With the name of Chinchorreo, Puerto Rico’s rapper Pj Sin Suela releases an album full of Puerto Rican party traditions such as the act of chinchorrear. Which is driving through the mountains hopping from “chinchorro” to “chinchorro” to drink, eat street food, and dance.
Before the full album was released, he released a single of it to tease what the essence of the album would be like. This single was released at the height of Christmas, and it began with the traditionally Puerto Rican instrument “el cuatro” playing what most would say is a plena-like melody, plena being a genre of music and folkloric dance native to Puerto Rico, which is mostly heard on Christmas. This fools people into thinking that the song will be a Puerto Rican plena song for Christmas; however, shortly after the cuatro starts playing, a troubadour (plena/folk traditional singer) starts singing along with lyrics that would make anyone blush, a juxtaposition in itself. Shortly after, Pj starts rapping along with it. The name of the song is “Suciería Puertorriqueña.”
This song can be interpreted as the union of old tradition and what some of the older generations would call the dirtiness of reggaeton.
“Ven a la Plena,” another song of the album, also unites the traditional sound of plena and the rough nature of Puerto Rican reggaeton and rapping. The song also ends with the protesting sounds and chanting, “La playa es del pueblo, no de los turistas,” referring to the developers from the U.S. that are showing up to buy land that is supposed to be public and building in front of beaches that are not private yet privatizing them in the process.
Another show of Boricua tradition and, most importantly, the immense nostalgia of Puerto Ricans outside of the island during the Christmas season is “Navidad en PR”. It portrays the Puerto Rican way to celebrate Christmas: alcohol and parties at the beach and gas stations, shots, and Pitorro.
In the spirit of the Puerto Rican culture, Pj Sin Suela created a musical fusion that includes everything from plena and tradition to reggaeton and dembow. So if you want to get to know the raving essence of Puerto Rican partying, go listen to Pj Sin Suela’s album “Chinchorreo Vol. 1”
