Release Date: Feb 17, 2017
Genre(s): Rap, Gangsta Rap, East Coast Rap, Hardcore Rap, Pop-Rap, Latin Rap
Record label: Empire
Music Critic Score
How the Music Critic Score works
Buy Plata o Plomo from Amazon
Years in the making, Plata o Plomo -- the collaborative LP from Terror Squad members Fat Joe and Remy Ma -- presents a collection that plays like a mixtape (or playlist) with a wide variety of club-friendly hip-hop that often tugs on '90s nostalgia heartstrings while updating their sound with 2017 production. The main draw of the album is the effortless interplay between its headliners, whose male-female verse trading maintains freshness over the course of 12 tracks. Named after the favored ultimatum presented by drug lord Pablo Escobar -- "silver or lead," i.e.
It's hard to not be happy for Fat Joe and Remy Ma over the past year - especially given the duo’s unlikely-to-succeed circumstances. Joe was given a four-month jail sentence for tax evasion back in 2013 which is really nothing compared to Remy's six-year bid that ended in 2014. Regardless, they mutually looked down for the count both legally and musically; not to mention the "unforgivable" beef wedged in between them for many of those troublesome years.
Fat Joe can no longer take hits for granted. While never a megastar, Joe has proved himself one of the most resilient rappers of all time, with a lengthy career spanning Big Punisher, Ja Rule, and DJ Khaled. At a point, he looked to be one of those old icons, like Snoop Dogg, whose stature seemingly grandfathered him into radio play for life. But then the hits dried up.
It’s not every day that a pair of rap veterans can get a second lease on life as relevant artists, but Fat Joe and Remy Ma have accomplished that feat, rising from the brink of obscurity to emerge as one of the hottest duos in hip-hop today. After formerly being at odds due to Remy’s displeasure with how she felt Fat Joe handled the rollout for her debut album, There’s Something About Remy: Based on a True Story, and both serving prison bids, the two reconnected a decade later. Now they look to recreate the magic they captured on the 2004 Terror Squad album, True Story — albeit sans the rest of the gang — on their collaborative album, Plata O Plomo.
is available now