As Puerto Rico’s mainstream continues to embrace reggaeton pop and Latin trap, fans of traditional lyrical rap have to go to underground and independent artists to find what they desire. Among the many young rappers to slowly gather a following has been Dorado’s Rey Varreino. After having a big impact with his single “MVP,” the musician has slowly put out a few more songs, but it wasn’t until recently that he released his debut mixtape, Chamaco, where he continues to exhibit his abilities as a young wordsmith. Varreino’s debut mixtape starts with “Estrellas,” a boom bap influenced track produced by Christian Velez that starts to show the Dorado rapper’s skills, which are enhanced by sound effects used across the beat. Afterwards, he collaborates with E.A. Flow on a psychedelic jazz rap beat produced by Leaf Beach where he chronicles some of his adventures with close friends.The third entry in the project comes in the form of “Celestial” where Varreino raps over a PRISM LITE beat in a lyrical display that shows him go against all forms of critics and haters. Then he comes together with Jah Ire on an interesting, psychedelic and surreal production by c. ncht where he reflects on a variety of topics such as love. To close the first half of Chamaco, Varreino displays his talents as he raps about a variety of subjects such as wisdom, sacrifice and love over interesting production by The Ugly with the tune “Kombucha.” The second half of Chamaco starts with “Ojos de angel,” a track released as one of the first few singles for the mixtape over two years ago. The song is a love-fueled jazz rap tune where the self-proclaimed Niño Dorado shows more of his emotional side as well as his lyrical expertise. The project then moves on with the lo-fi boom bap track “Tato Bien,” a song that shows more of Varreino’s introspective side as he reflects on his life. Afterwards, Chamaco continues with another lo-fi boom bap production in the form of “Zafiro,” which presents the Dorado artist rapping about a variety of subjects from love to his regular life and lyrical mastery. Afterwards, Chamaco moves on with another of the singles used to promote the mixtape in the form of “Crecio,” a song which sees Varreino rapping easily over some great Jonwayne production. Finally, the project ends with “El Niño Dorado,” a perfect closing for the short project that continues to display Varreino’s abilities and reflective lyrics as he smoothly raps over a beat by the late and great J Dilla. As mentioned previously, Rey Varreino’s music before releasing Chamaco had already gathered him a loyal following and this project will make them happy and bring more attention to the young Dorado rapper as he isn’t afraid to balance themes of introspection, love and lyrical mastery over some fantastic production that helps him display his great beat choice and ever-growing expertise over language and how to use it to his benefit.
Listen to Chamaco on Soundcloud All of the images in this article were found in Rey Varreino’s Facebook
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AuthorFernando E. E. Correa González is the author behind over 30 self-published poetry books. He has been published by literary magazines & journals [Id]entidad, El Vicio del Tintero, Sábanas Magazine, Smaeralit, The Occulum, Tonguas and Hound Magazine. Other than writing, Correa is also the host of FENCast, a podcast dedicated to documenting the Puerto Rican independent art scene. Aside from this, he experiments with filmmaking, photography, drawing, painting, multimedia and transmedia. He currently lives in his native Puerto Rico. Archives
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