74 newyork| february1–14, 2021
Ozuna kicks killer flows when he wants
to. (The chorus line “Nos cayó la policía,
boten la maría”—essentially “Cops showed,
ditch the weed”—is just about the best on
the album.) Anuel pours his heart out on
“Contra el Mundo,” elevating the song’s
“me against the world” messaging by giving
voice to the love that drives him. “Perreo”
sports the album’s best beat and simplest
conceit in its ode to partying, twerking,
and horniness. “Nunca” contains the clev-
erest expression of the “beauty and the
beast” vibe haunting all the love songs on
the album, as Anuel compares a spirited,
mismatched relationship to the short
spell in the early ’90s when Dennis Rod-
man and Madonna dated. There aren’t
enough moments like this to be found on
Los Dioses, an album half-full of solid tunes
and half-full of afterthoughts, on which the
joy of hearing Ozuna soar an octave over
Anuel and stand toe to toe with his peer
as a rhymer is undercut by songwriting
that’s beneath them both. When you call
yourselves the gods, perfection is the floor.
As deities go, Los Dioses is like a couple of
Lokis: smart, sharp, resourceful, and funny,
with a notable flop for every success. ■Anuel’s Real Hasta la Muerte waswritten
during a two-year prison stint stemming
from a 2016 gun arrest and wasreleased
in 2018 on his first day out. Ozunafound
renown in other markets on trackslike the
Black Eyed Peas’ “Mamacita,” whileAnuel
courted drama, packing “Intocable,”a diss
track aimed at rapper-singer Cosculluela,
with enough homophobic, transphobic,
and serophobic bile to warrant a longpublic
apology just two days after its release.
Despite their differences, the twoartists
are friends and frequent collaborators,and
now they’ve released Los Dioses,a much-
anticipated joint album. Los Diosescatches
Ozuna and Anuel at critical crossroadsin
their careers at a moment when theirpeers
are thriving. Bad Bunny releasedthree
albums just last year, proving himselftobe
the total package: a politically awaresong-
writer unmoored from the limitationsof
genre. Colombian artist J Balvinalsogets
the crossover calls now, havingenjoyed
hits with Cardi B, the Black EyedPeas,and
Beyoncé. The Panamanian singerSech
made a powerful play for the R&Blane
with last year’s 1 of 1, while Maluma,also
from Colombia, made enough wavesonthe
pop end to score Madonna featuresanda
spot in the upcoming Jennifer Lopezrom-
com, Marry Me. And a new waveofLatin-
trap and drill stars is awakeninginNew
York City. If Ozuna and Anuel don’tpush
themselves this year, there’s a realdanger
of getting lost in the shuffle.
That said, rare is the joint albumwith
both parties firing on all cylinders.On
the better ones, the more dominantcre-
ative force tends to lead. Bad Bunnyand
J Balvin’s Oasis set the bar for jointalbums
in urbano music, sticking to thestream-
lined sound of Balvin’s albums insteadof
the lawlessness of Bunny’s. Thebadones
compromise too much and come up short—
like The Best of Both Worlds, on whichJay-Z
and R. Kelly strained so hard to find a com-
mercial middle ground that the resulting
stink made a joke of the album’s title. Los
Dioses, unfortunately, is more of a Both
Worlds scenario. The album is hampered
by cookie-cutter songwriting, conversant
in popular sounds but always downwind
of them, and pleasant on the surface but
frequently hollow upon closer inspection.
It was recorded quickly in Miami in
October as Florida nightlife establish-
ments began to return (prematurely) to full
capacity and a lengthy lockdowncontin-
ued back home in Puerto Rico. Los Dioses
teems with nostalgia for the sweaty reverie
of an evening out on the town. In“Antes,”
the greatest of these songs memorializing
simpler times, the duo recalls atypical
Friday-night scene, all weed smoke, bottle
service, dancing women, and jealous eyes.It says what we’re all thinking, yearning
for the freewheeling unpredictability and
mischief many of us left behind in 2020
while avoiding the depressing reasons we
miss it. The next two songs try to catch
lightning in a bottle: “Dime Tú” replays
scenes of lovemaking from memory, and
“RD” runs back even more sexual encoun-
ters from the past. After a while, you start
to smell a formula. The women in these
songs are two-dimensional—objects to be
longed for, penetrated, dressed in expen-
sive linens, cheated on, and apologized to.
At some point, our protagonists will inform
a woman that she looks just as good in
designer as out of it. Los Dioses never chal-
lenges or interrogates its player mind-set.
The closest thing to a mea culpa is “Per-
fecto,” on which Ozuna simply asks to have
his flaws ignored and Anuel adds that he
lost his ex like Real Madrid lost Cristiano
Ronaldo to Juventus. It’s a laugh compared
with the pain the two have proved capable
of conveying in songs like “¿Los Hombres
No Lloran?” and “Amor Genuino.”
It’s not that Los Dioses isn’t fun. The men-
acing “La María” is a showcase for Anuel’s
Latin-trap excellence and a reminder thatfuckboyfriends.Forgetborrowedsweatersandairport
pickups.ThemeninBrontezPurnell’sbook 100 Boyfriends
exist ona subterraneanlayeroftheslightlydisreputable—fuckbud-
dies,sidepieces,daddies,hookers,johns. 100 Boyfriendsis a taxonomy
ofthewildandtenderrelationshipsnativetotheterroirofgay culture—
thekindseededinbathrooms,onstreetcorners,andingymshowers
longbeforeLin-ManuelMirandaeversaid“Loveis loveis loveis love
... ” In Purnell’sshort story“MountainBoys,” thenarratorcallsatten-
tiontothebook’s title:“I calledthem‘boyfriends,’thoughthiswasnot
alwaysthecase.Butthey werealllike piecesofbubblegumyouchew
hoursaftertheflavorleavesandthat youaccidentallyswallow, and
then(supposedly)sitinyourgutsforsevenyears.”
AndsoPurnellisspittingthemalloutinwhat FSGOriginalshas
billed as a “novel-in-stories,” divided into three acts and an epilogue,
each made up of discrete tales bound by a common sentiment. There
isn’t a single narrator, but Purnell’s work tends to operate from a semi-
autobiographical space. Born and raised in a small town in Alabama, he
self-actualized through punk music and contempo-
rary dance, acquiring a following in the BayAreaas
the riot boi among the riot grrrls in the mid-aughts.
He started a zine called Fag School, in the grandtra-
dition of the xeroxed cut-and-paste, whicheventu-
ally led him to write books, including 2015’sJohnny
Would You Love Me If My Dick Were Bigger,pub-BOOKS / E. ALEX JUNGCome As You AreA taxonomy of intimacy froma veteran of the Bay Area queer scene.100 BOYFRIENDS
BY BRONTEZ
PURNELL.
MCD X FSG
ORIGINALS.