When the wider hip-hop audience first became aware of Mexican OT, he was performing his hit “Johnny Dang” wearing a linen cowboy hat and holding a chicken under his right arm, rolling his rupees with such precision that he As far as he’s concerned he almost seems to stick to different frame rates. Every part of the film elicited a subconscious “Oh my God, yes,” and OT has been racing towards global audiences ever since.
HipHopDX’s 2024 rising star’s debut album, 2023’s Lonestar Luchador, debuts at No. 59 on the Billboard 200 with a viral tribute to a Houston jeweler, and has at least four songs with streams of eight digits. It’s clear that any constraints on the young star’s ascent have been removed.
Now, less than 10 months later, That Mexican OT (real name Virgil Gazca) has released his second studio album, Texas Technician. While his first album was a personal introduction, an ode to his Tejano roots and a nod to Eminem’s The Eminem Show, his latest effort is content to be A diverse and exploratory collaborative avant-garde album. While not going back to basics, this is an example of going there the first time.
OT has an extensive toolkit and he’s on full display here. He can expertly imitate dozens of flows – from Ski Mask The Slump God to Eminem – and he’s very neurotic when it comes to judging a flow as outdated and injecting a new one. His melodies are stronger than ever and the beats he chooses are diverse enough to allow for experimentation but cohesive enough to always sound like a Mexican OT track.
One of the album’s most successful pieces is “Point Em Out,” a paranoid and violent manhunt in which the electric DaBaby nonchalantly cuts through the beat like a viper through the grass. Other works include “Wockhardt,” a compelling analysis of opioid addiction, and “Mucho Gracias,” an introspective send-off that lifts the veil on OT and allows fans to see it more clearly than ever before to Virgil.
Texas Tech is solid, but not shocking. It’s by no means a misstep, but it’s also not the groundbreaking artistic statement he’s truly capable of making. There are too many features and OT is too generous to his collaborators. It feels like he’s still gaining confidence and tinkering, but in the process, his resume has shown up at a surprisingly high level.
He’s chubby, says outrageous things (“I’m the reason his daughter has a rash on her butt”), and has no shortage of eccentricities and territorial allegiances (think Bay City Operation Bronson). He’s a talented singer who seems to be getting closer to a voice he can call his own. The sky was truly the limit for that Mexican overtime game.
Release date: March 1, 2024
Record label: Manifest/GoodTalk/Good Money Global/Capitol Records
Hear what the Texas Technician has to say below:
