Willie Colon Would’ve Slaughtered The Latin Grammys

It’s great to hear Juanes won pretty much every Latin Grammy last night. Dude is a huge, pause, talent and deserves all the awards he gets. I didn’t watch much of the Latin Grammys, I only caught Victor Manuelle’s ill performance. It was a ton of Latinos dancing stage with VM improvising, as he always does, with the audience. If a non-Latino would have switched to Univision at that moment they would’ve thought, “I didn’t know In the Heights was on TV!” The showstoppers were a pair of kid dancers who punished the stage with their steps. I suggested to the wife, “If we have a boy I’m putting him in salsa class.” She said, “How about if it’s a girl?” I said, “Hell no! She’s taking karate.”

But I digress. It got me thinking of all the great salseros of yesteryear. Like La Voz, Blades, Willie, Ish Rivera, etc. Had the Latin Grammys been around in the ‘70s those cats would’ve Juanes-ed those joints. Or better yet if Willie Colon was a new artist today would Juanes even have a chance in the “Album of the Year” category? Imagine Ruben and Willie writing about a post-George W. Bush world, Latin American politics, illegal immigration, etc. Shoot some of their songs are still very relevant today (see “Plastico”).

Uno,

Jesus