| Residente o Visitante | ||||
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| Studio album by Calle 13 | ||||
| Released | April 24, 2007 | |||
| Recorded | Puerto Rico & Miami, Florida | |||
| Genre | Urban, alternative hip hop, Latin, alternative reggaeton | |||
| Length | 59:80 | |||
| Label | Sony BMG U.S. Latin | |||
| Producer | Elías de León & Visitante | |||
| Calle 13 chronology | ||||
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| Singles from Residente o Visitante | ||||
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Residente o Visitante (English: Resident or Visitor) is the second studio album by Puerto Rican Urban/hip hop duo Calle 13, released on April 24, 2007, by Sony BMG.
Contents |
Calle 13 was formed when step-brothers Residente (real name René Pérez Joglar) and Visitante (real name Eduardo José Cabra Martínez) began creating music together in 2004. After sending demo tapes to White Lion Records, the duo was offered a record deal.[1] The duo gained recognition for their controversial song "Querido FBI", which responded to the killing of Filiberto Ojeda Ríos, a key figure for the Puerto Rican independence movement.[2] Soon after, the band's 2005 eponymously titled debut album was released and became commercially and critically successful in Latin America. The group was labeled as reggaeton, a genre that the duo wished to distance itself from.[2] Visitante commented on the situation: "The truth is that the first record had only four reggaetons. Those were the cuts used for promotional purposes, and so that’s the brand that was put on us. But from the beginning, to me, reggaeton never offered anything musically. My brother liked it, yes, but we always tried to execute it in an organic way, with real instruments and mixing it with other genres."[2]
While writing Residente o Visitante, the duo took a trip to South America to explore areas populated by Latin America's indigenous and African-descended minorities. Residente reflected on the journey, stating, "We saw horrible things, but also things that were incredibly beautiful. Some of the contrasts are really intense."[3] The duo was strongly influenced by the experience; Visitante discovered and purchased several new musical instruments on the trip including a quijada, a charango and a bombo legüero, all of which were used on the song "Llegale a Mi Guarida".[4] Residente and Visitante felt that writing on the road was conducive to the group's creative output.[5] The group's journeys were filmed and a documentary film, Sin Mapa was released. It debuted on July 29, 2009 at the New York International Latino Film Festival and later released on DVD.[4]
Residente o Visitante was recorded in various countries, as the band was on tour during the making of the album. Residente was invited by La Mala Rodriguez to come to Spain to collaborate on a song.[6] He agreed, as he greatly admired La Mala's work, and the two met for drinks where they discussed the kind of song they wanted to create before going to the studio to record what would later become "Mala Suerta Con el 13".[6]
On the record, the band wished to experiment more with live instruments and diverse styles of music.[7] Margarita Diaz referred to Residente o Visitante as "an exhilarating travelogue through the sounds and rhythms of [South America]."[3] Visitante, who composed the music on the album, credits the musical diversity to his past. He began playing classical piano at age six, and at age 17, he joined a varied array of bands and played saxophone and keyboards.[8] The introduction to the album, as described by Elijah Wald of the Los Angeles Times, "sounds like a lovely Baroque chorale - unless one speaks Spanish, in which case it becomes immediately evident that it's an ornate canon of the filthiest words in Puerto Rican street slang."[3][8]
"Tango del Pecado" was conceived after Visitante came up with the idea to mix tango with reggaeton. He traveled to Los Angeles to present the idea to Argentinian music producer Gustavo Santaolalla, who was interested in the idea and helped create the backing music for the track.[7] The song's title translates to "Tango of Sin"; Residente explained that "To mix reggaeton with tango is like a sin, you know. Something that's supposed to be wrong, but at the end its something good. That's why we maintained the rhythm."[7] Additionally, the song "Cumbia de los Aburridos" is strongly influenced by Colombian music, featuring an accordion and a horn section.[5] "Un Beso De Desayuno" mixes electronica, rap and bossa nova.[5] This marks the first of Calle 13's albums to have collaborations with artists such as Tego Calderón, La Mala Rodríguez and Orishas. The band also experimented with more diverse genres of music on the album, including tango ("Tango del Pecado"), bossa nova ("Un Beso de Desayno"), cumbia ("Cumbia de los Aburridos") and opera ("Intro").[9]
Residente described the album as more introspective and autobiographical than its predecessor.[7] With the lyrics on the record, Residente aimed for authenticity, attempting to tackle subjects not typically discussed in conventional reggaeton.[10] He explained that listening to Residente o Visitante is similar to watching a movie, in the sense that the album depicts real life events and uses profanity to evoke emotion in the listener.[10] In "Pal Norte", Residente discusses the plight of immigrants in the United States.[7][5] Commenting on the track's lyrical themes, he explained "I had wanted to do that theme because I think it is an important topic. And not just for the immigrants in the United States but all over. It is a song that immigrants can identify with, Dominicans as well as Puerto Ricans. All the people leave one country for another for the same reasons."[5]
The song "Mala Suerte Con el 13", the group's collaboration with La Mala Rodriguez, is a satire of the "Latin macho attitude".[11] He wished to defy and poke fun at traditional gender roles, citing feminist philosopher Judith Butler as an influence; "I wanted to record a duet between a guy who's weak and inadequate, and a woman who's a sexual psychopath and has all the power in the world. A complete mockery of macho stereotypes".[8][6] In the same vein, "Sin Exagerar" parodies the misogyny that Residente felt had saturated the reggaeton scene.[12] The album's first single, "Tango del Pecado" also created controversy due to the repeated chanting of "Súbele el volumen a la música satánica" (turn up the satanic music). Residente asserts that he did not add the line to create a reaction, saying, "I never do something expecting something. I do things because I like them."[11]
The album's name was inspired by an experience from Residente and Visitante's childhood. When they were children, Visitante would visit his brother at the Calle 13 (13th Street) of the El Conquistador subsection of Trujillo Alto, Puerto Rico every week. Since the subsection is a gated community, visitors were routinely asked "¿Residente o visitante?" ("Resident or visitor?") by a security guard when approaching the community's main gate.[2] Therefore, Visitante would identify himself as a visitor, while Residente would have to insist that he was a resident to clear the gate.[1] The pair named themselves Calle 13 after the street their family's house was on.[7]
Residente o Visitante debuted on the U.S. Billboard Top Latin Albums chart at number one, displacing Jennifer Lopez's Spanish album Como Ama una Mujer, and on the Billboard 200 at number 52, selling about 12,000 copies in its first week.[13][14][15] The album remained on the Billboard 200 for a total of four weeks.[16] Additionally, the album debuted on the Billboard Rap Albums chart at number 13.[16]
The first single off the album was "Tango del Pecado". The second single of the album was "Cumbia de los Aburridos" and it peaked at #31 on the Billboard Hot Latin Songs chart. The third single was "Pa'l Norte", which was released in late 2007. The fourth and final single was "Un Beso de Desayuno", which was released in early 2008.
| Professional ratings | |
|---|---|
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Okayplayer | [17] |
The album received positive reviews from critics. Jason Birchmeier of Allmusic gave Residente o Visitante 4 out of 5 stars, and the disc's diverse musical styles and unique lyricism: "Residente is a gifted rapper who matches Eminem in terms of wit and playfulness while Visitante is a similarly gifted producer who creates multi-layered tracks that rarely sound alike."[9] Andrew Casillas of Stylus Magazine gave the album an A- grade, calling it a "trailblazing record".[18] He praised Residente's rapping on the record, calling his performance "a revalation" and referring to the song "Un Beso de Desayuno" as the band's "most noble achievement: a fully formed reggaetón love song."[18] However, Casillas felt that the album was overly long and stated that "Uiyi Guaye" sounds like "Donald Duck on a treadmill".[18] Phil Freeman of The Village Voice called the album "more thoughtful and musically broad-minded" than its predecessor, and noted that the album gave Residente "a platform for a more explicit political consciousness than some might have predicted", referring to the songs "Pal Norte" and "La Cumbia de los Aburridos".[19]
On November 8, 2007 Residente o Visitante received two Latin Grammy Awards, including Best Urban Music Album and Best Urban Song.[20] They were also nominated for Album of the Year, and Best Short Form Music Video for the video of the first single "Tango del Pecado".
On February 8, 2008, Residente o Visitante won the Grammy Award for "Best Urban/Alternative Album".
| Chart (2007) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| U.S. Billboard 200 | 52 [21] |
| U.S. Billboard Top Latin Albums | 1 [21] |
| U.S. Billboard Top Rap Albums | 13 [21] |
| Region | Certification | Sales/shipments |
|---|---|---|
| Argentina (CAPIF)[22] | Gold | 20,000x |
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xunspecified figures based on certification alone |
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| Preceded by Como Ama una Mujer by Jennifer Lopez |
U.S. Billboard Top Latin Albums number-one album May 12, 2007 |
Succeeded by Historia de un Idolo, Vol. 1 by Vicente Fernández |
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