The Weekly Coos

El Alfa—the self-proclaimed king of Dembow—returns with another album, El Rey Del Dembow, that continues to push his reigning narrative, even when it teeters via unique choices in features that do little to elevate the floor and cause disappointment. Though it stems from curiosity, the disappointment lingers from lackluster verses, like Rick Ross on “Comun Burro,” where he’s a glorified hypeman. Fortunately, El Rey Del Dembow has enough quality that its inane influx of features isn’t much of a hindrance, despite showing a reliance on it as you truly only get two solo Alfa tracks, while the other artists—predominately Latin—understand the flow and patterns coming from the dembow and reggaeton, so when you have De La Ghetto or Wisin spitting fire instead of a Pop Smoke glorified introduction, you start to notice an imbalance. It’s similar to others, as you hear El Alfa attempting other genres besides Dembow and having them assimilate. He’s weaving constructs of Latin influence, like his side steps into corridos, and influence from the current wave of Hip-Hop, bridging nuances to Trap music; unfortunately, it’s still overlong, making it a slight chore, but at least there is some quality to return to.

El Rey Del Dembow opens on a high note with the gothic and synth-heavy Rap-Trap “DYTA May” that sees El Alfa flexing fluidly without missing a beat—unfortunately, it’s short-lived as what comes after teeters stronger than two kids on a seesaw. For the most part, there is minor fault coming from El Alfa, comparatively, as these are his constructs; however, having the modus operandi of the title, one would have expected more beats like “Apuesta A Mi,” which sees El Alfa working to his strengths exponentially as a solo artist. His flow and cadence switches between beat styles shine and become a reflection of what one gets from the songs on his side—that isn’t to say El Alfa can’t falter, as sometimes he does fall through the cracks and loses you with something more derivative like “Doggy Doggy,” where the beat isn’t as creative or loose, instead stonewalled by a simplistic drum pattern on the base. It’s the same with “Aqui Ta Smoke,” which comes off as this hapless hybrid between Drill and Dembow without doing anything interesting with it.

It isn’t like “El Safari Y Lo Teteo,” which goes off to embellish the dance floor with a production that oozes the intense rhythmic flow that comes from the vibes and each artist gives this descriptive visual of themselves within this massive party setting, flexing their approach to arriving and excess on their body. It has this luscious bravado that harmonizes and syncs beautifully with the sounds getting entwined and focused like when El Alfa incorporates more Hip-Hop sonic anecdotes into his music like the kineticism of “DYTA May” or the entrancing New York Trap laced “You The Vibe,” which sees El Alfa playing to the elevated strengths of A$AP Ferg, who’s vocals are amplified to bring the fun. Much of the greatness that comes from El Rey Del Dembow is in the second half, where its feature-heavy road has more consistency, considering after the song “Doggy Doggy,” it’s a smooth finesse from “Te Llenaste” to “Terikiki,” where even some of its simpler Dembow drum patterns never feel like it needs to amplify itself much to give us something more concise. With “La Gringa,” you got this fantastic posse cut that sees Lil Jon entrenching himself and feeling connected to the Dembow with his Crunk-influenced hype.

El Rey Del Dembow is produced by four different producers, giving it a sense of identity track-by-track as it finds ways to establish itself within the fray, even if it teeters through mediocrity. For example, in “Comun Burro,” the beat feels wasted as Rick Ross tries to act cheeky and fun—while some would have preferred a verse that at least has a semblance for trying, you get something yawn-inducing. One of the definitive highlights comes from the song “Plebada,” a Hip-Hop, Dembow, and Latin-Pop combination that does well in having these different influences connect and deliver something fun and radiant as they flex and talk about how good the weed they bring. Unfortunately, some of the better features come in the second half, especially when these various styles combine to make something rhythmically dynamic— including tracks “La Gringa,” “Paleta Pa Tu Mundo,” “Martillando,” and “Rico Feo,” which additionally have intriguing production that sounds different from the norm, giving fans something fresh to get through the length of the album.

Like most mainstream Latin rappers—and genre-adjacent singer-songwriters—is the tradition of long albums that usually get filled to the brim with bangers. El Rey Del Dembow is close to being that; unfortunately, it’s rockier than expected, considering this disappointing feeling that its abundance of features takes away from what could have been more of a statement. If El Alfa went about this more solo, like what Jeezy did last week, maybe there could have been something tighter and more direct that would establish this sense of dominance and pride. But with what you get, there is enough to love, even if it isn’t perfect. Hell, I was one to enjoy much of it, especially in the second half. It’s still one helluva ride that boasts the stereotypical tendencies for these long-form Urbano Latino albums and, like them, at least many bops.