around that long, and there's not that many artists doing it. It's a fusion style, based on the steady, deep bass and percussions sound of reggae, with the sing-song rhyming of hip-hop, but done in Spanish with a heavy dash of salsa or merengue spin and speed and style. The result plays to a young urban latino crowd, hungry for a dynamic, fast-paced, highly danceable, high-energy sound. That's reggaeton! And that's Daddy Yankee...

So, without further ado, let's slide Barrio Fino into the CD changer and spin it up...


Bold and Big...
As popular as Barrio Fino might be, it really boils down to one absolutely standout blockbuster club hit....the single Gasolina. I don't understand why this hasn't been on the U.S. singles charts, since it's played out the ying-yang in every latin disco in the world and it dominates the latin music video airplay lists.

At it's heart, it works through repetition ad nauseum. Within a couple minutes of hearing the song for the first time, you find yourself chanting the refrain, "Dame mas gasolina! Dame mas gasolina." In fact, I'm not even sure the song has any lyrics or message deeper than that. People love this song, it's a pop hit wonder.

When I listen to it though, it reminds me a lot of 2002's big hit Asereje from Spain's girl-group, Las Ketchup.

Unlike Las Hijas del Tomate, Daddy Yankee actually manages to do a great mega-hit, but then move on, change up, work in some new material, and mix things up for the rest of the album. Not a lot, but he does it. It's also got a seductive growling tone to it that purrs with suggestive inuendo.

Some of it's just the repetitive nature of reggae and by extension, of reggaeton, but you can't help but start to notice that more than one or two of the tracks on this disk sound an awful lot alike. Dale Caliente is a pretty slick, but softer kind of reggaeton, though it can't help but sound like it's based on Gasolina. Ditto with the insistently pulsating King Daddy, or the pinging and twangy sound that is No Me Dejes Solo.

No Me Dejes Solo sound a bit high-strung to me....with a tension that comes from too much tinny percussion effect on the keyboard ("tinny percussion" being something like the sound of light windchimes, or maybe a triangle). A lot of folks are going to like it because it features a guest appearance by Wisin y Yandel --- which gives it a wider range in the vocals department.

Artists seem to reach some point in their careers when they no longer content themselves with churning out more bubble-gum teen love songs (or in the case of Daddy Yankee, more songs about picking up sleazy women). In Salud y Vida, Daddy Yankee tries to say, "Hey! Look at me! I can be a serious minded artist too! (Really! Hey! I'm not kiddin' ya..." The song reflects on life on the "other" side of the tracks...it reflects on values of the people, and the attitudes that people form when they're dealing more with basic necessities to live than they are with worrying about how stylish their tennis shoes may be. Sound-wise, I like the pulsing horn sound that gives it its backbone.


Bottom Line...
Lots of latino artists have been playing with fusions on the U.S. black urban sounds of rap, hip-hop, and R&B, and quite a few others have played with big reggae influences (especially Panama's El General). But it's really reggaeton that's shaking things up and that's bringing together so many wildly different sounds in an explosion of energy and rhythm.

I'm not a big fan of reggaeton in general, nor of most of the styles on which it's based. I'm not even crazy about the prospect of having to endure 895 more times of listening to mega-hit Gasolina, but I know it's gonna happen. Fortunately though, most of Barrio Fino is a solidly constructed album that takes a solid medley of moods, themes, and influences and molds them into a cohesive album that is greater than the sum of its parts.

That's not to say it's a perfect album --- it's not. I don't care for the english-language Like You, I think the widi-widi of the intro and intermission tracks are pura basura, and I can't help but come away with the feeling that, at some level, Daddy Yankee is just one more young latino who really wishes he were born a poor black child in the Baltimore projects.

Overall though, I like the sound of Barrio Fino. I doubt reggaeton is ever going to be a musical style that drives my wheels, but stuff like this....well, I just wouldn't be tellin' it like it is if I didn't tell you that it's hot stuff (and if you can catch the video, do so --- it's chock full of babe-A-lish-ous latinas shakin' their money makers...oh yeah....


Cuttin' Tracks...
20 tracks....mas o menos....there's 21 listed on the jacket, minus the throwaway intro track and throwaway medio, plus the couple bonus tracks tacked on at the end....call it 20. Here's what you'll get for your hour and change of listening pleasure...

1. Intro
2. King Daddy
3. Dale Caliente
4. No Me Dejes Solo
5. Gasolina
6. Like You
7. El Muro
8. Lo Que Paso, Paso
9. Tu Principe
10. Cuentame
11. Santifica Tus Escapularios
12. Sabor a Melao
13. El Empuje
14. Que Vas a Hacer?
15. Salud y Vida
16. Intermedio "Gavilan"
17. Corazones
18. Golpe de Estado
19. Mujeres
20. Saber su Nombre
21. Outro




Recommended: Yes

Great Music to Play While: Exercising