Sunday, August 23, 2009

Defensa Personal Release Party


The release party of Correa Cotto's album was in La Respuesta (Santurce, Puerto Rico). It started at 1:00 am with Velcro in the turns. The first mc was Profound, from New York, who rapped in english and one song in spanish. He forgot the lyrics on one of his songs and the crowd did not respond after that. Next was The Kings of Mic, J'Rebu, Guajiro and Embajador, who rocked the stage with their energetic set. These puertorican hip hop pioneers were dressed in camuflage resembling their No Mel Syndicate days.

Correa Cotto was presenting every mc while Velcro was at the control putting the beats. Then came Babalú Machete from barrio La Marina in Isabela, Puerto Rico (West Side). A veteran of the local scene sang his gangsta-rap hits "Gángsters de Borinken" and "Cosa de Borikua", as well as some english tunes from the Infinite Clip recordings. This mc can truly flow in both languages perfectly and the crowd was singing along excited. Definitely the highlight of the show.

The west side invasion continued with Mayaguez/Añasco's own, Desde el Campo. Only 2/3 of the group came on stage but rapped very tight. They began with their hit "Me Gusta" and followed with "Puerto Rico", "No creo en promesas", featuring Shaggy from Absoluto Independiente, among others. In their set, they invited a spoken word guy who recited a poem. The set ended with a freestyle/improv by the two mc's, Fico and Souldier.

It was quite late and we left without seeing the remaining acts (Velcro, Nébula and Correa Cotto) that we have seen in other occasions. Very good show but it began rather late for my taste.

Pictures vía Hip Hop Boricua Blogspot.com

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