Barrio Fino (CD - 2004)

Already well established in the reggaetón underground, with roughly a decade of street-level experience under his belt, Daddy Yankee broke into the Latin mainstream big time with Barrio Fino. The first reggaetón album to reach number one on the Billboard Top Latin Albums chart, Barrio Fino covers all the bases over the course of 21 tracks, from all-star collaborations ("No Me Dejes Solo," with Wisin & Yandel; "Tu Principe," Zion & Lennox; "Sabor a Melao," Andy Montañez) to English-language crossover ("Like You") to empowering political rap ("Corazones"). Daddy Yankee works chiefly with two production teams -- Luny Tunes and the trio of Monserrate, Fido, and DJ Urba -- though there are also contributions from Eliel, DJ Nelson, Echo & Diesel, and Nely. The Luny Tunes collaborations pay the most dividends, with "Gasolina" and "Lo Que Pasó, Pasó" standing tall as album highlights. Other highlights include "Dale Caliente," "No Me Dejes Solo," "Tu Principe," and "Que Vas a Hacer?" Actually, the first half of Barrio Fino is remarkably solid. Only toward the final quarter of the album sequence do the songs begin to grow tiresome. This is partly because Barrio Fino is so long -- had a half-dozen songs been trimmed from the running length, it would be a non-stop highlight reel. Daddy Yankee deserves a lot of credit for the success of Barrio Fino, for his charisma, energy level, and command of the proceedings are well evident and often infectious. But also credit the producers -- especially Luny Tunes, who turned this album into a showcase of their hitmaking prowess -- and Glory, who sings several of the best hooks and serves as Daddy's sultry female counterpoint. Everyone plays his or her role on Barrio Fino, which, along with Don Omar's The Last Don (2003), is a milestone reggaetón release for its time. ~ Jason Birchmeier

Daddy Yankee is one of the leading proponents of reggaeton music, a style that, though often misidentified as a reggae sub-genre, is actually a hybrid form of Puerto Rican hip-hop heavily influenced by dancehall, techno, merengue, and salsa. BARRIO FINO (which translates literally as "fine neighborhood") is one of the first full-length, non-compilation reggaeton releases to make a national splash on the Billboard charts, despite reports that, in New York City, bootlegged versions of the album sold over 100,000 copies prior to the disc's official street date.

Daddy Yankee's brand of reggaeton is brash, aggressive, and exciting, fusing non-stop pumping club rhythms with snarling, rapid-fire rapping reminiscent of Cypress Hill. The record's sound reflects the harsh, uncompromising reality of ghetto life in both the Bronx and San Juan with mechanical-sounding synths and throbbing, industrial-style bass lines. Not content to stick with his signature sound, Daddy Yankee also branches out into crossover territory, singing romantic sweet nothings in English on "Like You," and sounding downright Dirty South on the G-funk-influenced "Santifica Tus Escapularios." minimize