For an artist who debuted less than four years ago in a largely uncharted genre, Miami's Pitbull has turned out an impressive number of bilingual hits. His saucy, up tempo party anthems Culo, Toma and Dammit Man helped his first record, M.I.A.M.I. (Money is a Major Issue), reach the top 15 on the Billboard 200 chart in 2004. Guest appearances on the Ying Yang Twins' Shake and Twista's Hit The Floor, along with his instant classic Ay Chico, from last year's adventurous El Mariel, kept the charismatic Cuban-American rapper from falling into a sophomore slump.

But in hip hop – the new pop – you're only as good as your last hit. With his third album, The Boatlift, Pitbull, aka Armando Christian Pérez, is likely hoping to synthesize the frenzied energy and tongue-in-cheek politics of his first two offerings into a commercial blockbuster. Not that he's selling out. Hit single and lead track Go Girl, a strip club version of Justin Timberlake's SexyBack, earns the album a "Parental Advisory" label in its first 20 seconds. The party continues on Dukey Love, a spare, hypnotic club number featuring Trick Daddy and Fabo of D4L and Midnight, a crunked-out house jam tailor-made for hot, sweaty bodies, from South Beach to San Francisco.

The Boatlift hits a few bumps when Pitbull slows things down or revisits older material. The xylophone-driven I Don't See Em and "My Life" are solid if uninspiring raps. Despite a valiant effort from guest vocalist Lloyd and an outstandingly meta music video featuring Steven Bauer of Scarface and ¿Qué Pasa, USA?, the ballad Secret Admirer comes off like a mushy rehash of My Boo by the Ghost Town DJs. "Fuego (Remix)" is essentially unchanged from its appearance on El Mariel, save with new vocals by one of reggaetón's best-selling artists: Don Omar. A similar calculation may have prompted "Tell Me", a re-remix of Pitbull's earlier Dime by Rakim y Ken-Y, this time featuring Frankie J on vocals.

The album gets its groove back with two inspired tracks: Un Poquito featuring Young Berg is built improbably on a sliding synthtar line, afro-caribbean percussion and the lasting rap hook "take money, make money" while The Anthem, a show-stopper, updates Wilfrido Vargas' 80s merengue smash El Africano with Lil Jon on hype duties and the meaty sax riff from Rune's Calabria. Grooving to these irresistible concoctions, it's easy to understand Pit's claim that he's "too Latin for hip hop and too hip hop for Latins."

With more anthems like Ying & the Yang and Sticky Icky – both produced by Lil Jon – there's enough material on The Boatlift to make it another must-have Pitbull party record. Whether that's enough or even the right material to launch a successful invasion of the mainstream is unclear though Mr. 305 could be walking a fine line between being the guy with whom you really want to party with and the guy who desperately wants to keep partying with you. It's a question Pitbull himself addresses with the deft jab: "If you didn't come to dance, then what did you come for?"

If you're having second thoughts, maybe you're at the wrong club.

Rap has its crews, rock its bands. Reggaetón has duos. Wisin y Yandel, R.K.M. y Ken-Y and Héctor y Tito are just a few of the pairings that have made reggaetón one of the most successful new genres in years. But as sales decline, does reggaetón need a new "y" to stay alive? Alexis y Fido might think so and their new record, Sobrenatural (Supernatural), could be the jolt that keeps reggaetón moving forward.

Both 28 years old, Raul Ortiz (Alexis) and Joel Martinez (Fido) have outgrown the bravado that once inspired them to go by the name "Los Pitbulls." Like their predecessor Daddy Yankee, whose most recent album featured American stars like Fergie, Akon and will.i.am, the duo are open to experimentation. On the pounding "Intro (Si Me Matan)," Alexis y Fido declare themselves the "saviors" of reggaetón while dabbling in the synth tones of Dirty South.

But instead of lining up superstar guest acts or venturing far from their roots, "Los Reyes del Perreo" have chosen to take the best of reggaetón and make it their own. Combining Daddy Yankee's rapid-fire flows (Yo Se Lo Que Tu Das), Rakim y Ken-Y's romantikeo (Lento, Lento, Lento) and Tego Calderón's boom bap (Metele Mijo), Alexis y Fido have synthesized a "purer" reggaetón. The result is like a great piragua: a clear, crunchy base that improves whatever flavor it absorbs, be it bachata, merengue or hip hop.

On their hit single Soy Igual Que Tú, the duo lend an icy coolness to the romantic stylings of bachatero Toby Love. There's also balance in the album's lyrical content. The uptempo club jam 5 Letras tells a decidedly downtempo story: whispered late night propositions. Though the pair have taken to calling themselves "El Duo Sobrenatural," the album's title track isn't about their supernatural talents – it's a sobering tale of lost love. Only the closing track, "We Belong Together," featuring protégés Los Yetzons, feels like a misstep.

With their second album in as many years, Alexis y Fido are making a confident play for the future of reggaetón, betting that consistently infectious dance music is the key to the genre's future.

"Beautiful Girls," the summer anthem that laces Ben E. King's Stand By Me with suicidal fantasies, has made 17-year-old singer Sean Kingston an overnight sensation.

In fact, Kingston's rise to the top of the charts began not too long ago, when the Miami-native sent hundreds of messages to the MySpace account of J.R. Rotem, the multi-platinum producer of such talents as 50 Cent, Britney Spears, Destiny's Child and Rihanna. Eventually, Rotem heard one of Kingston's tracks and invited the then 17-year-old to Los Angeles for an audition. The meeting was more than fruitful: the once-homeless Kingston got a contract and Rotem, who had just launched his own label, Beluga Heights, got his first artist.

Lucky them. Last week, Kingston's candy-coated "Beautiful Girls" became the most downloaded track on iTunes and, most likely, the breakout hit of the summer. Released as the first single on his eponymous debut, the track's music, lyrics and video are an apparently welcome throwback to kinder if not quite gentler times.

Sung in a sweet Jamaican accent – Kingston and his troubled family spent many years in Jamaica – and propelled by a crisp snare beat, "Beautiful Girls" glides where other sample-heavy songs have plodded. (In an period where most riffs are driven home by razor-shaped synthesizers, the song's main melody is underlined with a xylophone.)

Despite the song's novelty, Kingston, who has sworn off on cursing, does not appear destined to be a one-hit wonder: the album's second single, Me Love is about to enter the same iTunes Top 10 chart. A more recognizably reggae pop number, "Me Love" is a boisterous, up-tempo love song with the drums mixed up and the guitars low.

Built on the Led Zeppelin classic D'yer Maker, the track zips along with a boyish chorus and lyrics that likens heartsickess to drowning
in the ocean. Kingston, who is the nephew of dancehall star Buju Banton and the grandson of legendary reggae producer Jack Ruby, is also producer Rotem's project for 2007 and the rest of the album, while unmistakably Jamaican in flavor, is entirely American in composition.

On There's Nothin', his duet with fellow child prodigy Paula DeAnda,
a strong piano line, string and flute fluorishes as well as a short rap are just a few of the standard R&B elements that make this a pleasant placeholder.

The cool club track "Take You There" features a sometimes breathless Kingston extending his hand to the ladies over synthesizers big and small and a tropical house beat. But the real banger is Got No Shorty, a crunchy, spare track with giant hand claps, a subtle organ hook and a cartoony vibe reminiscent of OutKast's Hey Ya.

Those who like their hip hop slower and seemingly meaner should enjoy "Drummer Boy" which has bombast aplenty even if the lyrics – "this ain't a movie and I ain't pretending" – are as innocent as on his love songs. As on other tracks, it's hard to fault Kingston for being naive when the music is so damn mature – in "Drummer Boy," a hypnotic organ line imitates the up-stroke beat of a reggae guitar and the vocal chorus deftly incorporates the Little Drummer Boy's "pa rum pum pum pum."

It's Kingston's "bilingualism," his ability to rap in American and sing in Jamaican, that makes "Kingston" – which happens to be the capital of Jamaica – a small surprise, especially if you're willing to suppose that Kingston the rapper's style might owe some of its cadences to Detroit's Eminem.

In a time when albums rarely sell half as well as singles, Kingston's debut album is likely to triumph. There's a half-dozen hot singles on Sean Kingston, meaning the summer of '07 will probably extend late into the fall – not because of global warming but because we'll be getting a steady trickle of his caribbean charm long after the leaves have fallen.

Like Avril Lavigne and Kelly Clarkson, Alejandra Ruiz, aka Pambo, excels at carefree anthems for pre-teens and anyone in the mood for puppy love. Along with fellow Mexicans Nikki Clan and Belinda, Pambo's brand of rock is unashamedly light and glossy which may belie both her musical potential and artistic intentions.

Recruited by Sony BMG while still a student at Mexico City's prestigious Fermatta Academy (the alma mater of Natalia Lafourcade and Joselo of Cafe Tacvba), Ruiz took her stage name from a slang term for tomboys. On her new debut, Poprocks, there's traces of both her pedigree and tough pose. Mostly, however, it's a collection of friendly melodies and gently played rock numbers.

Produced by the very successful Aureo Baqueiro, the album's full range is on display in the current single, Tras Nubes (Behind Clouds) where an acoustic guitar intro sets the stage for Ruiz' confident, casual singing – a sometimes raspy but always full-bodied pop voice. After an appropriately cheesy electric guitar solo over an organ bed, the track teases with a cascading drum and vocal break. But just when things get interesting it's back to basics for the big finish. Good times. (Fans of Motel's Dime Ven will recognize the structure – if not Baqueiro's fingerprints.)

On the remaining tracks, Pambo's similarities to Spanish superstars La 5a Estacion will likely help this first outing make the rounds while mature compositions like "Mejor Que Tú Mintiendo" and "Perdón" should put her on solid footing for the next round. Perhaps, by then, she'll be more than just another rocker who pops.

It's one of the ironies of history that Spain, which gave the world the Spanish language, to say the least, has yet to produce a Spanish-language rapper or reggaetónero on par with Daddy Yankee, Don Omar, Calle 13, Tego Calderón or, for that matter, Ivy Queen.

Maybe it's the funny way the Spanish spit their "jotas" or the sometimes vast cultural distance between Europe and the New World. Or, just maybe, without access to the long, violent history of Spain's outcasts, its gitanos and moros, its economic refugees and political prisons, Americans wouldn't recognize an authentic Spanish voice if they heard it.

Emphasis on "if." Malamarismo is Mala Rodríguez' third album, but since it's nearly impossible to hear her first, the raw and sometimes dazzling Lujo Ibérico (2000) and much of her second record, Alevosía (2003), never made it on the Interwebs, you could say this is her American debut.

It certainly sounds like one. Less present are the minimal, old school beats and monophonic synthesizer basslines, the chiki-wah-wah guitar hooks and mind-numbingly insistent piano lines. In their place are, well, lotsa shiny new things: from the rubbery rhythm of "Caida Libre" to the layered staccato samples in "Memos Tu," from the crystalline, spiraling beats in "Toca Toca" to the stuttering, twisted orchestra on "Enfermo". Even the record's first single, the club banger "Nanai," sprinkles syncopated sticks, bells and metals over the length of the entire song.

While positively future-forward, these accents can get in the way of a good line, as on "Memorias del Futuro," where a strapped up 1-2-3 beat and nasal synth line cut through the vocals like a headache on a sunny day. It's a weird, dizzying effect: unlike other summer blockbusters where the special effects are designed to shine, what makes La Mala Rodríguez a natural star is her voice. She's the reason you buy tickets to the show.

Fortunately for her current and future fans, there's still plenty of La Mala on Malamarismo, even if it's squeezed into fleeting moments. On the standout Toca Toca, her aggressive diction, potent rhymes and sultry southern pronunciation (she drops consonants like strippers drop panties) blend perfectly with the musical base leaving the listener hungry for seconds. The album's closing track, "Déjame Entrá," may start with a drunken sample but it snaps to attention with the Sevillana singsong that makes La Mala as charmed as the words she dedicates to a lover on this shuffling chill-out jam.

Where her previous records were sometimes marred by out-of-wack collaborations with lesser talents, there are two pairings on this collection worthy of the occasion. A minute into the sweet "Tiempo Pa Pensa," Mala deftly drops into an understated flamenco flourish only to suddenly bump into – and yield much of the rest of the song to – Julieta Venegas. On Enfermo, the flow is smoother, as Tego Calderón gracefully shares and even propels the track, trading both verse and chorus duties with a poised Mala.

Our review copy also included a bonus video of Por La Noche off her previous album, a terrific "classic" Mala track that will hopefully point millions towards her back catalog of hits and, perhaps, guarantee their release in the U.S. where their black magic can only do her career good. In the meantime, interested parties would do well to track down and order jaw-droppers like "La Cocinera", "La Niña", "Tengo Un Trato" and "Con Los Ojos De Engaña," which has the added distinction of lyrically foreshadowing her first strike this time around:

Si vas a engañar
mírame con los ojos de engañar
Si vas a matar
mírame con los ojos de matar...
Pa tí na es to, para mí to es na

If you're going to lie,
Look at me with lying eyes
If you're going to kill
Look at me with killer eyes...
For you, nothing is everything, for me everything ain't a thing

Daddy Yankee is back – even if he never really left the scene.

The reggaetón crossover sensation known as El Cangri ("the boss") could be accused of overstating his return in the buildup to the release of El Cartel: The Big Boss given that many of his songs are still blasting on urban Latin radio. But how else could he follow up the trendsetting success of Barrio Fino, the multi-platinum album that introduced the genre to mainstream American audiences if not by going bigger? Much bigger.

On El Cartel: The Big Boss, everything is larger-than-life: from its militaristic concept to its seemingly unending list of collaborators and radio-friendly "singles," this sequel is all about taking it to the next level – over and over again.

It takes bravado to want to be so many things to so many people – and that's a quality Daddy Yankee – aka, Raymond Ayala – does not lack. On this critical second coming, the 30-year-old from Rio Piedras, Puerto Rico, strikes an awesome pose with lyrics steeped in the rhetoric of a dictator. On the squelchy and bombastic Mensaje de Estado (akin to a "state of the union" address), he goads:

El boss no falla
denme batalla ...
Se paraliza el mundo cuando hablo
no le temo a las tropas del diablo.

The boss doesn't fail
bring me to battle...
the world stands still when I speak
I don't fear the devil's army.

On more than a few tracks, Daddy Yankee is fighting a war with anyone who might try to take over his premier status, relying primarily on his rapid-fire flow – which sometimes threatens to go out of control – to fend off any MC's wishing to challenge his rule.

That's not to say El Cartel is a defensive maneuver: no doubt aware of the rumors regarding the death of reggaetón, Daddy Yankee is venturing into new territory – mostly, pop. The salsa of "Ella Me Levanto" is not far from Los Van Van while Todos Quieren a Raymond unashamedly displays a heavy Eminem influence – just as its title coyly hints at El Jefe's imminent arrival as an American pop icon. Covering all his bases, "El Jefe" even makes a curious play for the underground – the dance floor – with the techno freak-fest Who's Your Daddy; a foamy, snare-popping banger ala the latest from DJ Nelson. (Fans of Héctor "El Father"'s ode to modern love "El Teléfono" can rejoice – Daddy Yankee's version is called "El Celular.")

That impulse to please all parties is even more obvious on the slow-rollin' Bring It On, featuring Senegalese R&B revelation Akon and an arrangement which could be this summer's bid for "California Love". There's even more clever pop on Plane to PR which leads with the Black Eyed Peas' will.i.am and proceeds to make a pitch for interracial unity over a bed of balmy synths and pointy beats. On the Mediterranean Papi Lover, the main melody is expertly traced by a finger piano as the breathy Pussycat Doll Nicole Scherzinger takes over.

If you're wondering which of the album's 21 tracks comes closest to the intensity of his break-out hit La Gasolina, you've probably already seen it: Impacto with Fergie and produced by Scott Storch comes roaring out of the gate with a crisp melody, cascading vocoder lines and a steady climbing crescendo that doesn't waste Fergie's signature stylings. (It even manages to salvage the callback "wind it up.")

There's no doubt that this is Yankee's most accomplished effort to date. It may not be the album of the year, but its sheer momentum – and perfect timing – will easily make it the soundtrack of the summer.

Calle 13's new album, Residente O Visitante, is a little bit of everything – except, maybe, reggaetón. With a brash, fresh sound and intelligent – if lewd – lyrics, this outing could promote the Puerto Rican duo of René “Residente” Pérez and Eduardo “Visitante” Cabra to the heights of such world-class music acts as the Beastie Boys, Manu Chao and Bob Marley.

From the gaucho styling of lead single “Tango del Pecado” (the Sin Tango) to the neo-bossa of “Un Beso De Desayuno” (A Kiss For Breakfast) and the electro-rockabilly of “Sin Exagerar” (Not Exaggerating) featuring Tego Calderón, vocalist Residente effortlessly weaves through instrumentalist Visitante's perversely pop arrangements and bouncy, raw beats.

The raunchy yet, somehow, romantic “Mala Suerte Con El 13” (Bad Luck With The 13th), a duet with Spanish rapper Mala Rodriguez, ventures into NC-17 territory with some derrty, derrty wordplay while the point-blank, if dreamy “Llégale A Mi Guarida” (Come To My Lair) features Residente and Vicentíco of the legendary Los Fabulosos Cadillacs exploring the rights and wrongs of political violence:

“Llégale aquí, a mi guarida
Jurao, to’ el mundo aquí es pura vida
Pero si tú atenta en contra e mi vida
Quizás una bomba suicida
haga el trabajo”

Step to my lair
I swear, it's all alive here
But if you try to rub me out
Maybe a suicide bomb
will be my response.

If references to middle east terrorism sound out of place on what many expect to be a reggaeton party record, it's not the album's only affront to expectations. On the spare horn-powered "La Fokin Moda," the titular rhyme expresses cuts to the chase: Calle 13 speaks a new kind of spanish and has mastered a new kind of latin music. For a taste of their versatility, sample the retro-techno-reggaeton stylings of the dadaist "Uiyi Guaye" which transitions gracefully into the spaghetti western dreamscape of "Algo Con Sentido" (Something That Makes Sense).

As "random" as these songs may seem, there's not a single accidental note on this record – it's as deliberate as a molotov cocktail. It's no surprise then, that the album ends with an indulgent "F.U." to Calle 13's haters and imitators on the 8-bit, cartoony “La Era De La Copiaera” (The Age of Copies), a track which narrates the group's sudden rise to fame over the last year over a music bed that would be just as appropriate on Fantasma by Cornelius or the next Eminem record.

With all due respect to these two irreverent mavericks, the public could do with a few more Calle 13 clones.

If you're down with the The Chicas Project, you've probably found yourself humming the music playing while the girls went ballistic or jumped out of a plane. Hum no more – the official soundtrack for The Chicas Project has just been released. For fans of the program, it's a must-have. But even if you've never felt for the chicas, you can't go wrong with this welcome sampler of some of best acts in new music. Oh, and yeah, it's Latin music – ¿y ke? (Fans of Morning Becomes Eclectic, you've been served.)

Venezuela's Cuarto Poder ("the fourth estate") gets the party started with strong, reggaetón vocals in the beautifully arranged "Arenita Playita." On the same reggaelicious vibe, Monareta, Brooklyn-based cut-up tropicalistas, head for the Mexican caribbean with their echoey "Llama" while Colombia's Bomba Estereo manage to take the cumbia to outer space and back with "Tamobora."

The tempo goes up a notch with Mexico's solo producer, the Mexican Institute of Sound, and the big sounds of his house-inspired "Hey Tía," a track well-complemented by old hands the Nortec Collective and their speedy, dreamy norteño "Revu Rockers." But it's Karma Hunters, the show's theme song, by Spain's The Pinker Tones which, like Beck on Ritalin, is the most upbeat offering in the mix.

Like all good summer party mixes, the soundtrack knows when to take a breather. New York City's buzzworthy girl-boy duo Pacha Massive offer a breathy, almost trippy take on a perfect sunset with Don't Let Go while Chile's Bitman & Roban turn to a smoothly distorted synthesizer to drive "Answer 2 The Beat" into an ocean filled with cyborg dolphins and water skiing robots.

The beach bonfire lights up with a surprising collection of up-to-date and heartfelt ballads by two Guadalajara, Mexico-based acts: Porter's pensive Daphne and Sara Valenzuela's "Dejar Entrar" – a luscious track that makes us wonder why the ex-La Dosis singer has not yet blown up. Proving good things come in twos, Aterciopelados members Andrea Echeverri and Hector Buitrago bring the duo's sophisticated take on perfect pop with the bittersweet "Frases" and the almost angular rock of "Altisimo."

For those who like to party into the morning hours, the soundtrack closes with a pair of bangers: Monareta's crisp, barely acidy remix of Aterciopelados' "Improvisa" and Sussie 4's gasping, grotty "afterparty" take on Sara Valenzuela's Para Continuar.

Buy the soundtrack at iTunes or eMusic.com. For more details, visit the soundtrack's MySpace page.

Nelson Martínez, aka DJ Nelson, is considered the "Godfather of reggaetón." His latest release, Flow La Discoteka 2, proves he's also one the genre’s innovators.

Flow La Discoteka 2 is anything but typical, as its best tracks seek to redefine reggaetón, most of them benefiting from slick production that may inspire Luny Tunes to go back to the drawing board. Flow’s glossy template takes cues from '80s icons such as Michael Jackson (Arcangel’s “Chica Virtual”) and the Eurythmics (O’Neil’s “Algo De Ti Me Llama”). Nelson summons Timbaland’s spirit on the grimy synth-drenched beats of Voltio’s “Dale Mami Damelo.”

Although it borrows heavily from past decades, Flow never feels outdated – even when Nelson throws in some techno on Zion’s “Que Pasará.” “Mal de Amores” borrows freestyle music from Black Eyed Peas and caps it off with Ñejo’s Tego-influenced flow. Rapper AJ defines the album's essence on the dark electro of “Love, Sex & Disco,” confidently proclaiming, “nueva música, nuevos estilos, reggaeton con mucha cosa” (new music, new styles, reggaetón with substance).

Unfortunately, the album is interrupted by cloying caribbean numbers and ends with the Menudo-like ballad “Gracias Mama,” an abrupt and disappointing ending to an otherwise exciting trip to the future.

The mostly Puerto Rican rock group La Secta Allstar (think Bon Jovi) has been flying just under the radar for the last decade, most recently earning a Latin Grammy nomination and a Latin Billboard award.

This spring, La Secta's lead singer and guitarist, Gustavo Laureano, whose approach to rock vocals sometimes recalls the grating sex-appeal of Steve Tyler, has released his first solo album, Kingcallero del Amor. With a nod to the power of reggaetón, Laureano calls on the likes of Eddie D, Juelz Santana and Gocho to "spice up" tracks like the seductive "Suavecito," the bubbly "Es Así" or the cool "Kingcallero". Most of the album, though, is perfectly "adulto contemporaneo."

"Amantes del Amor," for example, mixes a string section, rock instrumentation and a delicately syncopated rock beat to deliver a ballad powerful enough to drive a hip, prime time telenovela – if one existed – while "Nadie Te Va a Salvar" mines the rich, dark soil of Depeche Mode's "Personal Jesus". Fans of Peter Gabriel will particularly enjoy the English-language "Star Shine" with its densely layered forward momentum.