That Mexican OT CUCUY Review: A Halloween Album Built on a Tejano Boogeyman

By Cole Ashby,

Album artwork for That Mexican OT's CUCUY

The short answer

That Mexican OT's CUCUY is his tightest-built album on paper, and its horror concept is more costume than plot. It runs 17 songs and 44 minutes on Apple Music, out October 23, 2026, under a ℗ line that reads Manifest/GoodTalk/Good Money Global/Capitol Records. Ten tracks carry guests. One engineer handled every song. My verdict: a well-run label album that keeps its best idea, the Cucuy, mostly in the title.

The tracklist

  1. "Home Invasion" (feat. HoneyKomb Brazy)
  2. "Coochie Man" (feat. RNB.FOEMOB)
  3. "TSA" (feat. Chargedup)
  4. "Wanna B A G"
  5. "Diablo En Azul" (feat. DRODi)
  6. "Izm" (feat. Rob49)
  7. "Apple Bottom"
  8. "Yo Mama" (feat. Kodak Black)
  9. "PSA"
  10. "PB & J No Crust"
  11. "The Sickness" (feat. NASAAN)
  12. "Sore Loser"
  13. "I Can't" (feat. OC Chris)
  14. "Rage"
  15. "Candy & Sour/Friday 13"
  16. "Spank Somethin'" (feat. Yung Hood)
  17. "Boogie Man" (with 1900Rugrat)

A boogeyman with a release date

The Cucuy is a boogeyman figure from Tejano folklore, and the album is named for it, as AllHipHop's Mike Winslow reported on the morning it came out. The label's own release copy, reprinted by Audible Treats, pitches "a horror film atmosphere that pervades the album and makes it an ideal soundtrack to Halloween in Texas and beyond."

That is a big promise. Look at the titles and you find the horror mostly bookends the record. "Home Invasion" opens it. "Boogie Man" closes it. "Candy & Sour/Friday 13" sits near the end. In between are "Apple Bottom," "PB & J No Crust," "Coochie Man" and "Sore Loser," which read like the usual OT mix of flex, appetite and comedy. To me that is a Halloween frame around a regular album, not a concept record. That is fine, but it should be named for what it is.

He has done this before with more commitment. Pitchfork's Nadine Smith wrote that on Lonestar Luchador in 2023 "the loose lucha libre concept is mostly played for laughs in the form of recurring commentary from Dallas comedian Ralph Barbosa." That album had a host and a running bit. CUCUY, going by its own sheet, has a poster.

Where he comes from, and why it matters here

OT is from Bay City, the town the Houston Chronicle calls his hometown, where the mayor declared his birthday "That Mexican OT Day" in 2025. That puts him squarely in Texas, Third Coast rap, and Rolling Stone notes Bay City "is an hour-and-change away from Houston." Pitchfork placed his roots in the same story, describing a Bay City rapper who "wears his Tejano heritage on his sleeve."

That heritage is why the Cucuy is the right monster for him. A Tejano boogeyman from a Bay City rapper who built his name on Texas pride is a strong pitch. I just wanted more songs that used it.

The credits are the real story

Most coverage of CUCUY stopped at the guest list. HotNewHipHop ran the tracklist and name-checked "Honeykomb Brazy, Kodak Black, 1900Rugrat." Apple Music's song credits tell a more interesting story.

Caleb C4 Albarado is listed as recording, mixing and mastering engineer on all 17 songs, starting with "Home Invasion". One person finishing all 17 songs is, to my eye, the strongest argument for the record's unity.

The production circle is small too. Tobi Ali produced six tracks, including "TSA," "Diablo En Azul" and "Boogie Man". That is the same producer Rolling Stone credited on "Johnny Dang," a 2023 single from Lonestar Luchador, praising OT's "bassy voice that coats the low end of the TobiAli production." Tanaland has five, from the opener to "Spank Somethin'." Bankroll Got It shares credits on three: "Izm," "Yo Mama" and "The Sickness". The outlier is "Apple Bottom", credited to Take A Daytrip and Fwdslxsh.

That Mexican OT, CUCUY

Country, blues and the songs that stretch

AllHipHop's preview, drawn from how his team described the album, says it is built around Houston rap but stretches "into country and blues." Per that report, "Apple Bottom" "pairs country guitar with romantic lyrics," and "producer Bankroll Got It brings mariachi-style horns to 'Yo Mama,' which features Kodak Black." The same piece says his team described "The Sickness" as "pairing raspy vocals with harmonica and a 12-bar structure."

Those are the label's descriptions, not mine, and I would not sell them as more. But on paper the stretch is real. "Apple Bottom" is the one song made outside the core circle, and OT had already previewed it in the Houston Texans' 713 Sessions on the Reliant Stadium roof, per AllHipHop. The blues pair, "The Sickness" and "I Can't", sit at tracks 11 and 13, deep in the back half. That placement tells you the team thinks they are the surprise, not the pitch.

Sequencing and runtime

The track times on Apple add up to 44 minutes and 26 seconds. Only two songs pass three minutes: "Apple Bottom" at 3:34 and "Boogie Man" at 3:06. "Coochie Man" is the shortest at 2:01. The average song lasts about two and a half minutes.

That is a habit, not an accident. Lonestar Luchador packed 18 tracks into about 38 minutes in 2023. Recess in 2025 ran 22 tracks and 49 minutes. CUCUY lands in between and is easier to finish than Recess. The cost is that nothing gets room. A concept album needs a few songs that build, and in my view this one is built for shuffle.

Three tracks were out before release day, per Apple's track dates: "I Can't" (September 25, 2026), "Boogie Man" (October 9, 2026) and "Yo Mama" (October 22, 2026). Ending on a single the audience already knew is a safe choice. It is also the closest the album gets to its title.

How it sits next to the rest of his catalog

KAZI's Houston rap releases of 2026 list already had OT guesting on Z-Ro's Forever King, and he turned up on a remix with cieratherapper. He is in demand as a guest. On his own albums he keeps reaching wider, and CUCUY's country and blues tracks continue that. Pitchfork said Lonestar Luchador filled "his starting roster with fellow Texans." CUCUY casts wider. The label's release calls HoneyKomb Brazy a "fellow Texan," and the headline guests AllHipHop led with were Kodak Black and Rob49. That is a reasonable business move. For an album sold on Tejano folklore, I would have liked the bench closer to home.

Best tracks, on paper

Verdict: A cleanly made, well-staffed Texas rap album that wears its boogeyman like a Halloween mask instead of becoming it.

Start with: "Boogie Man".

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