Tego Calderon

Just a year after El Subestimado strained against reggaeton's confines, El Abayarde Contra-Ataca simply laughs and steps right over them. Go on, Tego. Folks like Daddy Yankee may be giving us what we want, but Calderon gives us what we need, stripping down the songs, tricking them out with Afro-Caribbean rhythms and sashaying through verses on everything from HIV to Britney Spears to child abuse. A social conscience tempered with a sense of humor? Perhaps that's the man's secret. But Calderon proves here he's got an endless storehouse of ideas -- and the chutzpah to follow them wherever they lead. Latin rap doesn't get any better.