After whetting fans’ appetites earlier in the year with the EP-length *LOS FLAVORZ*, Dei V returns with his second project of 2025, *Underwater*. A full-length follow-up to the still-ascending Puerto Rican star’s breakthrough *Quién Es Dei V*, this 16-track effort goes deeper into his bag as a melodic rap phenomenon, beginning with the come-up narrative of the title track and continuing through the closing flex fest “Pretty Boy.” He’s very much at ease in a softer mode, too, persuasively making his case on the smooth “TUMBAO” and calling back to an R&B classic on the sexually charged “Te Capie.” Confident and direct, he makes his desires known to prospective lovers on “El Del Flavor” and the Afrobeats inflection “Queen.” That thematic approach seeps into some of his collaborations here, too, alongside fellow boudoir provocateur Arcángel on “QNP” and opposite Blessd on the like-minded “BB.” That said, he still makes room for some choice reggaetón moments, with perreo-ready vets Ñengo Flow and Yandel on “Dejala Caer” and “Wo Oh,” respectively.
The zeitgeist-capturing DJ/producer, who’s spent more than two decades chasing the sickest new sounds bubbling up across the globe, would like to direct your attention towards phonk—the endlessly mutating strain of trap music inspired by the eerie rawness of ’90s Memphis rap, with faster tempos and heavier distortion seemingly every week. Introducing his *d00mscrvll* project in the spring of 2025, Diplo spoke of growing up obsessing over Memphis legends like Three 6 Mafia as a kid, then witnessing their influence evolve in unexpected, postmodern new directions. (His own definition of phonk in all its many iterations is as good as anyone’s: “Basically Memphis run through a vortex and then painted rainbow colors and then screwed and chopped and taken apart and then put into videos that take over your entire feed.”) The first volume in the *d00mscrvll* mixtape series taps Memphis OGs like Juicy J and Project Pat, plus Dominican rapper Nfasis and Brazil’s MC Lan, for quick, chaotic bursts of songs inspired by Memphis phonk, Brazilian phonk, and cowbell-heavy phonk-house for all your overstimulating, disassociating pleasures.
Ryan Castro knows the importance of dancehall as a foundational pillar in the current Latin music landscape. A continuation of the Jamaica-by-way-of-Curaçao vibes curated on *SENDÉ* from earlier in 2025, the Colombian star’s follow-up makes it known that his reggae tastes are no mere dalliance or trend. Some of the tracks here, like “BOTAPAFO” and “LA MINI,” directly draw from that Caribbean base, though others, such as the Afrobeats-infused “HABLA CLARO” and the beat-switching Major Lazer team-up “PELINEGRA,” speak more to the adaptable genre’s global impact. “LA VILLA” with Kapo directly draws from the seminal Sister Nancy single “Bam Bam,” while the “Ba Ba Bad” remix places him alongside dancehall hitmakers Busy Signal and Sean Paul from the Kybba-produced original. Though he makes the connection to reggaetón technique abundantly clear, Castro quite naturally takes to the cadences of a patois-centric delivery on “AY MI PAPÁ” and “MONA,” albeit in Spanish, of course.
