Preceded by a riot in its presentation to the public at a shopping center,
En Boca de Tantos is probably the most notorious debut album in Spanish rap's short history. The first thing that comes to mind is the too-human reaction of envy toward those who attract the spotlight, nevertheless, once you start "spinning the record" something tells you that maybe this tendency against
Porta is more than just the classic anti-commercial prejudice. The intro, titled "Resurrección" (Resurrection, where from?) begins with a string of hard insults against you don't know what or who. Although this attitude is never praiseworthy (and has proven unnecessary to make quality rap music) the fact of having grown up surrounded by social injustices, and racist and ethnic abuses, could possibly serve as an attenuation and even place that anger within a heroic and attractive context. However,
Porta comes from Barcelona, one of the two most prosperous cities of a developed and balanced country like Spain, without any trace of poverty around him, and he's a clear exception of good luck. The (extremely difficult) effort to separate the music from the image appears to be critical in this case since, commercially at least,
Porta could be considered a success. Nonetheless, this rapper's music is an accurate reflection of his image -- the instrumentals are as plain as video game sounds where it's impossible to find a decent beat, a deep bass, or a simple scratch. The faltering and forced voice is covered up by out of place insults which give the music a sense of being immersed in a non-existent war dealing with matters that fit in a different stage of life than childhood.
Porta aims to slip on the experienced rapper costume of what seems to be, if not pathetic, inappropriate, taking into account his age and discography length. In the song "Todos en Mi Contra" (Everybody Against Me),
Porta, without any visible reason, doesn't stop insulting people who think differently, and in the cut "Sobre el Famoso Tema" (About the Famous Song) he stands by something he said in public before: "the girls are all sluts." Insults, all of them, directed to some enemy who, paradoxically, he hasn't had enough time to create in any detail. In other songs, such as "Una Sociedad un Tanto Rara" (A Little Bizarre Society)
Porta dissects in a superficial and childish way delicate matters that, owing to his age and condition (and the lack of any argument) he could hardly manage to get to know profoundly (like the Spanish dictatorship) and that must be taken with distance and tact by those who didn't experience them in the flesh. In addition, the Catalonian rapper gratuitously insults those who don't agree politically with his juvenile position, or those who believe in any religion, and his lack of arguments hides his lack of value judgment. To sum up,
Porta personifies the (more and more usual) insistent attempt of making oneself heard at any price, being faithful to the more-than-questionable sentence: "There is nothing better than bad publicity," forgetting that rap music is about rhyme, and therefore different from an egocentric tool to air a teenaged and groundless anger. In a society where the great tales and models disappear, a 19-year-old guy comes up by surprise whose success, typical of a reality show, can be understood by being in the right moment and place for those teenagers looking for a model; as a product or image
Porta seems to pass the test, musically, however, it's much more complicated. ~ Alfonso Goiriz