Multiviral

Multiviral

Kicking off their career with hungry and hedonistic club hits, Puerto Rican hip-hop duo Calle 13 have been blowing up expectations with each successive album, but MultiViral ups the ante. Here the political commentary and the genre-jumping which came to the forefront on 2010's Entren Los Que Quieran remains in place, but there's a sense of earned artistic freedom throughout the album, one that allows the group to slowly stroll up to "El Aguante," the album's first hook-filled cut, which doesn't arrive 'til the track counter reads "4." Early on in the Calle 13 discography, that would have felt like drudgery, but now, lead singer Residente is more compelling and in command, excelling on free-form songs like "Respira el Momento". -David Jeffries