Hector Bambino "El Father" - Rompe Discotekas (CD)

All Music Guide

There were a lot of reggaeton releases in 2006, yet few were as curious and promising as Los Rompe Discotekas, a mixtapelike album presented by Hector Bambino "El Father" and Roc la Familia. The latter is indeed a Latino branch of RocaFella, the longtime powerhouse label headed by JayZ that splintered when he became president of Def Jam. This seemed to be a power move of many major urban labels in 2006 get a piece of the reggaeton market, quickly with, for example, Diddy branching off Bad Boy into the exploding Latino sector as well (or at least announcing that he planned to do so). It's easy to view such moves cynically, as businessonly practices that care just about the resulting return on investment, not the actual music and the cultural aspects being appropriated. Well, one listen to Los Rompe Discotekas dashes such cynicism in this instance. Even if it is the product of The Island Def Jam Music Group, one of the largest conglomerates in the industry, Los Rompe Discotekas is an outstanding reggaeton release, without question one of the best of the year. It'd be interesting to learn how much involvement JayZ had in this project beyond his phonedin hook for the lead single, "Here We Go Yo" (where he's billed as el Presidente). He's not credited as executive producer (that would be Juan Perez), so it's plausible he and his people wisely kept their hands out of this project, letting the reggaeton guys have full creative control. Hector Bambino has the lead role as host, but he's featured in less than a halfdozen of the 15 tracks. So Los Rompe Discotekas essentially plays like a mixtape, with various artists getting a track to shine, among them such major players as Wisin Yandel, Alexis Fido, and Don Omar. The production is split almost entirely between Mekka and the Luny Tunes collective. Englishlanguage features by Fat Joe, Memphis Bleek, and Freeway are quite effective. There aren't any true standout tracks; each is firstrate by 2006 standards, and the highlights tend to be those featuring the more prominent names. Lastly, it's worth mentioning that this album unlike the similar Luny Tunes albums runs only 53 minutes, which for a change is refreshing, as this music is mighty intense, with its fast tempo and relentlessly hardhitting beats.

- Jason Birchmeier, All Music Guide