Los Veteranos

The fact that Los Veteranos (The Veterans) is a difficult album and that it has generated numerous opinions (for and against), only confirm that SFDK is one of the main references within Spanish rap. The purists accused them of selling out, of changing their style, of not being real rappers: the never-ending, inevitable, and nonsensical conflict between the music and the masses. In any case, with this fifth studio album, the duo from Sevilla (southern Spain) show themselves as a mature group not afraid of experimenting, although they dont reach the level of 2001 Odisea en el Lodo, their master work. But the master works are not very common, thats why they are catalogued as extraordinary works. Nevertheless, the truth is some extra listens are needed to master this album, to let you soak in the instrumentals of Accion Sanchez (half of SFDK). Why more listens than usual? Because the albums weight partly veers from the rhymes to the production (with Accion Sanchez entirely in charge of) so it is more complicated to appreciate the sparse, well-built phrases of MC Zatu. This sudden responsibility of the soundman is clear throughout the album, which is full of crazy scratching and broken beats that, in many cases, steal relevance from the rhymes and, moreover, tend to reduce their clarity. "Phanton" stands out because of its double tempo, but it gives the impression that the flow is dragged down by the fast base. Something similar occurs in the songs "Intermedio" and "El Umbral," where the original bases seem to swallow the words. Nonetheless, after a hard brickwork piercing the wall of quality samples and itchy scratches, you can bump into some golden words like "Yo soy Guey, famoso constructor de barcos/me gritaron en el norte/Zatu vuelve al hardcore" from the song "La Exaltacion del Yo," or the whole cut "Hablando de Nada" (Talking About Nothing) which proves that a message is not a sine qua non condition to make good rap (although, in many cases, it helps to enhance its beauty). A separate remark must be made for "Esclavos," which embraces the albums best features from both SFDK members (rhymes and instrumentals) and what they know about what the fans desire -- according to a conversation extracted from "Intermedio": "frases cortas/tempo/pausa" (short phrases/tempo/pause). It is not an album to begin with the rap; it requires patience, a good pair of headphones, and to forget 2001 Odisea en el Lodo. Once youve achieved these requisites, you can enjoy a good album. ~ Alfonso Goiriz