Bad Bunny - X 100PRE

Bad Bunny
X 100PRE
2018
Spotify

You may think you haven't heard Bad Bunny, but if you have listened to the radio for more than a few minutes or listened to a new music playlist you most certainly have. The Puerto Rican rapper has been making his way through smash feature after smash feature for the past couple of years, bringing Latin music to whole new heights. While his contemporaries and countrymen often rely solely on Reggaeton or something of the like Bad Bunny has manged to delve into other more diverse musical influences. His biggest feature came on a collaboration with Cardi B called "I Like It" which sampled "I Like it Like That" as well as a collaboration with Drake called "M.I.A." which makes it to this album. First thing you need to get over here is the Spanish. The vast majority of the record is sung in Spanish, which is fine, but rarely has the ability to truly breakthrough to American audiences. "Despacito" was almost an anomoly with how massive it was, Spanish language records always tend to drag behind English records. Bad Bunny however manages to transcend those constraints. His vocal ability propels his trap game to incredible levels, worming his way in and out of tracks. He also shirks genre stereotypes bouncing between trap, hip hop, R&B and pop with effortless skill. "Otra Noche en Miami" starts off as this dark syrupy track but then shifts into an almost dark electropop sort of sound. It feels like the sound that The Weeknd was trying to get to on Starboy but never quite made it.

Bad Bunny feels like the next in a long line of R&B guys to rise to prominence from the outside. It seems like every four or five years we get a new one which is too sexual or too hot for TV and the world goes nuts for them for awhile. It doesn't mean that Bad Bunny is bad, it just means that He is the next in a long tradition of hit makers following a similar path. It's not old sunshine and roses on this album though. "Cuando Perriabas" is so annoying repetitive and one of the most on the nose pop trap songs on the record. When Bad Bunny is doing something off the wall, or slightly different from the rest of the guys in the space is when He is really successful it's when He tries to fall in line that things don't go so well. He needs that slight edge, not just what He can get on the radio. However Bad Bunny's approach has been nothing short of amazing, this is his debut record and He is already one of the most streamed artists on Spotify. That doesn't just come out of no where and He is proving that with X 100PRE.

8.0 out of 10