Mundial in Bloomington, MN

Returning to his home base of Latin music flavors after spending some time on the streets of hip-hop,
Daddy Yankee
's
Mundial
is a exciting mix of new and old plus regional and global. Concerning the first, the album features the familiar reggaeton rhythms that set the superstar's career in motion, but it also features the futuristic sounds of Auto-Tune and electro. The best example is the highlight
"Vida en la Noche,"
which is somewhere between a
Pitbull
and a
Gary Numan
track, but you don't need to look any further than the album's leadoff single,
"Descontrol,"
to feel the power
Yankee
wields when mixing yesterday (the rhythm) and today (the rest). As far as the regional and global,
draws its lyrical inspiration from
's travels around the world and brings it all home with the music being primarily home-grown with dance and R&B showing up as slight influences. In that way,
is the
album longtime fans hoped for as well as being a fine introduction to reggaeton's first global superstar. ~ David Jeffries