3 A 0 / L Kmii

In Cuba no one escapes the distribution. Even those who avoid it inevitably end up having to pay their share at some point. Like it or not. It is what it is. 

In December 2022 L Kimii (formerly known as El Kimiko), one of the tough guys of the genre, released his second album. At the time I listened to it, not as an unabridged phonogram, but as single, stand-alone tracks. Walking around. By the neighbor who obliged me. At the party that was activated by the cast. Because I wanted to. I don't know. I listened to it, just like that.

L Kimii crowned and released an album to make his success clear to all of us. He had to tell the world that he was pasted and continues glue in Cuba or out of it, alone or accompanied, with or without a manager; I thought back then.

3 A 0his second phonogram The solo album, released last December 24 and produced by DJ Conds, doesn't leave much room for doubt, its name itself denotes it: 3 to 0, victory assured. It could perfectly be the typical phrase "I'm your dad"; "respect the elders" or a more classic "I'm the best at this". In any case, nothing new.

In his nets, he then said that 3 is the number of Elegguá and of luck. A, the first letter of the alphabet (very much associated also with being the number one), the initial of his godfather's name and his own. "A for love," he also said.

After three months, I am ready to put my head into the disc. After all, I can't (and don't want to) escape from my immediate reality, of which the cast is undoubtedly a part. 

I begin, then, the inverse exercise of listening.

The first thing you find in 3 A 0 is a cover with a very close-up profile shot of L Kimii and a red background with silver glitter, a la undergroundPleasant or unpleasant to the eye? It doesn't matter. It is totally coherent with what he is, with the discourse of his album and with his artistic projection.

From the intro to Candy —closing track of the album— In 36 minutes, the author goes through the romantic type, to whom "El Niño, el bobo" comes out; then, the scorned guy with a bad temper and good luck by a "damned" one who knows what to do with his little life; And so, in 12 tracks without an apparent common thread, he opens and closes the same cycle, over and over again...

I play and finish listening to it again. Truth be told, I don't decipher what he wants to say or where he wants to take us with this apparent loop between the best, the hot in love and the hurt, but as it almost always happens to me with the cast, I enjoy the process of listening to it without thinking too much. 

You dive in and realize that he literally does whatever he wants in his themes. You start listening to one and, without any modulation, he changes from one tone to another, maintaining the effective harmony of the cast. The same goes for his lyrics. He will say that one is no one to question it. 

From No Fear of Success  —his first solo album— a 3 A OOsniel wants to avoid being boring and is trying (sometimes with more success than others) how to achieve it. On this occasion, he bets on reggaeton, pop and delivery. The artist is so focused that if I take another month to publish the review, he will release a new album.

From 3 A 0 To date, he has released three singles: The Requirements ft. The Jackal; The piece of your piece and Los Descaros ft. El Charly; all accompanied by an audiovisual proposal. In other words: the guy is on. The problem? There are many others just as focused.

The list of contributors includes William The Magnificent (Pipipi), Alexander Delgado (Damn) and El Taiger (Candy). The first of them seems to be trying to get out of the shadow in which he has been for years, and he moderately succeeds. Personally, his reiterative Pipipi in the topic brings me back to 2010-2011 with its famous tururu, play me the flute; the same resource exploited again, but now less functional.

Damn is the theme he shares with Alexander; featuring from which more promotion and better reception could have been expected. It was not, because although Gente de Zona is a group that is supposed to be of international stature, they are on a downward curve and they even collaborate with their aunt; besides, the song itself does not merit it.  

With CandyHowever, the opposite is true: it was the first strong step of the album, even before its release. Since May 2022, it was already being listened to on El Taiger's live streams, and in the first days of November it was on the street. Of course, now José Manuel Carvajal is not a cameo as in the videoclip of False Profilesbut an elemental factor in the production, image and promotion of the single and the DJ Conds label. His appearance is not surprising either: Taiger always gets on the train, last or first, but he sneaks in. 

Regardless of that, the song meets the requirements for simple catchiness: short and catchy chorus, and typical video with close-ups of the artists, polished with crayon editing.  

Generally speaking, the phonogram contains the same codes as the cast: its attempt at a romantic tone that ends in the sexual (the woman down there tastes sweet) the same mentions of clothing brands, the more expensive the better, along with repeated references to the talent and blessings that cross the path of the deliverymen.

Codes are repeated, so what? The record doesn't stop being worse or better for that. Neither do we as a society... I keep listening.

3 A 0their best album? I don't think so. Today, maybe. Tomorrow when he releases another one... we'll see. In the meantime, one thing is clear to me: whatever you think of him, L Kimii will always have the same answer: let them talk, let them say, my friend, I am not a jimagua. Oil. Water.

It's over.