Chino XL – RICANstruction: The Black Rosary (2xCD) (2012) (FLAC + 320 kbps)

Four years off between albums isn’t unusual for the Puerto Rican rapper Chino XL, but Ricanstruction: The Black Rosary was promised and previewed way back in 2009, spending three years on the shelf before finally seeing release in 2012. It could be the reason this literate and punch-line filled monster of an album sprawls itself across two discs, and with Chino’s love of puns, wordplay, and jokes that demand to be rewound (“Chances higher than Sean Kingston catching diabetes”) all being delivered with his identifiable phrasing and flow, redundancy is an issue. Still, a material-starved fan won’t complain as redundant doesn’t necessarily mean low quality, and whether one should drop “It’s Not Too L8te” for the similar-sounding “N.I.C.E.” becomes a difficult choice with the former offering “Ain’t that about a bitch?/Like Diana Ross’ biography” and the latter giving up “Mind weaponry from the time of the Byzantines/You talkin’ metaphysically but Chino’s metal physically.” Best of them all has to be the heartbreaking “Father’s Day,” which will stir the soul of any proud parent, but “90 Bars of Intervention” is a close second place with its story of Chino’s struggle, and when the late Big Pun is put posthumously on a cut and it works beautifully, then “Kings” must place third. The highlights are way high, everything else works well to very well, but to work best, this Ricanstruction takes some reconstruction so bring your patience.

CD 1:

01. Rain (Interlude)
02. Father’s Day
03. Eight Beginnings (feat. Mystic)
04. Have 2
05. It’s Not Too L8te
06. Wicked Church
07. Silent Art Child
08. Broken Halo
09. Anything
10. Hell’s Song (feat. Tech N9ne)
11. Bad Man Bible
12. Mama Told Me
13. Afraid Of Nothing
14. Can Be
15. Arm Yourself (feat. Sick Jacken, Immortal Technique & DV Alias Khrist)
16. No Damn Good For Me (Scarlet Intro)
17. Sleep In Scarlet
18. Nahh!
19. Eye
20. Reguarding Elizbeth (Save Me) (feat. Travis Barker)

Download CD1:

FLAC – Wayshare

320 kbps – Wayshare

CD 2:
21. Black Rosary 8am
22. Closer to God
23. Little Man
24. Figure It Out
25. Xross Your Heart
26. Buried In Vocabulary (feat. Horseshoe Gang)
27. Missing You 8pm (Interlude)
28. Crazy Love
29. Take It Back (feat. Rakka Iriscience & Roc Marciano)
30. N.I.C.E.
31. Kings (feat. Big Pun)
32. 90 Bars of Intervention
33. The Hype Man (Interlude)
34. Latino’s Stand Up (feat. Sick Jacken, B Real, Thirsten Howl III, Sinful & Kid Frost)
35. Gone

Download CD2:

FLAC – Wayshare

320 kbps – Wayshare