Blogs
  • Go! 3/7-3/9
    06:00PM 03/07/08
  • R.E.M. Accelerate: An Advance Review and Song-by-Song Analysis of the Band's New Album
    04:06AM 03/08/08
  • Your Weekly St. Louis Food Blog Digest
    03:45PM 03/07/08
  • This Is Hawkwind -- Do Not Panic
    06:08PM 11/09/07
Recent Articles

Recent Articles By Dan Leroy

National Features

  • Houston Press
    "It Was Like an Armageddon Movie"

    For days after Hurricane Rita, a Texas prison was hell on earth.

    By Chris Vogel
  • SF Weekly
    The Candidate

    Our columnist knows Ralph Nader's running mate all too well.

    By Matt Smith
  • The Pitch
    How Not To Be a Rap Star

    First of all, lay off the Ecstasy.

    By Nadia Pflaum
  • Village Voice
    Project Runaway

    What becomes a gossip columnist most?

    By Michael Musto

Three years after introducing the States to reggaeton via the smash "Gasolina," Daddy Yankee (aka Ramon Ayala) has a new joint venture with Interscope, marketing deals out the wazoo and an understanding that reggaeton's "La Macarena" soundalikes have worn out their welcome. But this doesn't mean El Cartel is as Americanized as many had predicted. The best moments here are the hip-hop-influenced duets with his labelmates: "Plane to P.R.," featuring will.i.am, and the vocoder-heavy single "Impacto," the remix of which pairs him with Fergie. But the bulk of this disc finds Daddy Yankee still spitting Spanglish declarations of Puerto Rican pride over an even harder-hitting hybrid of synthesized reggaeton. The rhymes, when decipherable, are more the work of a businessman than an artist. Yet the canny way Ayala handles this crossover proves he's not gonna stop until he's conquered the States.

Riverfront Times Insiders

  • Local food, music and news blasts
  • Free Stuff

Personal of the Day


More Personals >>
NOW CLICK THIS