Rap Moderno Review: Sol María

Despite doing very little with its promising concept, Eladio Carrión just about sticks the landing on Sol María – albeit with some missteps.

 

Mother’s Day isn’t until May 12th, but I guess Eladio Carrión just couldn’t wait to release his newest project Sol María. Who knows why?

Sol María is the sixth studio album from Puerto Rican rapper Eladio Carrión. Released on January 19th, 2024, Sol María blends elements of R&B and pop into Eladio’s typical trap style. This does, at the very least, make it stand out somewhat from the rest of his discography: most of Eladio’s prior music has been straight trap/reggaeton. The reason for this switchup? Well, Sol María is a seventeen-track album dedicated to Eladio’s mother, a lady whose name I cannot find anywhere on the Internet for some reason. I probably just didn’t look hard enough.

Anyway, Mom’s name isn’t terribly important to the rest of this story, because, unfortunately, Eladio doesn’t do a whole lot to honor the idea. Outside of a couple songs like “Mama’s Boy,” most of Sol María is about the exact same things everyone and their cats rap about: living a lavish life, ladies, expensive things, fame, and all that. That’s not me being critical or anything, but my point is: did you want to hear a heartfelt tribute to Eladio’s wonderful mother? Then go somewhere else, ‘cuz you sure aren’t gonna get it here. Sol María is a bog-standard album that happens to be masked by an excellent central ethos.

But that doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s boring or uninteresting. Eladio takes quite a lot of stylistic swings on Sol María, and even if the batting average is below par (I’ll stop mixing my metaphors now), I can at least respect the attempts at making something unique. And I will admit: some of them really do work, especially on the production side of things. Even if I don’t love all of them, there’s songs like “Sigo Enamorau'” and “La Canción Feliz Del Disco” that really work with the R&B and pop-infused production, respectively. I’d even argue that the latter is the best song on the entire album, although a lot of that comes down to Milo J’s excellent feature.

Speaking of features… Sol María‘s a pretty mixed bag in the artist feature department. If you mosey on down to my track ranking at the bottom, you’ll see just how lopsided the songs with features are. Milo J, Rauw Alejandro, Arcangel, De La Ghetto, and Nach all have good-to-great features that I enjoy.

Yandel has a decent verse that probably elevates Sigo Enamorau’ higher than it would be normally, even if I think that song is one of the better-produced ones on the record.

Oh boy… I hate to have to do this once again (see my EL AFTER DEL AFTER review for more pain), but Duki? What are you doing, man? This isn’t a very great verse! Why do you keep disappointing me? I would have loved it if Duki went absolutely ham on this solid beat, but he kinda phones it in with the same Temporada de Reggaeton style that I’m not a big fan of. Duki comes in many flavors; this is among his least delectable.

And finally, Sech has a completely forgettable verse on this album’s most forgettable song. ‘Nuff said. “El Malo” indeed.

I do think Sol María starts off promising: “Bendecido” is an alright opener, and we already discussed the song with Milo J. There’s some rocky bits, yes, but I find the first half of this album to be more consistently good than the second half. After the middling “El Malo,” the back half of Sol María is kind of a slog to get through. “Todo Lit” disappointed me for reasons I already whined about, “RKO” is at least a minute too short, “Fe, Cojones y Paciencia” is a waste of a perfectly good beat, and the list goes on. “Mencionar” is the only track in that seven-song stretch that I get some form of enjoyment out of, up until Eladio just about drags himself over the finish line with “Mama’s Boy,” an emotional and heartfelt ballad that wraps up the project on a high note.

So yeah. That’s Sol María. Sol María is okay. Sol María is just about what I expected from Eladio. Sol María simultaneously confounds me and dulls me. Sol María frequently tries to swing for the fences, but it usually ends up getting… I don’t know, a double instead of a home run? Maybe a triple if it’s lucky enough. I may not love it, but at the end of the day, I have to respect it. Still, there’s one thing I know for certain: Eladio Carrión and Sol María aren’t gonna get you to the World Series.

 

OVERALL RATING: 6.5/10

 

TRACKS RANKED

 

not rated: That mother****** Eladio (Skit) [I famously do not rate skits]

1: La Canción Feliz Del Disco (ft. Milo J)

2: Hey Lil Mama (ft. Rauw Alejandro)

3: Tanta Droga (ft. Arcangel, De La Ghetto)

4: Mama’s Boy (ft. Nach)

5: Mencionar

6: Tranquila Baby

7: Bendecido

8: Sigo Enamorau’ (ft. Yandel)

9: TQMQA

10: Todo Lit (ft. Duki)

11: Tu Ritmo

12: Sonrisa

13: Fe, Cojones y Paciencia

14: Luchas Mentales

15: RKO