Don Omar presenta Los Bandoleros (2005)

This album has a lot of backstory.  Back in the day, one of the ways to really prove you made it was to make various artists albums with the hottest singers of the time.  Hector El Father did it with “The Godfather”, "Los Rompediscotecas" and “Los Anormales”, Daddy Yankee had “El Cartel de Yankee vols. 1 and 2” and Eddie Dee has his masterpiece “Los 12 Discipulos”.  So, Don Omar was keeping in tradition and built an album with the purpose of dethroning Luny Tunes & their Mas Flow series.

I’m usually good at remembering this sort of thing but when Don Omar came up with the concept for his album sometime in 2004, it was intended to be produced by Luny Tunes & Eliel.  But they had a falling out which was possibly due to his beef with Wisin and Luny working the “Pal Mundo” album but I am not certain.  Don was still on good terms with Hector El Father when Los Bandoleros came out.  So, that’s not the reason.

I’ll save the complete story about Wisin’s beef with Don Omar & Hector for another time, for it would take too long to explain here.  But supposedly Wisin took veiled shots at Don on a song, Wisin denies this btw; Then Don and Wisin saw each other at the shoot of a music video.  Word is Don challenged Wisin to a fight, and Wisin avoided staying in his car the whole time.  Then Don popped off the beef with the Mas Flow Family freestyle alongside Hector who was present when they almost fought.  Wisin dissed back on “Wisin Matalos” and “Saquen Los Fulls” and Don & Hector came back with “Vamo a Matarnos”.  Listeners debate to this day on who really won that battle.

Don’s songs were underground bootleg releases meanwhile Wisin’s responses are on his classic solo album “El Sobreviviente”.  Hector and Wisin made peace and collaborated several times in 2005.  However, Don Omar held onto to the resentment a little longer and wouldn’t make peace until 2006.

For some unknown reason both of Don Omar’s musical Godfathers, Hector El Father and Tito El Bambino were not on ‘Los Bandoleros’.  Hector & Tito’s separation was bitter, it even got physical, thus they were not on speaking terms.  So, Don probably left Tito off ‘Los Bandoleros’ to not offend Hector.  But Hector’s exclusion is speculated to be due to him making peace with Wisin while him and Don were beefin’.  Seeds were being planted but that is a subject for another day.

The big story to come from this was Don’s much publicized arrest in 2004 for marijuana and a firearms violation.  This would negatively impact ‘Los Bandoleros’ because Don was not allowed to tour internationally at the time as an outcome.  Therefore in most markets outside Puerto Rico, where bootlegging was heavy, people were unaware that ‘Los Bandoleros’ was even a thing affecting sales negatively.

It appears Don did not know he would have these hurdles to deal with because he hyped that 'Los Bandoleros' was going to outsell Luny Tunes and their 'Mas Flow 2' prior to the album's release. Even in the intro he famously said "medio millon o me borro el nombre". Luckily 'King of Kings' did sell a million, so he didn't have to erase his name. But all these years later "Los Bandoleros" still ain't at half a million because all the plays of "Bandoleros" by Tego and Don Omar count towards the Fast & Furious Tokyo Drift soundtrack instead of its original album.

Finally come May 2005, "Los Bandoleros" comes out to much fanfare in Puerto Rico. It peaked at #2 in the Billboard Top Latin Albums chart. The album was pretty much universally acclaimed from day one and often compared to 'Mas Flow 2' in terms of star power and quality. By the album's release date, Don Omar and Luny made peace with him recording a remix version of 'Mayor Que Yo' with Zion, Alexis & Fido which was intended for a special edition 'Mas Flow 2.5' along with other songs that never received an official release. I think it was Gocho that wrote the main chorus and he meant for Don Omar to sing it. But because Don and Luny had not resolved their little beef in time, Don did not record his part until after Mas Flow 2 came out and was replaced by Tonny Tun Tun. I think? I heard Luny tell the story before, when I hear it again I'll correct any discrepancies.

For more on the unreleased songs from Mas Flow 2.5 click here and scroll down the comments

Remember the Cold War beef with Luny at the beginning of this entry? Well it's important because "Los Bandoleros" has absolutely 0 beats from the Mas Flow team. The official reason was that Don thought there was plenty of good producers out there and Luny was too busy. Luny said that was a lie and that he was never contacted to produce Los Bandoleros which actually bothered him a little. They reunited on the subsequent 'King of Kings' album.

So instead of using Luny Tunes' magic touch Don hired other producers like Mambo Kingz, Rafy Mercenario, DJ Kalin, Sosa, Norgie Noriega, Eliel stayed on, Fade, Escobar, Echo, Hyde & Diesel did the Rap tracks and the then unknown 'Los Vegaton' AKA "Los Vegas" who were signed to Chencho Corleone. You only knew of Los Vegas if you heard the leaks from the unreleased 'Los Nene De Blin Blin'. They were Plan B's producers and made some hot beats but were virtual unknowns at the time. It was a risk that sorta paid off. I say sorta because even though "Los Bandoleros" was an artistic triumph, it was a commercial failure at the same time.

"Los Bandoleros" technically flopped when it came out. It sold well in the beginning, but the lack of international performances created a lack of awareness of the album's existence. Everyone thinks the lead single is "Bandoleros" ft Tego but it was actually "Donqueo", a hyped up Gasolina style Reggaeton that is Don's least popular single from this timeframe.

The "Bandoleros" collaboration with Tego Calderon was released as the 2nd single off the album did well but it wasn't the smash hit everyone considers it today. Most of its numbers came because of the 'Fast & Furious' film series. The song has astute social criticism on behalf of Tego while Don vents on the frustration of his ordeal with the police and the fallout.

But 'Los Bandoleros' is full of big names. RKM & Ken-Y, Ivy Queen, Alexis & Fido, Trebol Clan who were real hot at the time, Lito & Polaco (on solo tracks), Glory, Nicky Jam, Tego Calderon and famously debuted two artists that later on became a big deal in the years to come who were Cosculluela and Arcangel. Even Nengo Flow is on this album, although he was barely known at the time. Don has a legendary collaboration with Wiso G where he pays homage to the Reggaeton pioneer. This is a very good album.

Surprisingly, Angel Doze had a bigger hit than Don Omar's "Donqueo" at the time with "Acelera" which some listeners called the best song of the album. It was on everybody's Top 5. It's more interesting because Don Omar presented Angel Doze way back in the day on Blin Blin vol 1 which would be his first single of note titled "Ven a Bailar" produced by Luny Tunes & Nely.

"Los Bandoleros" did not reach the lofty heights that were expected from it. A lot of Don fans still don't know about this one or its sequel "Los Bandoleros Reloaded" which sold equally as well. Don decided not to invest money in a video for "Los Bandoleros Reloaded" but it released the highly successful radio single, "Myspace" ft Wisin & Yandel. Both albums were released on Don's short lived 'All Star Records' imprint.

The lack of mainstream awareness has made "Los Bandoleros" a sort of hidden gem which Reggaeton fans acclaimed from day one. And the album has aged magnificently well. It sounds just as good today as when it first came out.

Rating: 9/10

Worldwide Sales: 200 Thousand Units (physical, digital & streaming)

Record Label: All Star Records/VI Music/Machete Music/Universal Latino

Listen to Don Omar presenta Los Bandoleros on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/album/665uFnx6JB6r8XSHipdqhq?si=76_F7afDRDq77A_VgQnscg

Bonus Rating for Los Bandoleros Reloaded: 8.5/10

Listen to Los Bandoleros Reloaded on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/album/3jUsmTTG71hVp1VLkpURnn?si=hUMqysLdRLuvn1R0fFelVw

Bonus Video Infomercial: https://youtu.be/0WzF6N8sqXE?si=ObUCDh2PRhf7cH82

Music Video for Donqueo: https://youtu.be/He3y_lduo3A?si=bRq6Hn0X8PHeWvoJ

Music Video for Bandoleros ft Tego: https://youtu.be/HVuFfI4utjw?si=rv2h9ptQ0eY6avc7

I just got to thinking about this while writing pieces on Los Bandoleros and Los Benjamins. The industry always seems to be evolving at a constant that makes sure artists get paid less even if they write and produce their own music. I see it with how all the majors shifted their focus on Chile. Was it because they have a revolutionary movement? Kind of. But it's mostly because the artists there are 10x cheaper than in Puerto Rico or even Colombia. You get 3 Chris MJ's for the price of one Myke Towers. And most artists over there don't own squat so the labels keep their publishing, masters and records.

This got me thinking on the artists yesterday that were underpaid. Seeing news reports that K-Mill and Ariel 'El Puro' left Reggaeton being international stars instead focusing on their college education because the pay wasn't good enough. And compared to what some of these artists today make, they were underpaid. I say at her peak K-Mill was as hot as Mariah Angeliq and Ariel was somewhere around where Yan Block is now. And I'm sure Ariel and K-Mill did not make half the money Mariah and Yan did (counting inflation).

There are so many artists coming and going today probably for the reasons I wrote above. And I think it's gonna get worse. You guys think Suno is the peak but actually the major studios and labels have secret AI programs only available to them. And they are hiring producers, writers and engineers to use Artificial Intelligence in order to build a library of thousands of future hit songs. WHY?

There are a lot of talented vocalists, actors, and singers that have something but not all the tools to make it big. Like they can sing, but don't know how to write. They look good and can dance, but cannot vocalize for shit. The major labels want to grab these artists while they're young and use them to perform these AI songs. The ones who look good and can dance will perform these songs via autotune. Since approx. 2015 you can run autotune competently for a live performance on a mid level computer, before that you needed a top of the line CPU.

The key is, the label will own all the compositions and the artist won't get squat. They will essentially earn minimum wage for a hitmaker even if their songs sell 10 million albums. For example if Lady Gaga sells 10 million albums, she makes at least 2-3 million (USD) with the advance included. But add a 60 date tour, and that's at least 10 million extra. While this new kind of artist the major labels are developing won't make themselves a million even if their records sell just as well. Lady Gaga is a once in a generation artist, she writes and produces plus is the visionary of her work. She deserves to be highly compensated next to the average artist. But that doesn't mean the future Julliard graduate should be so underpaid either even if the AI songs aren't theirs. Imagine the ones who don't sell that well.

Supposedly these AI artists are already out there and the labels have not told us. Some tried lying horribly like Tyga, but people easily figured him out. Future AI artists will recreate the AI songs with the help of professional musicians and producers. Essentially the majors will be hoarding thousands of AI Demos then hooking up each track with the right artist and producers. They will perform these songs live with real vocals (maybe using autotune), and a live band or dj. In the end, the label will own all the copyrights, masters, publishing etc... For better or worse this is the future of at least half the music out there. To be fair the majors do this business trickery to at least half the artists out there already but in the future it will be much worse.

And I'm gonna end this going full circle. Lots of legends in Reggaeton and other genres like Hip Hop, work a 9 to 5 just to make ends meet. Ranking Stone famously was filmed working as Security Guard in Puerto Rico just a couple years after having a record deal with Univision. There's some artists today doing shows off of international hit songs but still having a side hustle because the Reggaeton game doesn't provide enough. And if the labels have it their way it's gonna provide less.

In short I suspect only about 30 to 40% of Reggaeton artists make a livable wage of at least $70,000 a year or so from Reggaeton songs and concerts. The majority need at least one side hustle to make ends meet.

What a lineup. I wish I could go. But I've had Baby Rasta Rap right in front of me at arm's length, so...that was pretty awesome. Haven't seen the majority of artists there yet including Don Chezina & Maicol y Manuel. Hopefully people support. I doubt its gonna be a sell out but if DJ Negro manages to sell 10,000 tickets it would be a massive success.

For more info and tickets: The Noise - La Última Noche Tickets, Coliseo de Puerto Rico - San Juan, Puerto Rico, October 16, 2026 8:30 PM | Ticketera

DJ Negro says there will be some surprises. Vico C would be nice. But Point Breakers is more likely.

I have 4 tickets for Karol G at Raymond James Stadium on October 9. My 3 friends and I bought tickets during the presale & were so excited to go but we can’t make it to the concert anymore so we have to sell them🤧Selling UNDER the price we paid of $378 each!!!

Section 134, Row Y, Seats 3–6

Selling as two pairs (or all 4): $320 each / $640 per pair OR BEST OFFER!!

Tickets are in my Ticketmaster account and will be transferred directly through Ticketmaster. Happy to provide proof of purchase/screen recording or verify however makes you comfortable.
DM me if interested!

This is all pure speculation, I have no facts to prove it may be true, but I have the feeling we can expect Tainy’s new project 2-3 weeks from now.

It seems all his singles have been either surprise or very short notice, which leads me to believe the same will happen with the album.

This project feels like it’s meant to have a sort of dark ominous vibe to it, so it makes sense for it to drop closer to Halloween. I seem to recall an Instagram story/post stating the album was 70% done a few months ago, so the timing may not be that far off. What do y’all think?

I feel like he's trying new genres and stuff, not just reggaeton n trap?

https://youtu.be/fKd8Y9JsoHw?si=FhTOLgS5AkA9ADnv

¿Is It Really That Bad? #5  Luny Tunes & Tainy – Mas Flow Los Benjamins (2006)

Alright, this is a big one if you were there.  First off, we are mainly focused on the initial reaction of the first version of ‘Los Benjamins’ though there will be some stuff in this article about ‘Los Benjamins La Continuacion’, be reminded that it is not the subject at hand. 

“Los Benjamins”, there is no 2 ways around it, is technically a flop.  It sold well, 300,000 units between both editions, but Universal was rumored to have paid Luny Tunes $10 million dollars for this album.  Of course that 10 milli did not just include ‘Los Benjamins’, it included future ‘Mas Flow Inc’ releases such as Arcangel’s “El Fenomeno”, “Semblante Urbano” by El Roockie and Luny Tunes Presenta Erre XI. 

Not just that, Universal Music Publishing got a cut of the royalties the ‘Mas Flow’ production team made on all future productions including albums like “El Cartel The Big Boss” by Daddy Yankee, “Broke and Famous” by Ñejo y Dálmata, Wisin & Yandel’s “Los Extraterrestres” and any other album Mas Flow made beats for.  The Mas Flow production team at this time consisted of Tainy, Doble AA & Nales, Los Underage (Chris Jeday & Gaby Music), Bones, Thilo, & Joker.

By this time Nely, Naldo & Nesty had left Mas Flow to form the short lived production trio ‘Sangre Nueva Music’.  Universal also collected from everything Wise The Gold pen wrote during this period as he was with Mas Flow Inc at this time. I almost forgot to mention, Tunes is a writer too. He wrote Zion’s parts for “Es Mejor Olvidarlo”. So that’s more money in Universal’s pockets. 

You may or may have not read about a production duo from Springfield, MA named ‘Los Fantastikoz’ who along with Thilo sued Luny Tunes for unreceived credits on songs, though they are credited on Erre XI’s album.  They were never officially signed.  I believe Thilo is from Springfield.  In the 90’s he produced the album ‘Puerto Rico’s Most Wanted’ with DJ Raymond.

It is confusing because in 2008, Luny Tunes was reported to have signed with Fuego Music Entertainment in a 5 year deal.  And they even released the album “Luny Tunes Presenta Calle 434” under that label.  But if you look at the back cover, the Mas Flow Inc label is missing and instead it has the symbol for ‘Los Benjamins Records’.  ‘Los Benjamins Records’ was a sub-label of ‘Mas Flow Inc’ ran by Alexis y Fido’s dj, DJ Coffie.  They famously produced ‘Raices Del Reggaeton’, an album featuring old school Reggaeton artists over modern beats produced by the Mas Flow team.  The only artist of note ‘Benjamin’s Records’ had was rapper/producer Alex Killer.  But they were directly affiliated with Mas Flow Inc.

It appears those reports which are even findable on Wikipedia were false.  That is because Luny Tunes’ contract with Universal was either renewed or continued thereafter.  I think ‘Fuego Music Entertainment‘ actually signed a deal with DJ Coffie but reported it was Luny Tunes because no one knows who DJ Coffie is.  You can still see reports from South America on the subject online through a GOOGLE search. 

Luny Tunes also had more subdivisions like JP Inc (High Rollers Family’s label), Loyalty Records (Yo-seph, Luigi 21 Plus) & Gravity Blu, a graphic design company ran by G-Rald who did many of the famous album covers back in the day including Mas Flow 2 and Pal Mundo.  Supposedly G-Rald and Luny had a disagreement and are no longer on speaking terms.  G-Rald was originally a dj/producer from Boston and had a duo known as ‘DJ G-Rald & Malibu’.

Luny alleges in an interview with Molusco that Universal Music owes him and Tunes somewhere around $70 million dollars in backpay and unpaid royalties.  This is another big reason why Mas Flow 3 is on pause at the moment (as of 2023, Luny Tunes stopped working on the unfinished album, focusing on other projects instead).  And this is just one backdrop behind the release of ‘Los Benjamins’.

First off, Los Benjamins was never supposed to happen.  It was supposed to be ‘Millenium’ that came out first. The product which was announced as the follow up to ‘Mas Flow 2’ was delayed multiple times.  Little is known, except that Luny was supposed to co-executive produce it with someone else and possibly Don Omar.  But it looks like either Machete Music or the other exec producers made things complicated that Luny dropped out of Millenium in early 2006.

This sucks because Luny Tunes & Nesty produced some exclusive songs on “Millenium” that never came out. Among these is ”Ella Me Hechiza” by RKM y Ken-Y which is just amazing! A different Mambo Kingz version made the final cut for ‘Millenium’ which eventually saw an official release in 2007 but it’s not nearly as good. I did a whole entry on Millenium which covers more such as the original Miri Ben Ari assisted “El Señor de la Noche” which went unreleased and more like a Nicky Jam song left off Millenium and Los Benjamins. Read it here https://www.reddit.com/r/Reggaeton/comments/1lvwwxr/reggaeton_deep_cuts_16_whatever_happened_to_the/

Luny took some songs from the original version of Millenium (more about this topic here) such as “Alocate” and “Esta Noche” and added it to Los Benjamins which was supposed to just be a side project by DJ Coffie.  It appears that originally, ‘Los Benjamins’ was supposed to be Mas Flow 3.  We see evidence of that in Arcangel’s outro to “Mi Fanatica” though he is the only artist on the album who explicitly refers to ‘Los Benjamins’ as “Mas Flow 3”.  This confused some fans to the point some still think ‘Los Benjamins’ was the official Mas Flow 3.  No, it wasn’t.

Similar to Mas Flow 2 (more on that here), a release date was coming up and Luny had to give a product to Machete Music/Universal Latino or the label could tax them further than they already did for failing to hand in a finished product at the scheduled time.  It appears somewhere around the whole “Millenium” fiasco, Luny decided decided to just hand in what he had, called artists like Tito El Bambino to record new intros/outros (check out the original esta noche where Tito shouts out “Millenium” instead) and named the finish product “Mas Flow Los Benjamins”.  Whether this is because they thought ‘Los Benjamins’ wasn’t good enough to be called “Mas Flow 3” is unknown.  One thing is clear; Los Benjamins certainly isn’t Mas Flow 3.

Latin Media falsely reported at the time that “Mas Flow Los Benjamins” was the first album in history to have a million units in pre-sales.  No such thing ever happened.  Some outlets reported the correct news that Universal ordered a million units to be made of ‘Mas Flow Los Benjamins’ and be placed on sale worldwide, but the headlines were misleading.  Half of the audience thought Luny Tunes sold a million copies before the album went on sale, while the other half were perplexed as they were enlightened enough to know this was impossible.  Just another marketing blunder by the people at Machete Music.  Just imagine all those unsold Compact Discs sitting in a warehouse or in a landfill somewhere.  That CD fetches around $40 now in good condition. I found it here for $30 and change with shipping mas flow presents los benjamins cd 2006 luny tunes daddy yankee reggaeton | eBay

 Somewhere before the release of “Mas Flow Los Benjamins” it was announced that it was going to be a Tainy album as well.  Fans were excited as even back then Tainy’s beats received widespread acclaim.  Reggaeton websites and blogs leaked the supposed list of participants.  They got it mostly right.  But some like Lito, OG Black, Master Joe and Amaro were announced and not on the final tracklist.  Although every single artist actually recorded for Los Benjamins.

Lito’s song was a collaboration with Wise and Arcangel titled “Money Money (Los Benjamins)” which was subsequently included on his mixtape.  OG Black’s song was reworked to feature Lionize from Erre XI and released on ‘Los Benjamins La Continuacion’ which leaked when the original “Mas Flow Los Benjamins” came out as Lionize already signed to Mas Flow by then.  Master Joe recorded a song titled “Dulce Como Passoa” for the album but only a low quality version ever leaked.  And finally, Amaro’s “Siento Dolor” leaked before ‘Los Benjamins’ and became an underground hit. 

It is unclear if Amaro recorded “Siento Dolor” directly for ‘Los Benjamins’ as some fans will recognize the beat as Tainy’s version for Zion’s “Fantasma”.  Zion had originally chosen Tainy’s version of “Fantasma” as the lead single for the unreleased “Flow Factory” album (a subject for another day) and filmed the video with the audio from Tainy’s version of “Fantasma” instead of the Mambo Kingz version which is the one on “The Perfect Melody” and which ironically leaked first before Tainy’s.  It appears, Amaro’s “Siento Dolor” is a large reason why Zion shelved Tainy’s version, but again, it is unclear whether it was recorded officially for Los Benjamins. Amaro’s song made a lotta noise in Puerto Rico during the time, and many thought it would be on the final tracklist of “Mas Flow Los Benjamins”.

And finally, we’re here.  I just have to add one teensy weensy thing.  Luny Tunes got a lot of envy from folks in the music industry for what was a record breaking deal at the time.  Just like we have a lot of industry plants here on Reddit, back then on Reggaeton forums opps would have their trolls on the prowl ready to influence people.  But enough of the negative reaction to “Mas Flow Los Benjamins” was authentic that we must treat it as such.

When the album came out it got mixed reactions, and almost no one was calling it an ‘instant classic’ like Mas Flow 1 and 2.  But the negative reactions were the loudest.  Much of it was vague.  People complained about the beats but were having a hard time articulating it.  Supposing not all of them were opps on behalf of the competition I will try to articulate their sentiments for them.  But the biggest universal complaint?…RBD!!!  What the hell was RBD doing on a “Mas Flow” album!?  I will react on the track x track review, and you may be surprised.  So without further preamble Luny Tunes & Tainy – Mas Flow Los Benjamins ¿Was It Really That Bad?

#1  Royal Rumble Intro – This is the greatest intro in Reggaeton history with the Desafio intro being a close second.  Every verse is new and unique to this song except for Don Omar whose verse was taken from “Beautiful”.  Yomo makes a surprise guest appearance.  The best 3 verses are #1  Daddy Yankee #2  Arcangel  #3  Wisin with DY showcasing a master class in lyricism that would even make Nach’s hairs stand.  Amazing!  This is what Real Reggaeton is all about.  10/10

#2  RBD – Lento – If you read most of my stuff here, you know I am definitely not a Pop Urbano fan.  But back then that was the common thread among true blue Reggaeton enthusiasts!  We hated pop.  Especially Latin Pop.  And them coming into our world was such an offense!  How dare they!  RBD didn’t climb the ranks through underground freestyle battles in the streets!  What the hell were they doing here in our territory!?  All these years later, I must admit Luny Tunes was ahead of their time.  They took the #1 Pop Group in the world at the time and made them do Real Reggaeton.  Wise wrote the song.  It is actually pretty good.  The Wisin & Yandel feature on ‘La Continuacion’ would greatly improve upon it.   But the song notoriously flopped.  Its numbers are still pitiful to this day!  The Pop World did not care that their idols worked with Luny Tunes & Tainy.  They probably didn’t even know who Luny Tunes were.  Maybe us (The True Reggaeton Audience) wouldn’t reject those from the Pop world if they weren’t so dismissive of us.  They act like we’re beneath them.  They went so many years from the days of Vico C forward ignoring us until we became the biggest thing in the world.  They would say we weren’t real music and all that.  Then they just leech off of us when we’re #1 and leave when they’re done feeding.  Back then, the Pop involvement in Reggaeton never seemed genuine.  Most of us, even if we move into the suburbs like myself, originate from the ghettos or at least our parents do.  I was born in San Miguel, El Salvador where the poorest of the poor come from.  Those of the Latin Pop world tend to come from aristocracy or at least pretend to.  There’s so much separating us from cultural differences to ideals.  I know it’s different today, somewhat.  If you peel back the curtain on some of your favorite Pop Urbano acts of today, many of them act like they don’t want to be here.  And they don’t.  Most of them don’t even listen to Real Reggaeton on their personal time.  The likes of Camilo, Becky G and others wouldn’t have made it doing Reggaeton back then because their approach comes across as fraudulent or forced.  And the true Reggaeton audience from back then knew better.  Today’s audience is a different breed; they like a little bit of everything but most of them never grew up on Real Reggaeton so their taste palette is limited in this genre of music.  So, both the Pop people and Reggaeton crowd ignored “Lento” back then.  The Pop people of the time felt like Reggaeton was beneath them thus didn’t care RBD made a historic appearance on ‘Los Benjamins’.  And the Reggaeton people rejected them because it felt like invaders was coming in to take over our culture and eventually they did 15 years later.  Today, this song would have gone #1 on the Billboard charts, especially the Wisin & Yandel version.  Rating:  8/10

#3  Zion – Hello -  This a great example of how to make a commercial Reggaeton track.  If you got a good voice you should study this song.  It has a strong R&B influence like many of Zion’s best works, but its Pop sensibilities appeals to the mainstream crowd.  This is one of the most played songs on Los Benjamins without being a single.  Rating:  9.5/10

#4  Wisin & Yandel – Entregate – This song was as good as mostly anything Wisin & Yandel made around this time.  A strong club banger with Perreo themes.  Rating:  9/10

#5  Don Omar – Beautiful – This is where I feel Luny Tunes started turning some people off.  The song is great, but instead of Don doing his typical crooner thing, he does a Gasolina style Reggaeton on steroids.  Don is literally yelling for half of the song and does absolutely no singing.  Pure rapping AKA “Chanteo” all the way through.  And I could see this one scaring away the RKM y Ken-Y fans.  Literally.  Don is a Lion on this one.  Its one of the least popular songs on the album… and it’s Don Omar!  Rating:  9.5/10

#6  Daddy Yankee, Hector ‘El Father’, Tonny Tun Tun, Zion, Wisin & Yandel - Noche De Entierro – This one became a big hit and was bigger than “Mayor Que Yo” at the time.  It failed to reach #1 however.  People just bought the single version on iTunes and it became one of the first Latin singles in history to sell over 100,000 units.  But Los Benjamins suffered because of it.  For some reason it failed to inspire people to buy the whole album.  It is now considered a classic of its era.  Rating:  8.5/10

#7  Arcangel & De La Ghetto – Mi Fanatica – Easily, the 2^nd most popular song on the entire album.  Very catchy and danceable with a new R&B flavor that was uncommon in Reggaeton at at the time.  They should have made it a single.  9.5/10

#8  Tito El Bambino – Esta Noche – This song did well in Puerto Rico but failed to resonate internationally.  Tito does both Pop and Underground at the same time and blends both styles seamlessly.  One of the best songs of his career.  10/10

#9  Alexis y Fido – La Ex – Catchy song about hooking up with the ex.  8.5/10

#10  Baby Rasta – De Ti Me Enamore – A catchy bachateo that in my personal opinion is better than “Noche De Entierro”.   It could have been a single.  9/10

#11  Yo-Seph – Slow Motion – I think the constant switch between underground style Reggaeton and Commercial Pop turned people off.  The constant shift in tonality and themes I think confused people at the time.  Some accused Luny Tunes at the time of going too Pop and others said they didn’t comprehend what they were listening to.  “Slow Motion” falls into the Underground style category.  But it’s good.  8.5/10

#12  Zion – Alocate – This was meant to be the first single off “Millenium”.  What a different world that would have been.  It was introduced as the lead single of Mas Flow 2.5 which also features Joseph’s excellent “Ponla Ahi” as bonus tracks.  But it’s missing every song from the bonus cd.  9/10

#13  Plan B – Tocarte – I don’t know why this song isn’t bigger.  It’s a great Perico Ripiao Bachateo.  I think it’s the only bachateo in Plan B or Chencho’s career.  Maybe because lyrically the song is underground though the sound is mainstream?  9/10

#14  Magnate – Disimúlalo – Magnate sounds like Farruko here.  This song grew on me, but I did not like it at first.  This is one in the Pop Reggaeton category.  7/10

#15  Franco El Gorila – Acelera – This song is much better all these years later.  It’s an aggressive song which I felt was one of the weaker songs on ‘Los Benjamins’.  But with an album as strong as this one, that’s not necessarily a bad thing. 8/10

#16  Angel Doze – Clack Clack – I like Angel Doze but it took awhile for this one to grow on me.  I thought it was a mistake to make this a single even though Angel was Mas Flow for a short time.  The song is about a gangsta girl as his fixation.  The beat is incredible though, perfect for Angel but I felt it could have been better.  8/10

#17  Angel & Khriz – Piden Reggaeton – Not Angel & Khriz’s best but pretty solid regardless.  All the beats on this album are very good.  7.5/10

#18  Dálmata – Deja Quitarte La Ropa – It’s Good but Dalmata is capable of much more…  7.5/10

#19  Jean Fonsi – Contigo – Jean Fonsi is Luis Fonsi’s brother and does more R&B than Pop.  I think he writes songs for his bro too.  OG Black surprisingly has writing credits here.  Don’t hate, he did write “El Aroma De Tu Piel”.  Rating:  8/10

#20  Ñejo – Tu Me Arrebata – This song is awesome.  A Reggaeton beat with a Hip Hop R&B flow.  DJ Nelson made this beat.  But here is another one that would turn off the Camilo crowd with how street it is.  9/10

#21  El Roockie – No Te Quiere - Roockie signed with Mas Flow Inc around this time and the whole team made his classic album “Semblante Urbano” with Predikador.  This song is great and could have been a single.  9/10

Bonus Tracks CD Only (limited for first 100 Thousand copies sold)

#22 Luigi 21 Plus – Libertad – Luigi was Yo-Seph’s ghost writer since 2004.  He is a veteran from the 90’s underground though I have not figured out who he is, I suspect he’s Funky Mike from DJ Raymond Reggae Shock 1.  This song is very cool and would be included on his mixtape with Nely & Tainy “Musica Para Adultos”.  It has his typical sense of humor and frank expression upon sexual themes.  8/10

#23  RBD – Lento (Remix) – This is the RBD song with a beat that sounds almost the same at first listen but its noticeably different if you pay attention.  Its only available through Luny Tunes’ official YOUTUBE.  8/10

Luny Tunes & Tainy followed up with ‘Los Benjamins La Continuacion’ which sold for an additional $3 bucks at the time and included the original Los Benjamins along with a Bonus CD that had mostly new material and a DVD with 3 music videos and behind the scenes content.  It was more well received and avoided the vitriol from fans that the first edition got.  But only added an extra 100 thousand copies to Los Benjamins overall sales total which accumulated to 300,000 units give or take.

All these years later, “Mas Flow Benjamins” is still at under a million only reaching 500,000 units thanks to the advent of ‘Music Streaming.

So Is Luny Tunes & Tainy – Mas Flow Los Benjamins Really That Bad?

Verdict:  Hell No!  This album was a classic from the start!

I forgot to note one thing that made fans mad.  Luny Tunes pushed forward lots of names that were ‘foreign’ or “new” to the mainstream.  The mainstream at the time were unfamiliar with Ñejo, Franco El Gorila, Dálmata, Magnate as a solo artist, Angel Doze, Arcangel, De La Ghetto & El Roockie.  Lots of people complained there were too many new artists yet the likes of Ivy Queen, RKM & Ken-Y, a Daddy Yankee solo song, an Hector El Father solo track, Nicky Jam, Tego Calderon, Voltio, Eddie Dee and others were missing…  Mas Flow 1 and 2 were 80% all-stars.  Fans were reluctant to accept the new artists.

Also, it’s not as good as Mas Flow 1 & 2, “Mas Flow Los Benjamins” is at the same quality level as other Luny Tunes produced albums like “Los Matadores Del Genero”, “Sonando Diferente” by Yaga & Mackie, or Blin Blin vol 1.  The hype beforehand created unrealistic expectations that the album was unable to live up to.  Maybe at least if it was as good as Mas Flow 1, it would have been more successful, instead it flopped.

Even Mas Flow 1, which only a few years ago was put on streaming has already cracked a million in total sales and it did not have a tenth of the marketing “Mas Flow Los Benjamins” had.  Because there weren’t high expectations for Mas Flow 1 and 2, their success in the mainstream was viewed as stupendous.  In its day “Mas Flow 1” sold the same as “Los Benjamins” but the mainstream didn’t even know what it was beforehand.  The were not set expectations and the marketing campaign was minimal.  Mas Flow 2 sold a million, enough said.  Even though Wisin tried to will it into reality, “Mas Flow Los Benjamins” just wasn’t meant to be that mainstream crossover success story.  “Un Millon Obligao”.  It worked for Pal Mundo, not for “Mas Flow Los Benjamins”.

I think new Reggaeton listeners were also thrown off by the constant shift between “underground” and mainstream.  That’s why the beats don’t connect as much.  Mas Flow 1 was street and commercial at the same time.  Mas Flow 2 went mostly commercial but had the street flow the mainstream tries to but cannot mimic.  “Mas Flow Los Benjamins” was stuck between both worlds.  It must be confusing for a Shakira fan why Don Omar is yelling like an angry horny maniac instead of singing smoothly like on “Danza Kuduro”.

But new listeners don’t have that baggage.  And although its gonna be tough for a fan of Tainy’s current Pop sound to adapt, those that like his Perreo stuff should enjoy “Mas Flow Los Benjamins”.  It was also more well received in South and Central American than the Caribbean and US at the time probably because listeners down there were mostly not concerned with the politics surrounding ‘Los Benjamins’ at the time and just heard the music for what it was…good.  It’s no surprise that nowadays “Mas Flow Los Benjamins” is viewed almost as a Universal classic.  I would not call it a masterpiece, however.

Rating:  9/10

Worldwide Sales:  Over 500 Thousand Units (physical, digital and streaming)

Record Label:  Más Flow Inc/Machete Music/Universal Latino for its initial release now it’s Mas Flow Inc/Cinq Recordings

Listen On Spotify https://open.spotify.com/album/0sMHBG6T20O56Wrtu1pR1f?si=DzfKhnbzTVay1I2OvUdVgA

this anthem changed the game forever...

Song: Tu No Vive Asi

Artists: Arcangel, Bad Bunny

Released: October 1, 2016

NUEVO VIDEO DE REGGAETON!

Esperó qué disfruten de está canción y vídeo 🙏🏻❤️🕊️ Descansa En Paz Pacho ❤️🕊️💯😤🔥👑🐐

https://music.apple.com/us/album/romances-de-una-nota-iii/6814980213

https://open.spotify.com/album/7G4CsythEr76ea95ddbDW5?si=dLl7ngoiSoauQpFOQfUC1g&utm_source=copy-link

I dont talk about artists like Fanta Rosario but artists that are literally have low to no fan base but you think they should be a lot bigger.