''Babilla'' is the studio album by Puerto Rican rapper

Vico C Luis Armando Lozada Cruz (born September 8, 1971), known by his stage name Vico C, is an American rapper and record producer. Regarded as the founding father of reggaeton, Vico C has played an influential role in the development of Latin American ...

, released on October 6, 2009 through Caribbean Records under exclusive license to EMI Televisa. The 69% of the album was recorded at

Luny Tunes Luny Tunes are a reggaeton production duo consisting of Francisco Saldaña (Luny) and Víctor Cabrera (Tunes) who have been known for creating unique musical rhythms for some of the most popular reggaeton artists since the early 2000s. Biograph ...

' Más Flow Studios in Carolina, Puerto Rico, while the remaining 31% was recorded at Pichaera Studios, Golden Boy Studios (both in

San Juan San Juan, Spanish for Saint John, may refer to: Places Argentina * San Juan Province, Argentina * San Juan, Argentina, the capital of that province * San Juan, Salta, a village in Iruya, Salta Province * San Juan (Buenos Aires Underground), ...

, Puerto Rico) and Rotary Music Studios ( Bayamón, Puerto Rico). Vico C produced almost the entire album, while Hyde,

Luis Almonte Luis Almonte (born January 19, 1963) is a Dominican record producer, audio engineer, mixing engineer, multi-instrumentalist, and songwriter. His production, songwriting, and mixing credits include Miguelito, single, which won the 2008 Grammy A ...

and Joel Morales worked as recording engineers. Half the album was mixed at KDS Studios, while American producer Mike Fuller mastered it at Fullersound Inc., both studios located in

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

. All tracks feature

session musicians Session musicians, studio musicians, or backing musicians are musicians hired to perform in recording sessions or live performances. The term sideman is also used in the case of live performances, such as accompanying a recording artist on a ...

for

guitars The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

trumpet The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitched one octave below the standard ...

trombone The trombone (german: Posaune, Italian, French: ''trombone'') is a musical instrument in the Brass instrument, brass family. As with all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player's vibrating lips cause the Standing wave, air column ...

saxophone The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed on a mouthpiece vibrates to pr ...

and

choirs A choir ( ; also known as a chorale or chorus) is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform. Choirs may perform music from the classical music repertoire, which sp ...

, while Vico C played the

electronic keyboard An electronic keyboard, portable keyboard, or digital keyboard is an electronic musical instrument, an electronic derivative of keyboard instruments. Electronic keyboards include synthesizers, digital pianos, stage pianos, electronic organs an ...

on eight of the thirteen songs that includes the album. It features urban artists including

Arcángel Austin Agustín SantosBiografía de Arcángel
Retrieved on May 19, 2017 (born Decembe ...

Yaga & Mackie Yaga & Mackie are a reggaeton duo from Puerto Rico. They are signed to Los Mackieavelikos Inc. Discography Studio albums * 2002: ''Sonando Diferente'' * 2004: ''Clase Aparte'' * 2005: ''La Moda'' * 2007: ''La Reunión'' * 2008: ''Los Mackieav ...

and Wiso G, and also other artists from other genres like

Gustavo Laureano Gustavo Laureano is a Puerto Rican guitarist and composer. He is best known for being the lead singer of the band La Secta AllStar. Career As a songwriter and solo artist Laureano began his career as a songwriter, together with friend Mark Ki ...

, Ángel López and

Andy Montañez Andrés Montañez Rodríguez (born May 7, 1942), better known as Andy Montañez, is a Puerto Rican singer and songwriter. Early life Montañez is a native of the ''Tras Talleres'' area of Santurce, San Juan, Puerto Rico. He is known by the nic ...

. The album was nominated for a

Latin Grammy Award for Best Urban Music Album The Latin Grammy Award for Best Urban Music Album is an honor presented annually at the Latin Grammy Awards, a ceremony that recognizes excellence and promotes a wider awareness of cultural diversity and contributions of Latin Americans, Latin re ...

on 2010, losing to

Chino & Nacho Chino & Nacho is a Venezuelan pop duo, consisting of Jesús Alberto Miranda Pérez (Chino) (born November 15, 1984) and Miguel Ignacio Mendoza Donatti (Nacho) (born August 22, 1983). In 2010, the group won a Latin Grammy for Best Urban Album f ...

's ''

Mi Niña Bonita ''Mi Niña Bonita'' is the second studio album released by the Venezuelan reggaeton duo Chino & Nacho. It was released on 6 April 2010.

''. Its lead single, "Sentimiento", was also nominated for a

Latin Grammy Award for Best Urban Song The Latin Grammy Award for Best Urban Song is an honor presented annually at the Latin Grammy Awards, a ceremony that recognizes excellence and promotes a wider awareness of cultural diversity and contributions of Latin recording artists in the Un ...

, but lost to

La Mala Rodríguez LA most frequently refers to Los Angeles, the second largest city in the United States. La, LA, or L.A. may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * La (musical note), or A, the sixth note * "L.A.", a song by Elliott Smith on ''Figure ...

' "No Pidas Perdón". This is currently the last studio album by Vico C, however his last production was a compilation made by

Sony Music Latin Sony Music Entertainment US Latin LLC (often referred to as Sony Music Latin) is a record label owned by Sony Music. The label focuses on artists of Latin music. History In 1979, CBS Records (now Columbia Records) ended its partnership with C ...

titled ''Frente A Frente'' with former reggaeton artist

Julio Voltio Julio Voltio (born as Julio Irving Ramos Filomeno on June 11, 1977 in Santurce, Puerto Rico) is a Puerto Rican former reggaeton artist. A pioneer of the reggaeton genre, Voltio retired from music in 2014 and dedicated himself to preaching Christi ...

, released in 2013. Commercially, ''Babilla'' is the less successful studio album by Vico C since 1998 and also the first one since that year that appeared in only one category on

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

charts, debuting 13th on

Top Latin Albums Top Latin Albums is a record chart published by ''Billboard'' magazine and is labeled as the most important music chart for Spanish language, full-length albums in the American music market. Like all ''Billboard'' album charts, the chart is based ...

and charting just two weeks.

Background

''Babilla'' was released four years after his last studio album, '' Desahogo'', and three years after his last production (excluding greatest hits compilations), which was a live album titled '' El Encuentro''. During the 2000s, Vico C was certificated twice by the

Recording Industry Association of America The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/o ...

(RIAA) for his albums '' En Honor A La Verdad'' and ''Desahogo'', and won two Latin Grammy Awards for Best Urban Music Album for '' Vivo'' and also for ''En Honor A La Verdad''. According to

EMI Latin Capitol Latin (formerly EMI Latin) is a brand of Universal Music Latin Entertainment, a division of Universal Music Group. Previously, it was a subsidiary of EMI. History In 1989, José Behar, the former head of CBS Discos, signed Selena to E ...

, Vico C sold 750,000 copies worldwide as of May 2004. As of his personal life, he adopted a 7-year-old girl named Joselyn in September 2006, being his fourth child with his wife Sonia Torres and fifth in total. In 2008, Vico C collaborated for the first time with

Héctor el Father Héctor Luis Delgado Román (born September 4, 1979) is a Puerto Rican rapper, singer and record producer, formerly known by his stage names Héctor "El Father" and Héctor "El Bambino". After retirement, he obtained a degree in Theology at Sou ...

, who was recently converted into

christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global pop ...

and also wrote the song "Y Llora" for his last album: '' Juicio Final''.

Lyrics

Vico C was always been characterized for his social, political and religious themes on his lyrics, which became more common after his full conversion into christianity in the mid-90s. The themes on ''Babilla'' are centered in Vico's personal experiences,

society A society is a group of individuals involved in persistent social interaction, or a large social group sharing the same spatial or social territory, typically subject to the same political authority and dominant cultural expectations. Socie ...

morality Morality () is the differentiation of intentions, decisions and actions between those that are distinguished as proper (right) and those that are improper (wrong). Morality can be a body of standards or principles derived from a code of cond ...

, low class life, human self reflection and romance, with

conscious hip hop Political hip hop is a subgenre of hip hop music that was developed in the 1980s as a way of turning hip hop into a call for political and/or social action and a form of social and/or political activism. Inspired by 1970s political artists su ...

and

alternative reggaeton Alternative reggaeton is a subgenre of reggaeton that emerged from the reggaeton movement as a reaction to its repetitive and monotone dembow rhythm, and the predominant stereotypical gangsta content that became predictable. The result was a comp ...

as its main genres. The cover's dark atmosphere and Vico C holding up an anti-pollution mask might represent the society's contamination with

crime In ordinary language, a crime is an unlawful act punishable by a State (polity), state or other authority. The term ''crime'' does not, in modern criminal law, have any simple and universally accepted definition,Farmer, Lindsay: "Crime, definit ...

(blood on the street, the police car behind Vico and a

barricade tape Barricade tape is brightly colored tape (often incorporating a two-tone pattern of alternating yellow-black or red-white stripes or the words "Caution" or "Danger" in prominent lettering) that is used to warn or catch the attention of passersby ...

poverty Poverty is the state of having few material possessions or little income. Poverty can have diverse social, economic, and political causes and effects. When evaluating poverty in ...

(the

homeless Homelessness or houselessness – also known as a state of being unhoused or unsheltered – is the condition of lacking stable, safe, and adequate housing. People can be categorized as homeless if they are: * living on the streets, also kn ...

man and the buildings deterioration) and

prostitution Prostitution is the business or practice of engaging in Sex work, sexual activity in exchange for payment. The definition of "sexual activity" varies, and is often defined as an activity requiring physical contact (e.g., sexual intercourse, n ...

(the strip club at the background). The first track, «Babilla» (Puerto Rican

jargon Jargon is the specialized terminology associated with a particular field or area of activity. Jargon is normally employed in a particular Context (language use), communicative context and may not be well understood outside that context. The conte ...

for ''Courage''), serves as the album's intro, and its concept is similar to the one in his previous studio album, ''Desahogo'', being a relief to all that annoys him, mentioning

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021. Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of Pe ...

xenophobia Xenophobia () is the fear or dislike of anything which is perceived as being foreign or strange. It is an expression of perceived conflict between an in-group and out-group and may manifest in suspicion by the one of the other's activities, a ...

, sexual

video games Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device to gener ...

religion Religion is usually defined as a social- cultural system of designated behaviors and practices, morals, beliefs, worldviews, texts, sanctified places, prophecies, ethics, or organizations, that generally relates humanity to supernatural, ...

and people who want to take advantage with his music. «Sentimiento» (Spanish for ''Feeling'') talks about a beautiful and attractive woman who wants a sincere romantic relationship and getting married instead of money and luxury. «Se Escapa» (Spanish for ''She Escapes'') is about respecting and taking care of one's girlfriend in order to not lose her. «Moriré» (Spanish for ''I Will Die'') is a

romantic ballad Latin ballad ( es, balada romántica) is a sentimental ballad derived from bolero that originated in the early 1960s in Los Angeles, California and Southern California. Some of the best known artists of the Latin ballad are Julio Iglesias, Moceda ...

about dying for a woman if she is no longer interested in one's feelings after a long relationship, using a lot of analogies centered in animals and nature. «El Silencio Mata» (Spanish for ''Silence Kills'') talks about a woman who suffers of

domestic violence Domestic violence (also known as domestic abuse or family violence) is violence or other abuse that occurs in a domestic setting, such as in a marriage or cohabitation. ''Domestic violence'' is often used as a synonym for ''intimate partner ...

but needs to talk to someone about that, although she's too scared to denounce his own spouse. «El Corazón Se Pone Bruto» (Spanish for ''The Heart Gets Stupid'') is a moralizing reggaeton about thinking before acting and encouraging the use of

preservative A preservative is a substance or a chemical that is added to products such as food products, beverages, pharmaceutical drugs, paints, biological samples, cosmetics, wood, and many other products to prevent decomposition by microbial growth or by ...

, telling two stories about girls that are attracted to men they recently know, both with terrible endings (one girl ends pregnant and the other contracting

AIDS Human immunodeficiency virus infection and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) is a spectrum of conditions caused by infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), a retrovirus. Following initial infection an individual m ...

). «La Prueba de Farmacia» (Spanish for ''Pharmacy Test'') tells the story about a pregnant teenager who tries to convince her mother that her boyfriend will take care of her whatever happens. «Angelina» tells the story about a low class single mother who have to work as a

stripper A stripper or exotic dancer is a person whose occupation involves performing striptease in a public adult entertainment venue such as a strip club. At times, a stripper may be hired to perform at a bachelor party or other private event. M ...

in order to earn enough money to feed her baby after being abandoned by her boyfriend. «Agua» is about Vico's detention in late 2002 because of porting heroin in his car, complaining about the police and Puerto Rican justice. The term ''agua'' (literally ''water'' in Spanish) is used in the song as a Puerto Rican jargon referring to the police.

Track listing

All tracks produced by Vico C (except track 6, produced by Diesel).

Credits and personnel

Credits adapted from the CD information. ;Musicians *Luis Lozada:

Vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...

(all),

lyrics Lyrics are words that make up a song, usually consisting of verses and choruses. The writer of lyrics is a lyricist. The words to an extended musical composition such as an opera are, however, usually known as a "libretto" and their writer, a ...

(all),

(tracks 2–5, 7, 10, 11, 13),

producer Producer or producers may refer to: Occupations *Producer (agriculture), a farm operator *A stakeholder of economic production *Film producer, supervises the making of films **Executive producer, contributes to a film's budget and usually does not ...

(all but 6),

background vocals A backing vocalist is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists. A backing vocalist may also sing alone as a lead-in to the main vocalist's entry or to sing a counter-melody. Backing vocalists are used ...

on "Aquí La Que Falló Fue Usted" and

executive producer Executive producer (EP) is one of the top positions in the making of a commercial entertainment product. Depending on the medium, the executive producer may be concerned with management accounting or associated with legal issues (like copyrights o ...

. *Aaron Peña:

Drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

(tracks 4, 7 and 8). *Anthony Calo: Drums (tracks 4, 7 and 8). *Nak Casiano: Vocals (tracks 4 and 8). *Charlie de Jesús:

Guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

s (tracks 4, 7 and 10). *Harold Hopkins:

Bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in the bass range: ** Bass (instrument), including: ** Acoustic bass gui ...

(tracks 4 and 5). *Luis Díaz:

Trumpet The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitched one octave below the standard ...

(tracks 4, 9 and 13). *Nelson Colón:

Trombone The trombone (german: Posaune, Italian, French: ''trombone'') is a musical instrument in the Brass instrument, brass family. As with all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player's vibrating lips cause the Standing wave, air column ...

(tracks 4 and 13). *Jovanni Santos: Percussion on "Se Escapa". *Armando Rosario: Lyrics on "Payasito". *Jackie Escandarani: Choir on "El Silencio Mata". *Francisco Ortíz: Choir on "El Silencio Mata". *Celenia Sanchez: Choir on "El Silencio Mata" and background vocals on "Aquí La Que Falló Fue Usted". *Francisco Rosado: Percussion (tracks 7 and 10). *Juan Cobarubia: Guitars on "La Prueba de Farmacia". *Nabeel Abdulrahman: Guitars on "La Prueba de Farmacia". *Alex Iglesias: Trombone on "La Prueba de Farmacia". *Natanael Afanadon:

Saxophone The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed on a mouthpiece vibrates to pr ...

on "La Prueba de Farmacia". *Gilberto Mena:

Piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...

on "Aquí La Que Falló Fue Usted" *Etienne Rivera: Percussion on "Aquí La Que Falló Fue Usted" *Joel Marrero: Bass on "Aquí La Que Falló Fue Usted". ;Guest artists *Austin Santos: Vocals on "Sentimiento". *Javier Martinez: Vocals and lyrics on "Se Escapa". *Luis Pizarro: Vocals and lyrics on "Se Escapa". *Ángel Ortíz: Vocals and lyrics on "Payasito". *Gustavo Laureano: Vocals on "La Prueba de Farmacia". *Ángel López: Vocals on "Angelina". *Andrés Montañéz: Vocals on "Aquí La Que Falló Fue Usted". ;Production *José Cotto:

Recording engineer An audio engineer (also known as a sound engineer or recording engineer) helps to produce a recording or a live performance, balancing and adjusting sound sources using equalization, dynamics processing and audio effects, mixing, reproduction, ...

(tracks 1–10) and mixing (all but 12). *Armando Rosario: Producer on "Payasito". *Luis Almonte: Recording engineer (tracks 6, 11–13) and mixing and electronic keyboard on "Aquí La Que Falló Fue Usted". *Joel Morales: Recording engineer (tracks 7, 11, 13). *Mike Fuller: Mastering. ;Studios *Más Flow Studios (Carolina, P.R.): Recording (tracks 1–6 and 8–10) and mixing (5). *Pichaera Studios (San Juan, P.R.): Recording (tracks 6 and 11–13) and mixing (12). *Rotary Music Studios (Bayamón, P.R.): Recording (track 7) and mixing (1–6 and 9). *Golden Boy Studios (San Juan, P.R.): Recording (track 13). *KDS Studios (Florida, U.S.): Mixing (tracks 3, 7, 8, 10, 11 and 13). *Fullersound, Inc. (Florida, U.S.): Mastering. ;Other *Carlos Martin: Photographer. *Milton Cruz: Stylist. *Luis Marquez: CD artwork design. *Omar Hernandez: CD artwork design. *Edwin Prado: Executive producer and management.

Charts performance

Nominations

, - , align="center" rowspan="2", 2010 , ''Babilla'' ,

Latin Grammy Award The Latin Grammy Awards are an award by The Latin Recording Academy to recognize outstanding achievement in the Latin music industry. The Latin Grammy honors works recorded in Spanish or Portuguese from anywhere around the world that has been r ...

– Best Urban Music Album , , - , "Sentimiento" (featuring Arcángel) , Latin Grammy Award – Best Urban Song ,

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Babilla 2009 albums Vico C albums