El Enemy de los Guasíbiri / El Enemy de los Guasibiri

Tego Calderón's debut album, El Abayarde (2003), helped elevate him atop the Latin urban music scene. Calderón appealed to both the reggaeton and Latin rap crowds, as his music incorporated the best elements of both, and many fans waited impatiently to see how he'd follow up his impressive debut album. When he finally did so with El Enemy de los Guasíbiri in 2004, it wasn't exactly the album all those fans had hoped for. Sure, it's Tego through and through and there are numerous highlights here, but ultimately the 17-track, 52-minute El Enemy de los Guasíbiri is a hodgepodge, packaging a bunch of previously released material into what appears to be new product. A couple songs even had appeared on El Abayarde in alternate versions (the standout Luny Tunes productions "Güasa, Güasa" and "El Natural"). Yet, though the album may be a clearing-house in disguise, at least there is an abundance of highlights on El Enemy de los Guasíbiri, among them the aforementioned Luny Tunes productions (as well as another excellent Luny effort, "Baílalo Como Tu Quieras"), "Cosa Buena," the title track, "Sopa de Letra," and the Eddie Dee collabo "En Peligro de Extinción." On the other hand, there are some poor songs here as well, cluttering what could have been a solid, if slimmer, odds-and-ends collection.