Rauw Alejandro
Cosa Nuestra
SONY MUSIC LATIN
Named for innovative salsa vocalists/bandleaders Héctor Lavoe and Willie Colón’s 1969 album in dedication to the real-time immigrant street opera that was New York City as it approached the next decade, 21st century Puerto Rican vocalist and producer Rauw Alejandro, too, sounds primed for something romantically and rhythmically new yet soulfully nostalgic and warm. Then again, after last year’s futuristic Playa Saturno LP, anything would sound wistful and evocative of the past.
Still rich in charming urban popularism with a solid guest list aimed for the pop and Latin charts (Bad Bunny, Pharrell Williams, Feid, Alexis y Fido), Cosa Nuestra jumps quickly beyond Alejandro’s usual Puerto Rico–bound party ball sounds and trap-R&B into the sweet salsa romantica of his parents’ era with a remake of singer Frankie Ruiz’s “Tú Con Él.” The supple, hip-swerving funk of “Pasaporte” and the electro-infused merengue of “Mil Mujeres” are just modern enough to keep curious listeners guessing what the old days of Fania were like without wallowing in nostalgia.
Then comes the simmering sway of “Khé?” with Dominican vocalist Romeo Santos, the King of Bachata. This track is pure Angolan kizomba of the first degree, a social dance track that’s civil and elegant yet fragrantly sexy. Of all the moments of bolero, reggaetón, and even country that can be found rippling through the record, the kink of “Khé?” is rousingly unique. Add to this Alejandro’s need to create something conceptual in his lyrics’ storytelling—a telenovela coming-of-age tale about his family and their friends migrating to the Big Apple in the 1960s and ’70s—and Cosa Nuestra is as expansive and erudite as anything that his heroes Colón and Lavoe made back in the day.
