Monday, August 17, 2009

Doble T y El Crok - Pepe Pepe... a big slap in the face to mainstream Reggaeton



A buddy of mine passed along this glorious carnal treat coming your way from DR. My immediate reaction was straight hyped off it. The track features a slew of dem bow beats tossed to you one after the other, along with two choruses, different styles of flows and quick cuts between flows, which makes this mad energetic.

The video reminds me of SOO many videos of urban genres in their growth stages. Its a cheap production of the rappers sitting in an obviously stationary vehicle as they rap to you from their driver side window, there is the singular girl being shot from different angles... very unlike big budget vids where about 20 choreographed girls are there for your visual pleasure, there is also the group-posse-in-the-city-shots where the crowds of people gather round dancing to the track in front graffiti walls and blurred urban backdrops. The silliness of the song and the style reminded me of old Fresh Prince, Vanilla Ice, Wrecks n EFX type 80's jam tracks... total low budget bliss!!

The very best is how it pretty much, to me, slaps mainstream Reggaeton in the face... ahhh, there once was a time where Reggaeton was indeed Hip Hop circa 87, with MCs coming from different timbres, angles, and attitudes, where the beats sounded fresh and interesting, and there was some definite boundary pushing that was grounded and certified in true ghetto-street validation. This song brings back
humor, dem bow beats, and sexuality that Reggaeton was cool for back in the day.Nowadays, I turn on the radio and watch the TV stations and I see little pretty-boys singing pop hooks and looking oh-so stupid... commercially designed for guest-appearances, getting laid, teenage privileged kids, and posing.

"Pepe" throws me back to the carnal, sexual, degenerate nastiness that was embedded with most urban genres at their rise, but coupled with a clever humor and energy that balanced it out. Tracks like this making it a big double-entendre (sp?) or doble-sentido that is oh so sinister.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

so true you dont see this anymore in videos!