Alvaro Diaz releases "Omakase," his boastful new Latin trap album

Alvaro Diaz released his new album, "Omakase," the follow-up to 2021's "Felicilandia" and 2024's "Sayonara" from the Puerto Rican rapper and singer. Diaz made his name in the Latin trap scene, a corner of hip-hop built on Spanish-language rap, and "Omakase" spreads that sound across 16 tracks that open with the sounds of a stove and a knife on a cutting board before Diaz raps about Grammys he says were stolen from him and the $500,000-a-show paydays he now commands. "I want to be the chef," Diaz told the Los Angeles Times. "People trust me, and I just give them the experience." The album lands on the release calendar among 2026's notable Latin releases.

The word "omakase" comes from Japanese dining, where a diner trusts the chef to decide what to serve, and Diaz built the whole record around that idea of ceding control to his own taste. He points to his cousin, a chef known as Chef Tino, and his show "The Table by Chef Tino," filmed in Isabela, Puerto Rico, as inspiration for staging the album like a kitchen in motion, moving from raw ingredients to fire to the final plating.

The rollout began last September with the merengue-laced single "Seleda," followed by "Babyrecords" and "Malasnoticias," the latter featuring the Mexican trio Latin Mafia. The track "Bimel" reunites Diaz with Lv Ciudvd member Caleb Calloway and tucks in unbilled cameos from Rauw Alejandro, Papi Sousa and Feid, while "Pienso En Ti" swings from distorted drums into a full cumbia turn and then into reggaeton inside a single song.

Diaz has said "Pienso En Ti" was the last song he worked on with the Mexican producer Milkman before Milkman's death. "Shout out Milkman, bro," Diaz said. "He was crazy." Diaz remembers him as someone who was always checking in and pushing him creatively during the making of the album.

Diaz places "Omakase" alongside a broader turn in Latin music toward reworking older regional sounds, next to albums like Bad Bunny's "Debi Tirar Mas Fotos" and Karol G's "Tropicoqueta." He has already teased a tour behind the record and wants the shows staged like the restaurant itself. "I want people to pull up dressed as chefs," Diaz said, describing the concept as an extension of the album rather than a normal concert.