Atlantic / Wea
2006
The Underdog/El Subestimado
About This Album
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 c**k-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.
Track List (try tracks 1,2,3,4,5,7,9,14,15,18 and 19)

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