Spanish rapper Arianna Puello admits motherhood has changed her – but only a little: "My philosophy about life has changed for the better, but I'm still a non-conformist."

Born Arianna Isabel Puello Pereyra in the Dominican Republic, the breakdancer-turned-MC began her hip hop career 15 years ago in Spain – her home since age eight – under the name ARI. Before Mala Rodríguez made Spanish hip hop famous in the U.S. and México, the petite Puello was the only female lyricist cranking out streetwise raps about life in urban Spain.

No longer the beanie-rocking tough girl of albums like El Tentempié (A Taste), Gancho Perfecto (Perfect Hook) and La Fecha (The Date), Puello strikes a more feminine pose on the cover of her newest release, 13 Razones (13 Reasons). Produced by Echo (Tego Calderón, Don Omar, Daddy Yankee), Puello is comfortable alternating between club-friendly jams like Todo el Mundo Gritando and Juana Kalamidad alongside gritty, rapid-fire tracks like "Duelo de Titanes."

Despite a decade in the game and collaborations with some of the biggest names in Latin hip hop – Orishas, Cartel de Santa and La Mala – Puello says the grind isn't over: "You don't get [success] from one day to the next. You have to work hard and be consistent."

See: myspace.com/ariannapuello

Chenoa didn't need to finish first to become a Spanish idol. In 2001, the cute singer performed against – and with – ex-boyfriend David Bisbal as a finalist on Operación Triunfo, Spain's version of "American Idol." Though she placed fourth (Bisbal came in second), she nonetheless used the spotlight to finally break into the music business.

Born María Laura Corradini Falomir, Chenoa and family moved from Argentina to Mallorca, Spain when she was eight years old. A few years later, she was fronting bands, including the jazz and R&B combo Koan Fusion. By the time she was in her 20's, Chenoa was spending her days studying to become a pre-school teacher and her nights singing in a local casino. She landed a spot on Operación Triunfo with a shaky version of Roberta Flack's Killing Me Softly With His Song, parlaying her top five finish into a record deal with Vale Music.

A year later, Chenoa released her eponymous debut. Tracks like the europop Atrévete, the bubbly Cuando Tú Vas and the bittersweet Yo Te Daré became summer anthems throughout Spain. In 2003, she dropped a live covers album titled Mis Canciones Favoritas. The following year, Chenoa released Soy Mujer, which featured the Hindi-flavored En Tu Cruz Me Clavaste – a taste of what a Spanish Shakira might sound like. After touring Latin America for the first time, she returned to the studio to record Nada Es Igual, an album in which Chenoa sounds closer to Laura Pausini than Paulina Rubio.

Chenoa's latest release, the pop-rock Absurda Cenicienta, bridges the gap between Nada and her early, upbeat work. For the first time in her career, Chenoa is performing songs that she has written or co-written – and it's paying off. Her lead single, Toda Irá Bien, climbed the charts not only in Spain, but also in Puerto Rico, Venezuela and México. With the release of El Bolsillo del Reves, a perky synth-pop number, the U.S. may be next.

It's one of the ironies of history that Spain, which gave the world the Spanish language, to say the least, has yet to produce a Spanish-language rapper or reggaetónero on par with Daddy Yankee, Don Omar, Calle 13, Tego Calderón or, for that matter, Ivy Queen.

Maybe it's the funny way the Spanish spit their "jotas" or the sometimes vast cultural distance between Europe and the New World. Or, just maybe, without access to the long, violent history of Spain's outcasts, its gitanos and moros, its economic refugees and political prisons, Americans wouldn't recognize an authentic Spanish voice if they heard it.

Emphasis on "if." Malamarismo is Mala Rodríguez' third album, but since it's nearly impossible to hear her first, the raw and sometimes dazzling Lujo Ibérico (2000) and much of her second record, Alevosía (2003), never made it on the Interwebs, you could say this is her American debut.

It certainly sounds like one. Less present are the minimal, old school beats and monophonic synthesizer basslines, the chiki-wah-wah guitar hooks and mind-numbingly insistent piano lines. In their place are, well, lotsa shiny new things: from the rubbery rhythm of "Caida Libre" to the layered staccato samples in "Memos Tu," from the crystalline, spiraling beats in "Toca Toca" to the stuttering, twisted orchestra on "Enfermo". Even the record's first single, the club banger "Nanai," sprinkles syncopated sticks, bells and metals over the length of the entire song.

While positively future-forward, these accents can get in the way of a good line, as on "Memorias del Futuro," where a strapped up 1-2-3 beat and nasal synth line cut through the vocals like a headache on a sunny day. It's a weird, dizzying effect: unlike other summer blockbusters where the special effects are designed to shine, what makes La Mala Rodríguez a natural star is her voice. She's the reason you buy tickets to the show.

Fortunately for her current and future fans, there's still plenty of La Mala on Malamarismo, even if it's squeezed into fleeting moments. On the standout Toca Toca, her aggressive diction, potent rhymes and sultry southern pronunciation (she drops consonants like strippers drop panties) blend perfectly with the musical base leaving the listener hungry for seconds. The album's closing track, "Déjame Entrá," may start with a drunken sample but it snaps to attention with the Sevillana singsong that makes La Mala as charmed as the words she dedicates to a lover on this shuffling chill-out jam.

Where her previous records were sometimes marred by out-of-wack collaborations with lesser talents, there are two pairings on this collection worthy of the occasion. A minute into the sweet "Tiempo Pa Pensa," Mala deftly drops into an understated flamenco flourish only to suddenly bump into – and yield much of the rest of the song to – Julieta Venegas. On Enfermo, the flow is smoother, as Tego Calderón gracefully shares and even propels the track, trading both verse and chorus duties with a poised Mala.

Our review copy also included a bonus video of Por La Noche off her previous album, a terrific "classic" Mala track that will hopefully point millions towards her back catalog of hits and, perhaps, guarantee their release in the U.S. where their black magic can only do her career good. In the meantime, interested parties would do well to track down and order jaw-droppers like "La Cocinera", "La Niña", "Tengo Un Trato" and "Con Los Ojos De Engaña," which has the added distinction of lyrically foreshadowing her first strike this time around:

Si vas a engañar
mírame con los ojos de engañar
Si vas a matar
mírame con los ojos de matar...
Pa tí na es to, para mí to es na

If you're going to lie,
Look at me with lying eyes
If you're going to kill
Look at me with killer eyes...
For you, nothing is everything, for me everything ain't a thing