Second effort by Felix "Cuban Link" Delgado, but appears as the debut solo album. He comes from the experience in the Terror Squad founded by Fat Joe and Big Punisher, but following the death of the second, Joe decided that it was better to eliminate the Full-A-Clips, that is, he decided that Pun's friends had to leave the group first, and then the hip-hop circuit itself. It wasn't easy, but Joe had enough friends and connections in Hip Hop to make it slip away and thus block the Cuban Link debut, "24-K". Even Triple Seis had difficulty in releasing his only album in 2004, as an independent.
Several years after being stabbed in the face multiple times while trying to break up a fight between Fat Joe, his former manager, producer and leader of the Terror Squad, and SunKiss, one of Big Pun's best friends, close to the Terror Squad and a friend of Delgado, Cuban Link managed to sign a distribution deal with Universal for his next album for $2 million, the largest record deal for an independent hip-hop artist and an unsigned act at the time. This happened even after the Bronx emcee saw his already-released debut album "24-K" permanently shelved by Atlantic and Fat Joe's label Terror Squad Productions. In 2004, Cuban Link signs with the label Men of Business Records aka MOB.
In 2004, Cuban Link is guest on Triple Seis' solo debut studio album "Only Time'll Tell", released by Madd Records. Cuban featured on the tracks "Drinks Up", "Hustler" and "Be About It". In the meantime, however, his friends and colleagues decide to distance themselves from him so as not to end up on the blacklist established by Fat Joe, going to work together with Don Cartagena and isolating the artists purged by Joey Crakk, including him and Triple Seis. The rest of the Terror Squad, including Tony Sunshine, continue to work with Fat Joe. Fat Joe blackballs him in the industry and by contacting his connections in the industry, prevents him from getting record deals even while Cuban Link is in California.
In 2005, the Bronx rapper manages to release his first official LP. The production is realized by Swizz Beatz, Kon Artis, SPK, Tiger, Big Humma, Falling Down, Big Menze, Eliel and Ken Lewis. The guests are Mýa, Syleena Johnson, Zion, One Solo, Avant, Don Omar, Cap. 1 and Jadakiss.
As first sentence, Cuban Link doesn't hold a solo album. The product's average, there's not a lot of content, Cuban Link delivers relaxed, sometimes seems tired, sometimes flows good, he shows temporary flashes of lyrical talent, strangled right away by gray, mediocre songs represented by commercial and club attempts who are unsuccessful, despite guests like Don Omar, Mya, Jadakiss and Syleena Johnson. The disc is a mixture of light hip hop and reggaeton with Latin vibes.
Big Humma produces most of the songs, Swizz Beatz offers a strange combination between hardcore and jazzy ("Comin' Home With Me" is revisable as Avant's functional hook; "Like That has shrill horns and the bouncy rhythm of "I'm a Hustla" never works), a sufficient Latin boom bap well-packaged ("Shakedown") and a meek NY rhythm ("Talk About It"). Few good choises, like a couple of jazzy beats where Cuban Link appears inspired ("No Mercy", bleakest, "Life Goes On", lighter), and "Prison Wisdom", that boasts a imperceptible, ethereal beat, where Cuban Link delivers in spoken word, can't save the record full of less-average songs ("Riderz", "No Falla").
The intro spoken on a beating heart could have some significance. "I Need to Know" is a crossover between boom bap and an attempt to proto-vaporwave gone wrong, Cuban Link runs quite smoothly on this curious production. The finale is also the banger of the album dropped by Cuban Link: "Letter to Pun". It's a dedication to Big Pun. Perfect jazzy boom bap, and a smooth delivery well performed.
"Shakedown" and "Talk About It" featuring Jadakiss, both songs produced by Swizz Beatz, are chosen as promotional singles. Cuban Link tries to entering in the mainstream with the singles "Sugar Daddy" feat Mýa and "Scandalous" featuring Don Omar with influence from reggaeton that peaks #45 on the Latin single chart and leads the whole CD in sales. The soulful "Letter to Pun" is extracted as third single of the record. The album was well received by specialized critics and achieved a discreet response in sales, entering the Billboard 200 and struggling to climb the rap album charts, appearing in the top ten among the Heatseekers.
As the spiritual heir to Punisher, Cuban Link's album makes promises it can't actually deliver on. It's ambitious, overly ambitious in its pursuit of the mainstream success Pun was still trying to carve out for himself during his lifetime. He doesn't find it here, both because he's not helped much by the lyrics and, above all, by the production. Fat Joe must be far too powerful in the industry if the best producer you can get for your album — and, consequently, the one you're betting all your best cards on — is Swizz Beatz. That means you don't have a chance.
Rating: 5/10.
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