"Vida Lucha y Victoria": R-Two Delivers Some Fantastic Lyrical Raps and One of 2018's Best Projects3/6/2019 As Puerto Rico’s hip hop continues to stay as one of the most active across Latin America, more musicians explore trap and reggaeton while others focus on lyrical boom bap rap with which they can use their life stories as a way to document the everyday struggle of the common Boricua, a goal R-Two manages to achieve with his latest project, Vida Lucha y Victoria. Vida Lucha y Victoria kicks off with “Nacimiento,” an easily imaginable scene that presents the rapper’s date of birth to the sounds of bomba, which later transitions to “Desde Un Principio,” a hard hitting boom bap lyrical rap track where the artist chronicles his life while reflecting on everything that made him who he is today. Afterwards, “Mi Vida” presents R-Two rapping over some soulful boom bap as he uses his life as a reflection of the everyday struggle, a topic which is continued in the brief poetry interlude “Vida” by Lady Keys. Then, R-Two pays homage to one of his dearest loved ones in “Una Para Hakeem,” a jazz rap tune that sees him remembering good times, showing love and delivering advice to said person. The project continues with “Insomnia (Mi Barrio) [3 K-Ys Remix],” a jazzy and soulful boom bap song that presents R-Two showing love to the people and environment that made him. Next, “...vs. la Muerte” displays R-Two’s lyrical and storytelling abilities in a tale that shows him reflecting on goals, dreams, success and death. The first part of Vida Lucha y Victoria ends with “Metiendo Mano” where R-Two raps about being focused and working hard in order to achieve his dreams. The second half of Vida Lucha y Victoria starts with “Dulce Juego (Wou!),” a soulful rap track that shows R-Two exploring the field of love. Afterwards, “Lucha” is a spoken word interlude by Lady Keys that encapsulates the topic in the title in a variety of ways, which blends with “Interludio,” a brief commentary on the relationship between resistance and poetry. Then, “Supernova” shows the rapper reflecting on people’s comments regarding what artists should do to achieve pop star success. Next, “Herencia” presents R-Two, Enigma and eBrs touching on the subject of inheritance from a variety of perspectives be it cultural, historical or through family. The project continues with “La Orquidea,” an introspective tune that shows R-Two reflecting on the beauties that can come out of hardship and struggle. Afterwards, “Hijos de Otra Era” presents R-Two joining forces with Eric “El Niño” to provide conscious raps regarding education and fake accounts of history. Finally, Vida Lucha y Victoria finishes with “Victoria,” a jazzy and soulful collaboration with Ikol Santiago and Lady Keys that celebrates victory in the face of any adversity. As one of the best lyrical rappers in Puerto Rico, it comes as no surprise that R-Two’s Vida Lucha y Victoria was a perfect display of the artist’s abilities. However, what makes the album so good is it’s cohesiveness showing how the rapper managed to stick to his own style while delivering a fantastic and concise project that touches on a variety of subjects, thus making it one of 2018’s best.
Listen to Vida Lucha y Victoria on Spotify All of the pictures in this article were found in R-Two’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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