It's been three years since Daddy Yankee's turbo-charged "Gasolina" roared to the top of the charts and signaled the mainstream arrival of reggaeton, the down-and-dirty Latino rap style cultivated in the urban barrios of Puerto Rico. The revved-up single triggered predictions of a hip-hop crossover and a new Latin music craze.

But the craze never came and the race for a crossover has since been canceled.

Now, Yankee returns with his first full studio album (in stores today) since the charismatic and disciplined rapper was crowned most likely to lead that elusive crossover bid. The Big Boss has thrust his engines in reverse and signaled the genre's new direction: A reggaeton retrenchment.

But not a retreat.

Like a good politician in shaky times, Yankee is playing to his base with 21 tracks that mostly stick to reggaeton's irresistibly bouncy rhythms and chest-thumping themes: sex, partying, nationalism, barrio loyalty and, as the title suggests, brash bragging about who's the best.

The new work gains a little hip-hop/R&B luster with the help of non-reggaeton collaborators such as will.i.am from Black Eyed Peas, Nicole Scherzinger from the Pussycat Dolls and Fergie, who's featured on the first single, "Impacto," produced by Canadian hitmeister Scott Storch.

Yet with the exception of a duet with Akon on the taut, politically defiant "Bring It On," the star power Doe's provide the best moments on a CD that could have been trimmed by a third.

Daddy Yankee (born Ramon Ayala) leaves no doubt that he still has the skill and style that made him stand out from reggaeton's crowded rank-and-file. He wrote or co-wrote every tune, delivering lines with a rat-a-tat torrent of syllables and Caribbean street cadence that makes his Spanish almost unrecognizable at times.

Yankee's rap camouflages in his lyrics, which the wicked wit and schooled artfulness of, say, the young duo Calle 13. But while newer acts test the limits of decency with depravity and foul language, Yankee stakes out high moral ground with unabashed thanks to God for his survival and his success. That spirituality coexists with his barrio bravado in autobiographical tunes such as "Soy Lo Que Soy" and "Coraza Divina."

In the end, Yankee takes on critics and gossipy reporters in the sarcastic, Fresh Prince-styled "Todos Quieren A Raymond" (Everybody Loves Raymond). The title is a play on his real name, which he uses to sign off: "Tell me what the devil I can do if there are bad people/ Just go on being me, Ramon Ayala." (Dime que rayos puedo hacer yo si hay gente mala/ Solamente seguir siendo yo, Ramon Ayala.)

This cd is basically the #1 Prime example for popping this in a Car stereo, Or of course in party's which will get everybody out of their Chair's And Hallucinate while dancing to "El Cartel".

I have been listening to this genre since the begining on 1992 out of the "marquesinas" when it used to be called "underground" and artist such as Vico C, DJ Playero, DJ Adam and The Noise were out there selling Casette Tapes. This genre have progress since then, what used to be a form of a bunch of friends hanging out have transform to what we listen on this CD, just like evolution adapt an overcome this genre have adapted to the times. The tracks on this album have different beats that we are not used too in this genre, DY came out fresh adapting his style and this genre to a whole new level. Themes like "Bring it on","Papi Lover", "Plane to P.R." are on a whole new level in this game targeting U.S. audiences. Themes like "El Jefe" brings a new twist to the Genre. If you expect to dance to the rythm of "Dem Bow" you might as well hang it and dont buy the CD, if you were expecting "Gasolina 2" hang it because thats yesterday's news, today's news and tomorrow's will be different. I highly recommend this Album because it means a change in the Genre that in some articles it's been said that people are getting ready for its funeral, hang your Suits people because just like RAP and HIP HOP this genre is here to Stay.

El Cartel is a hot cd. It has a different flavor of reggaeton that makes you want to dance endlessly. Impacto of course is the most bangin' track on the cd. Some of the tracks are in English, which allows the non Spanish speaking audience the opportunity to truly appreciate this genre of music and Daddy Yankee's extreme talent. As Daddy Yankee says the King is back!

if you like heavy Bass coupled to a fantastic background melody then this CD is for you. There is hardly any filler material at all; pure USDA choice music. ENERGY is crammed into every groove....

I am a Daddy Yankee fan, and considering the region of the country that I live in I will probaly never see him in concert unless I specifically travel to New York. So when I saw there was a dvd of MTV's $2 dollar bill concert, I purchased this cd/dvd. The interview was good, it was in English, and the concert footage was enjoyable, but I pulled up the concert on youtube and there were some highlights of this concert that I wish were included on this dvd. For example, a violinist played while he sang "Corazones", and I liked " Lo que paso paso". These highlights were not included and I wish they were. The dvd was only about 33 minutes long, I wish it were longer, but I was happy with the dvd. I already had most of the music from the cd, so I did not listen to the cd, he has other music that I like better than this cd. All in all, I liked it.