24/7

When Frost (formerly Kid Frost) started rapping in Los Angeles back in 1982, the very fact that he was a Mexican-American rapper from the West Coast made him a major pioneer. But a lot has changed since then, and rappers of Mexican descent are much more plentiful now; in fact, there are so many Mexican-American MCs on the West Coast that the marketing people at Latin labels started describing them as part of a full-fledged genre they termed "urban regional" (which also includes hip-hop-influenced singers ranging from Rigo Luna to banda star Yolanda Pérez). Flakiss attracted attention in urban regional circles with her Univision releases of the mid-2000s, but by the end of the decade, the female rapper had moved to the Rize High label — and 24/7, which is her first Rize High release (and fourth album overall), reaffirms her status as "pop-rap with a brain." Flakiss made her share of commercial pop moves on her three Univision albums and continues to make them on 24/7, but never to the point of becoming bubblegum. Flakiss knows how to provide albums that have both pop appeal and substance. So while 24/7 contains some party jams and club bangers (including "Girls Nite Out," "It's Friday Nite," and "Party Time"), it also contains material that deals with social issues (such as "Lift Yo Head Up," "Always There," and "I Wanna Make It Better"). And the Californian continues to favor a bilingual approach, rapping in both English and Spanish — although Spanish lyrics aren't as dominant on 24/7 as they were on her Univision releases. In fact, this 2009 release is the first Flakiss album to have a title in English rather than Spanish. But all things considered, 24/7 isn't a big stylistic departure from her Univision output — and she remains a talented, enjoyable contributor to the West Coast's urban regional scene.