All Grown Up

We’re in a city founded on segregation, but it’s about time for the kids who frequented the Good Life (the L.A. freestyle Mecca) and its godchild Project Blowed (Leimert Park) to mix with the kids who rock the sounds of Photek and Jumpin’ Jack Frost. The hip-hop headz and the bassheadz — cool. With cover art provided by Saber AWR MSK, best known for his 300-foot piece along the L.A. River (deemed the largest illegal piece of graffiti in history) and a lethal alchemy of poems and percussion, Def Con 4 proves that the Man can’t keep a good thang down. (Daniel Siwek)

BERSUIT VERGARABAT Hijos del Culo (Surco/Universal)

Argentina’s Bersuit Vergarabat (pronounced “Bear-sweet Bear-gah-ra-bat,” a meaningless term), nearly destroyed by coke, acid and success in the early ’90s, bounced back in ’98 with the Gustavo Santaolalla–produced Libertinaje. Aided by the huge success of the government-censored rap “Sr. Cobranza,” Bersuit became the party band of the ’90s.

Hijos del Culo, though far more lyrically subtle than its predecessor, is even more powerful. Bersuit differ from most of the other Latin American pachanga mestiza bands in two big ways: They can actually write songs, and they’re fueled not by the urge to dance, but by hate and resentment. Thank God they have a sense of humor. Each song stars a different character representing what Bersuit claims is the real face of Argentina: that of the “sons of the ass,” i.e., those born in the world’s asshole, those who’ve been fucked by, among others, El Norte — what Michael Moore would call “the Big One.”

But instead of screechy metal guitars, Bersuit goes native: cumbia, Cordoba’s cuartetazo, chamarrita, milongón and, especially, Uruguayan murga (a vocal format brought to Uruguay by the Spaniards in the early 1900s) and the savage Afro-Uruguayan rhythm candombe. The murga “Negra Murguera” is possibly the best Latin alternative song in years and the backbone of one of the smartest Latin rock records of the year. (Enrique Lopetegui)