99. 2Mex, B Boys in Occupied Mexico
Mean Street Records
Released October 9, 2001
Alex “2Mex†Ocana’s career dates back to the mid 90s, and sprawls over dozens of tour-only CD-Rs, side projects (including now-defunct supergroup the Visionaries) and poorly-distributed albums, including his best album, B Boys in Occupied Mexico. As one song goes, it’s “Humble is the Style of the Day.†It’s modest yet warmly human: 2Mex rues “I didn’t mean to touch your hand/I didn’t realize I was so grotesque,†then a few numbers later offers “The Believe in Yourself Song.†Not quite emo-rap (though Spin would claim 2Mex as part of that tribe in an infamous article), it gives a vivid portrait of a Latin B-boy in Los Angeles that rips punchy lyrics and “percussion precaution†over Omid’s break beats. “I am the stone in the sun,†he says on “Offering.†“I am the poem in your lungs.â€
