Detail of the video clip Intro of the album Los Champions, by Yomil and El Dany. Photo: Jungl Yomil and El Dany / YouTube). Los Champions / Yomil y El Dany
I find goodbyes in almost all the verses of El Dany. From the first topic after the Intro. Maybe they are not even and they seem so to me because of all the mystery of their latest stories on Instagram. For those posts that appeared later where he played with death. But track after track, her voice leaves me with the feeling of watching a film for the second time, knowing the ending and looking for subliminal messages, deeper things that I didn't notice the first time.
Messages for his wife: "Promise me that you will be strong / that everything will be forever / that in good times and in bad you will be there"; to himself: "I don't know tomorrow if the world ends, but today I am going to be myself / I am going to live my way, without saying no"; for us: "Cry for what, may he do well alone / don't hurt yourself any more, don't continue loving him."
With these mediations in my head I feel The champions (Jungl Yomil and El Dany, 2020) as an early, mature album, an exercise in unity in that reggaeton world of ego and discord. And it also feels like a sad record.
In so many years together, Yomil and El Dany have reached such a degree of affinity that they do not seem like a duo, but rather a person who speaks for two. They surpassed the traditional reggaeton duo scheme, which has roles: a rapper & a melodic. And they broke the ordinary song design: rap-chorus-rap-chorus. You never predict where one is going to end and the other begins, or who is going to do the backing vocals and who is going to rap.
The going of "El más duro"
Raul Medina Orama20.07.2020Having achieved all this, his seventh record production is proof of his versatility: how to fit in, among so many styles, the flow of each and the flow that they form together. "The last thing we needed to demonstrate and convince." I emphasize this: 28 guests over almost an hour and a half: 24 songs where, as they say in the Intro, they let "an entire island and an entire institution know that Cuban reggaeton deserves respect."
The selection of featurings is precise: from the pioneers Eduardo Mora and Damián The Lion, from the group Eddy K, to Kímiko & Yordy, the latest morpha fashion.
would have been the real tour for the history of Cuban reggaeton if its precursors were not lacking: Candyman, El Médico, Cubanito 2002.
However, the tour is beautiful: the reference to King Elvis Manuel in Witchcraft; the figurations of almost all those who marked times: Baby Lores, El Micha, El Chacal, Jakarta, Osmani García, Señorita Dayana; the union of Damián and Norlam, who were part of Los 4; the participation, of those who now mark the show business: Diván, Chesco, Lenier, Alex Duvall.
The absence of Chocolate and Lobo King Dowa, those who invented the cast, is noticeable. And no, it is not compensated with El Úniko, nor with El Kamel, nor with Un Titico. The absence of Gente de Zona is noted.
It is admirable how Yomil and El Dany fit into the lyrical style of Insurrecto, Kola Loka's sarcasm, Yulién Oviedo's almost melodious R&B, and Harryson's street style. That proof of flow the one he was talking about.
Rhyme classes: "I spend all my time smoking all the weekend/ I have three putangas in speaker/ underwater like Flipper / let me know when Billboard I rated them/ when you went I came, this is counting the tickets”.
Perreo classes: "She puts the dembow/ rakatan, rakaton/ always high, never slow"
Constancy classes: “More he hates me, more work / more work, more I listen to myself / more I listen to myself, more income / we are hooked for that”.
Expedition at last, the disk passes through the dembow lifelong, morpha, a bit of trap, a bit of kudurazo. Co-productions by DJs Unic, Conds, Lucky, J. Cuban, Adriano, Gomeko. Based on that march that distinguishes them, traptón, with DJ Wongk behind the machines.
On August 19, a week before the premiere, Yomil announced that The champions had reached number one in pre-sales for the Latin market, above The Mavericks and Van Gogh's Ear. “I know that he [El Dany] is very happy because this is what we set out to do, and a large part of our dreams with this album have already been fulfilled,” El Nene wrote on Instagram.
Within hours of its release, the album debuted at number one on Apple Music. It reached the third position in sales in Spain, fourth in the United States and seventh in Italy. Also, according to VISTAR, entered the markets of Germany, Switzerland and France.
In these days where life is difficult and I am more time on the street looking for food than in quarantine, I find this album everywhere. In queues, on Wi-Fi, on the Internet, in any building. La partieron, Dany. Yomil and you are the most popular artist currently in all of Cuba. Rest knowing it.
Excellent description of the most visionary Yomil and El Dany
I always liked them and this album is amazing, I congratulate you, Dany DEP, you left a magnificent job
Excellent commentary on the album, very accurate. I still don't understand how in such a musical country what people listen to the most is what gets the least support from cultural institutions. It is said that if it is a chavacan genre, that if the lyrics say nothing..., then one would have to wonder why they like it so much, even after almost 20 years since reggaeton arrived in Cuba, it is still a bit marginalized. My respects to all these artists who have achieved in Cuba and internationally (with awards, sales and recognition) has been their own efforts. Cheers
Jesus, I was writing to you from Miami when you were in Granma. Write me.