Adassa's Return

You might remember Adassa -- she was raised in St. Croix, the daughter of Colombian parents, had a single called "Kamasutra" that got some spins back in '05 (well, the remix with Pitbull did!!). Anyway, her debut Kamaxutra was, lackluster to say the least -- a damn shame considering that she could have filled a lane that was wide open. People have been clamoring for another female reggaeton star to follow in Ivy Queen's footsteps, and no one has yet to fill that role. Glory had success with "La Popola" but her project wasn't at all promoted properly. Adassa is young, beautiful, has sex appeal, and a pleasant voice. But here's the thing --- she was marketed incorrectly. She's an R&B singer who is influenced by other genres (dancehall and reggaeton being among them) and marketing her as a reggaeton star just made purists like myself raise their eyebrows, like HUH?

But really, what went wrong the first time around? Well, I have my suspicions... For one, the album was produced by her hubby -- not a good move. Two, homegirl was doing press runs dressed in like khakis and cardigans -- nothing about her said sexy or star (and let's face it -- if you got the looks in this biz, you better flaunt them). Three, she was being billed as a reggaeton artist but in reality, she was doing much more singing on the R&B tip than anything else... She wasn't really SPITTIN' at any point. Four, she isn't from PR and didn't grow up with reggaeton, and yes, it does matter when it comes to reggaeton. If you're not from the island or you haven't studied the genre, it will show in the execution. Five, the album was barely promoted (save some half-assed email blasts). Honestly, on a musical level, it was pretty disastrous.

So I was shocked to hear Adassa is coming back, that she has a new album in April, Adassa, out through Universal Latino. She has a much better press team behind her now and I was happy to see they described her as an R&B singer with many influences (FINALLY, some accuracy up in this piece!!) I was even more surprised when I heard the single (check it at http://www.arecards.com/adassa/) -- I don't care for the sappy hook but I must give her props for her flow on this track. She actually shows she does have some potential as a rapera, and she sounds HARD (a necessity). I must say, even coming in as a skeptic, some of my doubts were put to rest... The album featured Rakim y Ken-Y, Wayne Wonder, Mach and Daddy, and Lennox -- should be interesting....

Give me some feedback on her new single, "La Manera" --http://www.arecards.com/adassaemail/mailadassa.html

Hector El Father's "Sola" video

Here's the video for Hector's hit single "Sola," which has been tearing the charts up! This song is dope -- great lyrics courtesy of Wise, Hector sings and raps well, the beat is different, and it manages to be 'hood but passionate at the same time.

The video is a'ight. I'll give Hector props for always scouting out some dope locations... My dude doesn't like to use the same ol' tired-ass spots. BUT the main chick needs some acting lessons, like for real. A'ight so she's cute and has some of that Patricia Velasquez thing going on, but even the parts where she's supposed to be crying look fake as hell (and it seems extra strange that he's singing to her but she'd not seeing him at all -- I get the concept, but the execution is a little off).

The last scene in the cemetary freaks me out -- I get that he died because she withstood her man's abuse and the pain, in turn, killed him ("cada golpe que te da se me va la vida"), but the tombstone with his name on it? Nah man. Let's not start with that. Every time rappersplay with those images it turns into some weridly ominous thing, so let's not go there, reggaetoneros, ok?

Ivy Queen Pepsi Smash 2007

Sadly, everyone who tuned into the SuperBowl on VH1 missed this so, here goes.... The audio is wacktosi, but hey....

Tempo's "Desahogo" freestyle

I'm mad that they put the "Bandolero" intrumental on this because when I first saw this video, Tempo was freestyling off the dome... with no beat whatoever in the background. And honestly, the Bandolero instrumental kind of drowns him out. If you hear what he's talking about, it's crazy -- how he was arrested with no evidence, how it makes absolutely no sense for him to have been standing at a drug spot when he was already making millions, how they pointed to his gangsta lyrics as proof, etc. He pretty much sums it all up in the last two lines ("me arrestaron porque yo era rapero/me llamaba Tempo.")

The crazy ish about this is that this video was going to be part of Tempo's album, which was going to be distributed by UBO (before it mysteriously shut down). What will happen with the project now, who knows? Putting out an album by an artist that's doing a 20-year bid is hardly a sexy proposition to most labels. Dude can't go out and promote the album, he can't even go to a studio (the album was literally made of freestyles he recorded and which producers laid over tracks, adjusting the speed of the vocals to fit whatever beat they came up with). And you best believe that, unless something major happens as far as overturning the ridiculously wide-spanning federal conspiracy laws (and who is REALLY taking that challenge on right now? People were involved in the FREE TEMPO political campaign, but I'm sure they were getting hit off with some money...), Tempo ain't coming out anytime soon. As far as his album, it was finished and even the packaging was done (it was pretty amazing too -- shout out to Elastic People), but who knows what will happen to it now?

Caile Tito el Bambino en Guatemala www.elnukleo.com