Rating:
Genre:
Rap
Release Date: 05/11/2004
Fonovisa Records has never been known for putting out a lot of
hip-hop. Their primary focus has been regional Mexican music, which is a healthy niche to have because
banda,
Norteño,
Tejano, and
grupero are huge in Mexico and the southwestern United States. Nonetheless,
Fonovisa has dabbled in Spanish-language
rap on occasion, and
Puro Escandalo is a perfect example.
Fonovisa obviously wasn't trying to market this 2004 release to English-only audiences; about 90 percent of the lyrics are in Spanish, which isn't necessarily the commercial kiss of death that some non-Spanish-speaking hip-hoppers might think it is -- from Barcelona to Mexico City to Buenos Aires, plenty of MCs have earned their living by rapping exclusively in Spanish. The two Salvadoran brothers who comprise L.A.'s
Crooked Stilo bring a lot of West Coast influences to
Puro Escandalo, which is mindful of
Cypress Hill and
Funkdoobiest, as well as the more
pop-friendly
Mellow Man Ace. But
Cypress,
Funkdoobiest, and
Ace never recorded an album that was dominated by Spanish lyrics -- and even the Havana-born
Ace hasn't used
Latin rhythms quite as extensively as
Crooked Stilo uses them on this CD, which has a strong tropical influence and frequently incorporates Afro-Cuban
salsa as well as Colombian
cumbia. In the regional Mexican market that
Fonovisa ordinarily caters to,
cumbia mexicana (a Mexican interpretation of the Colombian
cumbia rhythm) is quite popular; however,
Crooked Stilo's use of
cumbia is much closer to the Colombian way of doing things. By 2004 standards,
Puro Escandalo isn't groundbreaking; the fusion of
rap and
Latin rhythms has been going on for a long time in the Spanish-speaking world. Nonetheless, this is a pleasing, respectable effort from the West Coast twosome, who remind us that
hip-hop doesn't have to be performed in English exclusively to be effective.
~Alex Henderson, All Music Guide
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