Pitbull - I Am Armando - Rap / Hip-Hop - CD

Pitbullￃﾢ￢ﾂﾬ￢ﾄﾢs 2010 Spanish-language album Armando arrived four years after it was originally promised, but itￃﾢ￢ﾂﾬ￢ﾄﾢs so cool, loose, natural, and cohesive, it feels like it came together over one hot Miami summer. After the forced moments of his 2009 album, Rebelution, thatￃﾢ￢ﾂﾬ￢ﾄﾢs a very good thing. This well-built effort retains that albumￃﾢ￢ﾂﾬ￢ﾄﾢs love of club-worthy, pop-rap singles (here, itￃﾢ￢ﾂﾬ￢ﾄﾢs the good-timing, Lil Jon team-up ￃﾢ￢ﾂﾬￅﾓWatagatapitusberryￃﾢ￢ﾂﾬￂﾝ and the instant floor-filler ￃﾢ￢ﾂﾬￅﾓBon, Bonￃﾢ￢ﾂﾬￂﾝ) and then adds casual, secondary material that plays up the manￃﾢ￢ﾂﾬ￢ﾄﾢs charismatic sense of humor (check out the minimal stunner ￃﾢ￢ﾂﾬￅﾓAmorosaￃﾢ￢ﾂﾬￂﾝ or how ￃﾢ￢ﾂﾬￅﾓMujeresￃﾢ￢ﾂﾬￂﾝ messes with the Beastie Boys classic ￃﾢ￢ﾂﾬￅﾓGirlsￃﾢ￢ﾂﾬￂﾝ). Highlights ￃﾢ￢ﾂﾬￅﾓMaldito Alcoholￃﾢ￢ﾂﾬￂﾝ and ￃﾢ￢ﾂﾬￅﾓEsta Nocheￃﾢ￢ﾂﾬￂﾝ are somewhere in between while his modern take on the Cuban classic ￃﾢ￢ﾂﾬￅﾓGuantanameraￃﾢ￢ﾂﾬￂﾝ is an unusual mix of respectful and cocky. It all works splendidly, and in the end, the album Pitbull named after his father ends up one of his best, language barrier or not. [In 2012, Sony released a "reloaded" version of Armando titled I Am Armando. This version featured two new tracks, "Crazy People" and "Echa Pa'lla (Manos Pa'rriba)," along with a bonus DVD featuring five music videos.] ~ David Jeffries, Rovi