El Enemigo Público

Album Review

The Public Enemy was not only the title of a classic 1931 pre-Code gangster film starring James Cagney, it is also the name one of the most influential political rap groups to emerge in the late 1980s (minus the word "the"). And when you translate that name into español, you get the title of this 2010 release by regional Mexican singer José Eulogio Hernandez, aka El Potro de Sinaloa. El Enemigo Público is Spanish for "The Public Enemy," and as that title indicates, El Potro makes his share of outlaw moves this time. El Potro has tried different things on different albums, always maintaining a regional Mexican orientation. He has been a banda singer, and he has been a norteño singer; he has recorded Latin pop-influenced material as well as rancheras and corridos. On El Enemigo Público, he favors brassy banda instrumentation over accordion-powered norteño instrumentation, —and narcocorridos (corridos about drug trafficking and la vida mafiosa) are a high priority. Hip-hoppers might say that El Potro is keeping it gangsta on this album — at least some of the time — while disciples of Johnny Cash, Merle Haggard, and Waylon Jennings might say that he is getting in touch with his inner outlaw. But whatever terminology one uses, El Potro shows himself to be an effective storyteller on hard-hitting narcocorridos such as "Pistolero Hasta la Muerte" ("Gunman Until Death") and "La Puerta del Infierno" ("The Door of Hell"). Not everything on El Enemigo Público is a narcocorrido; "Vas a Aprender a Llorar" ("You're Going to Learn to Cry") and "Soy Yo" ("It's Me"), for example, are among the disc's more romantic offerings. But ultimately, it is the narcocorridos that do the most to make El Enemigo Público a memorable outing from El Potro de Sinaloa.