It's similar to "Am I Dreaming" in the sense that they both have a really soothing tropical melody. Track 5 - "Feel What I Feel": This has a lovely Latin groove, and Kat's operatic vocals sprinkled after the chorus really elevate it. Track 4 - "Whine Up": This is the track you all know, but it's still a bop all these years later. It's a song that I could easily hear Selena Quintanilla pulling off in her early days. It's a very romantic, sweet-sounding song and it also showcases Kat's vocal chops. The track is a mix of tropical Reggae and incorporates the bachata music style that originated from the Dominican Republic, where Kat grew up. Track 3 - "Am I Dreaming?": This is one of my favorite tracks. Track 2 - "Run The Show": This is a hip-hop influenced track and it's basically a hype anthem. It's backed by an ominous acapella of Kat's operatic vocalizations. Track 1 - "Intro": This is a short spoken-world interlude introducing Kat to the world, how she came from poverty, how she was born to be here, and how she's ready to take on the world. The album that's on streaming services is the 2008 Konvict re-release that switched out the beautiful original album cover with a bland, tacky generic one.) (I'm talking about the original 2007 release and the original tracklisting. They're all really good and deserve a listen. Here's a track breakdown, and this is actually one of those albums where there isn't a dud. There's African tribal instrumentation, tropical instrumentation, and Kat regularly uses her operatic soprano as extra vocal flavoring and it really crafts such a unique sound.
![get rich or die tryin album kat get rich or die tryin album kat](https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1024/branded_news/632A/production/_84268352_502.jpg)
The album was produced by RedOne, and mind you, this was before he blew up as an in-demand producer from his work with Lady Gaga. Upon re-listen (I listened to it today for the first time in over 10 years), I was surprised to find how unique the sound was and how brilliant the production was. She has a beautiful husky soprano voice, is classically trained, and her music had all these influences that really made her debut album so perfect, which I'll go more into detail about in a second.ĩ Lives is primarily a pop/R&B album, with heavy influences from Latin, tropical pop, Reggaetón, World, dancehall, reggae fusion, and hip-hop. Kat DeLuna herself though had so much to offer and she was primed to be the next Latin pop superstar until her career was completely stalled, and sadly she never was able to regain her momentum. You might have heard "Run The Show" a few times as well. It wasn't a huge smash and it only peaked at #27, but it was definitely everywhere that summer and it was definitely a huge club hit. Many of you 2000s kids might remember Kat DeLuna for being a One-Hit Wonder with her 2007 single, "Whine Up" featuring Elephant Man, which was a Top 40 hit that summer.