Crunchy ‘Nanas

Ozomatli’s “Don’t Mess with the Dragon” is brilliant. It makes you shake it and want to take action toward a better world in true Ozo fashion. It does not disappoint. Except in the moments when you wonder if they have stayed true to themselves, or if they could have sacrificed a bit of their inner fire in attempt to (finally!) break into the mainstream. If they have done, I can’t blame them. I don’t understand the mechanics of the airwaves. Lily Allen and James Blunt get played so many times you want to rip out your car radio and toss it out the window while crossing the Thames. Yet, a group that makes awesome, innovative sound and has inspiring things to say rarely gets airplay. Though, I wonder if this could have more to do with their politics than their music. Which is another sad commentary on the world.

The hype around this album seems to be its cohesiveness, its flow. I agree, it’s smooth. But better? No. I’m with the 372 people on the website poll so far who say they love it, but don’t choose it as the best album they’ve ever done. Call me crazy, but part of Ozo’s charm is hip-hop one minute, cumbia the next. Ah hell, let’s slip in some string orchestration. Mix in your middle Eastern tones with your salsa groove to rock out. For me, this works. I like their diversity. I LIKE that you can’t assign them neatly to a musical genre. They are bigger than that proverbial box.

But, I guess in the real world, that doesn’t make for radio play. (Which is a shame, what’s wrong with people?) I hope this album gets them the recognition they’ve worked so hard the last twelve years to earn. But, even if it doesn’t, they’ll still have their loyal fans. We know it just ain’t a party with no O-Z-Os!

This entry was posted on Thursday, 12th April 2007 at  10:36 and is filed under Crunchy grooves. You can follow responses to this entry using the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.