LYKE MIKE

“There are two Mykes—the commercial artist and the rapper,” Myke Towers tells Apple Music’s La Fórmula host El Guru. “And this is an album for the streets.” Having broadened considerably beyond his long-standing reputation as a credible trapero in recent years, with successful forays into reggaetón and other popwise sounds, the now massively popular Puerto Rican artist returns to the style he made his name in with <i>LYKE MIKE</i>. The gunfire opening “BALAS LOCAS” makes crystal clear that this album is a marked shift away from predecessor <i>Easy Money Baby</i>’s glossier and romantic moments. “This goes back to the Myke that used to rap bars,” he explains. “I don’t want to tell pretty stories, but my story.” Unfiltered standouts like “MÍRENME AHORA” and the Ñengo Flow-assisted “BURBERRY” reaffirm Towers’ deep affinity for, and demonstrable proficiency in, trap music in all its aggressive glory. With its 23 tracks (an unsubtle homage to basketball great Michael Jordan), <i>LYKE MIKE</i> exudes everything his day-one fans hoped he’d come back to, even as his arc towards global superstardom has become undeniable. “I keep my feet on the ground,” he says, “but I know I was born to do this.”