Rating:
Genre:
Rap
Release Date: 08/29/2006
As the next-big-thing
reggaeton story line was repeatedly narrated throughout 2005 and 2006, detailing how the Puerto Rican musical style had quickly ascended to commercial prominence among Latinos, a certain conventional knowledge arose about who the figureheads were, namely
Daddy Yankee,
Don Omar, and
Tego Calderón. And so a horse race seemed to be taking place among these three, with
Omar even going so far as titling his 2006 album
King of Kings in acknowledgement. Such bravado is unsurprising, of course, given the deep influence of
hip-hop upon
reggaeton, but still, a certain segment of the swelling
reggaeton audience was put off by the cock-fight-like swaggering. Hence the widespread embrace and celebration of
Calle 13, a clownish duo that was a breath of fresh air for many, and also hence
The Underdog/El Subestimado,
Calderón's similarly refreshing sophomore album. (
Calderón's previous release,
El Enemy de los Guasíbiri [2004] was mostly comprised of stray recordings that predate his debut,
El Abayarde [2003].)
The Underdog/El Subestimado is refreshing because it eschews the boilerplate aspects of so much
reggaeton -- that is, the production style patented and mass-marketed by
Luny Tunes, and duplicated ad nauseam by lesser bandwagon-jumpers, to the point where this style became not just generic but a serious liability seized upon by critics who remarked over and over, "It all sounds the same!" Well, it doesn't all sound the same on
The Underdog/El Subestimado. This is an album that revels in its willingness to freewheel from
salsa and
dancehall to straight-up
rap in its earnest attempt to showcase a unique style of
reggaeton that is creative as well as rousing.
Calderón certainly plays an important role in this attempt, as his flow purposefully varies from track to track and his wry persona looms large over the album. His selection of producers is also key, as he works with relatively unknown beat-makers who stretch the boundaries of
reggaeton, coloring outside the lines. The end result is a polychromatic take on the style, one that demonstrates how creatively rich
reggaeton can be when artists are willing to take risks and move beyond the proven marketability of the
Luny Tunes template. Sure, much of the same could be said about
Omar's
King of Kings, released a few months earlier. Yet as bold as that album is at times, its adventurousness pales in comparison to the whimsy of
The Underdog/El Subestimado.
Omar and
Daddy Yankee may be
reggaeton's kingpins, competing for an intangible throne of respect and admiration among the masses of the
reggaeton nation, but with
The Underdog/El Subestimado,
Calderón, the style's other figurehead, abandons the horse race and trailblazes his own path, one that's considerably more interesting musically, and respectable in its own way.
~Jason Birchmeier, All Music Guide
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