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Saturday, September 17, 2022

A New Generation Of Narcos Is Rising In Mexico, And They're Bringing A New Style Of Music To Celebrate Their Exploits

"Sol Prendido" for Borderland Beat

Badiraguato, the hometown of former Sinaloa Cartel chief Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzmán, in Sinaloa state.

* A new generation of narcos are taking over in some of Mexico's most powerful criminal groups.

* They're bringing some changes to the drug trade, including new music to celebrate their exploits.

* Their "narco-corridos" are now defined by Trapteño, a hybrid of US-origin trap and Mexican norteño.

A new generation of narcos are taking over for the old guard in some of Mexico's most powerful criminal organizations, and they're bringing with them a new kind of music to celebrate their exploits.

In the mountains of Sinaloa state in northwest Mexico, during a recent gathering of Grupo Flecha ("the Arrow Group"), an elite paramilitary army that protects notorious Sinaloa Cartel kingpin Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada, the speakers hummed with music distinct from the narco-ballads that Zambada and others of his generation made popular.

"We are people from the man in a hat, taking care of our turf," the lyrics, mixed with trombones over a hip-hop base, said in Spanish. "We are the Mayiza my dudes."

Historically, the Mexican regional style of folk music known as the narco-corrido was used by drug traffickers to celebrate their feats or to tell the stories of those who died defending their turf.

Norteño musicians wait to offer their services for funerals at cemetery in Mexico state in June 2020. 

But now the 12-string guitars and accordions that defined narco-corridos are being replaced by the hip-hop drums and loud synths of "Trapteño," a hybrid of the US-origin hip-hop subgenre of trap and norteño, a style that originated in Mexico's rural regions.

"This music was a consequence of the Sinaloa Cartel's plugs [contacts] in Atlanta, where Trap music first went viral," a Flechas commander told Insider.

"The Sinaloa Cartel has a lot of contacts in Atlanta, and the life of the people in Culiacan and the people in Atlanta is not too different. The drugs, the girls, the mafia — we connected with that," the commander said, speaking anonymously for personal security reasons.

Even though the musical style is new, the lyrics are largely the same, telling stories highlighting the exploits of popular drug bosses, describing killings, and detailing how kingpins rose to the top of their business.

"In the old ranch, life got hard and I had to get out. My mother gave me her blessings and I grabbed the Glock," say the lyrics of one song by composer and singer Emmanuel Massú, known as "El Enfermo."


Massú thinks that a new generation needs a new way to approach the old tales but that the connection to the old Mexican narco-balad remains.

"People need to listen to new ways of saying how we live and die in Sinaloa," where they're on "the frontlines of this monster," the drug trade, Massú said.

The Flechas commander interviewed in Sinaloa state said the younger generation is not leaving the old narco-corridos behind but rather that Trapteño makes them feel like a more modern group.

"If you look at us, we no longer dress as the old ones, with the hats and the boots. We dress with designer shoes and shirts or bélicos," the commander said, using a term for military attire.

While the style may be changing, these narco-tales are significant in the world they Mexican criminal groups inhabit, according to Juan Carlos Ramírez, a San Diego State University professor and one of the few experts on the narco-corrido.

MP3s of "narco-corridos" about the escape and recapture of Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzmán at a market in Monterrey, Mexico, in January 2016. 

"These songs have a strong influence between cartels," Ramírez told Insider. "One of the first things a criminal organization orders after fighting with another group is to call the singers and ban the name of their enemies from their songs."

The songs provide a different — and maybe more accurate — version of what is happening inside Mexico's criminal underworld, Ramírez added.

"Usually the official record is a lie. That is why it is important to have a different record, to contrast versions and eventually find the truth," Ramírez said, adding that the new musical style will have an impact on younger generations outside that underworld.

"This is attracting a younger audience. They find the music appealing and eventually end up getting caught up by the lyrics celebrating a drug boss or a whole group," Ramírez said.

The rise of a new genre with more appeal to a younger generation could also be a worrying sign: For years now, drug cartels have been recruiting younger Mexicans, sometimes children, as lookouts, dealers, and even sicarios.

A member of the group Herederos de la Frontera, which plays traditional Norteño-style ballads, at a club in Tijuana in July 2008.

There could be some 30,000 children already working for the cartels in Mexico and some 250,000 more who could be recruited over the next few years, according to the Network for Children's Rights in Mexico, or REDIM.

"Children enter these criminal organizations at a very young age — [it] could be even around the age of 9 years old — and eventually they start getting more responsibilities and promoted to more dangerous tasks like trafficking or looking over stash houses," Tania Ramírez, REDIM's director, told Insider.

At the top of this new generation of narcos are the "narco juniors" who are following their fathers into the business. Their upbringing inside the cartels, and the reputations and lifestyles of their fathers, have made them more shrewd but also more aggressive, sources in the criminal world say.

"These juniors — sons of the Guzmáns but also descendants of other drug bosses — are using their names to operate openly in Sinaloa without any consequence," said a Sinaloa Cartel member in Culiacán, the group's home turf. "They are a new litter, smarter but also more violent. They grew up around guns and killings, and it's showing."

52 comments:

  1. James Brown thank you for your comments sir

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  2. Never have I heard this music in Mexico and I live here 😂😂🤡🤡

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    1. The vidoes are getting hundreds of millions of views on YouTube . Might be getting old bro

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    2. No one bumps the new stuff this is fake af

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  3. Replies
    1. All that shit sounds horrible

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    2. It just sounds like Spanish rap me

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    3. 11:32 cleanses are horrible...
      Rapeando Con Los Razos, was one earlier beautiful creation with Psycho Realm, jaliskas used to get mad at me for playing the whole CD in the gritofonola.
      There new creations from people too lazy to learn to play accordion, bajosexto, bajo- quinto, guitar or slap bass make me tremble with fear about their their versions of pasito duranguense, but we have to make room for the new naquiza and die ASAP.
      Let the Revolution Evolve, and witness the Oscar Worthy emissions of Business Insider.

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    4. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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  4. Heard better. And in the end it's about glorifying a bunch of shit that half . Or I'm sorry. None of the singers are actually doing or did. But I'm sure they are glorifying someone's supposed lifestyle that was lived or is still being lived up.

    Thank you SOL. I hope your weekend is going great brother.

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  5. If you want to clear out a plaza just drive around with some good ole American rap music blazing out of some big speakers and watch the Narcos put their own guns to their heads in minutes. Problem solved.

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  6. No mames, this stuff sounds horrible af. Corridos used to be bad ass. Wtf is this atrocious sound.

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    1. 12:27 Behold and Behave!
      You have become your daddy,
      but don't wear his pink panties.

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    2. 12:27 Yes, sounds like circus music 🤡

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  7. Y Las Rolas Del Makabelico?

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  8. Replies
    1. Can you come up with something orginal? "Cultural degeneracy" is the same of tired-ass phrase that white racists have used since like forever. From 1920's jazz to hip hop's beginnings in the 1980's, whites in America have complained about the "cultural degeneracy" wrought by black music. American music in every form was created or influenced by Black music. Then I guess you'll have to stop listening to the Rolling Stones, the Beatles and Kenny G. Like Metallica, System of a Down or Slipknot? All that shit is based on the blues. Many white Americans thought rap was basura until Eminem came out. Funny how that works!

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    2. CULTURAL DEGENERACY!!!!

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    3. Where are the violins ? Can we get some violin music as we read The false narrative of the dark victims

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    4. Get the violins out for cryin ass james and his emo race shite,the world is full of of em

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    5. Cultural Degeneration can you dig james?
      Have a cry about white people you fuckin losers

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    6. @1211 Racists!! Racists!! Racists!! That stupid word has been used to the point of having very little meaning now. I'm not saying racism doesn't exist but if you look at how often that word is used and when it's used it's really weakend as a word that lots of people don't even care if they're accused of being a racist anymore. That term is used to scare and intimidate people for simply not agreeing with the accusers viewpoint or because the accuser is losing the argument. It's the "go to" for the weak minded with victim mentality.

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    7. @1:21 says the dude with victim mentality and the inferiority complex. LMAO!

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    8. @12:57 What a great argument!

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  9. This music just ass dumb as corridos! Horrible is horrible no matter the different melody!

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  10. pinche basura y pinche vato todo trasquilado

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    1. Hahaha serio!
      Pinche vato uso todo su dinero para rentar y pagerle a la vieja, la avioneta, el cochinero de Mercedes, y al el Koreano de Gangnam style.

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  11. Kinda old considering death grind norteńo came out over a decade ago, Brujeria's grincore is over 30 years old and Asesino's "corridos de muerte" close to 20 years old. Their genre of music is listened to by death/metal heads yet the lyrics are something out of narco corridos. Trapteño is simply another variation of the narco style but in less digestible sounds. Yuk.

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    Replies
    1. Jaja!! Well said!

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    2. Is this a Northeast México/Tejas type of music? Puros pinches gritos jajaja. To each their own. I'll stick to conjunto norteño y que suene el acochi🎶

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  12. Mexico is unique in Latin America for glorifying a gangster, serial killer life style which seems to be an integral part of Mexican culture. This is a big part of why Mexico is so messed up. Even without drugs this so called culture and attitude would exist. And they would still be corrupt and still extort and kill each other. The problem is cultural as much as anything

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    1. 258 Stop listening to Donnie boy.he would feed you to the DOJ just like lil eric. Where have you ever been in Mejico?
      I doubt you'd offer me food and water 60 miles from pavement in Sonora. Narco ranch? Duh. You're words would see you eaten by birds there.
      Where have you been to in Mejico .

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    2. Like gangster rap in the USA.

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    3. 2:58 Colombia and Peru are very similar to Mexico nothing unique about Mexico narco culture.

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  13. Maybe if he sells enough albums he can finish getting a real fade instead of that chili bowl

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  14. Are Mariachi bands still performing in any places other than resorts? Give me the days back, when we sat on a beautiful beach in Mexico, at an outdoor bar in the sand. Drinks forever and Mariachi's taking requests. That was some great music.

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  15. FUCK this bullshit. this "style" of corrido is not even a real genre just like mumble rap is not a form of rap. made up BS to keep the dollars flowing. And who the fuck would listen to music that glorifies the SAME parasites who are victimizing them???? If that's not a prime example of Stockholm syndrome I don't know what is. You're complicit in the destruction of Mexico if you continue listening to this SHIT. everytime you stream one of these songs, the cartel pockets a few cents whether you like it or not. that's what it is. Stop listening, profits will slow and the music will die out. Narco corridos MUST DIE!

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  16. I've heard White people say that corridos sound like "circus music" lol i have to agree

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    1. Haa lmao thats what my homie said.he half white half Mexican.when he said that shit years bavk I was dying laughing

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  17. Yea ok I was wondering bout this shit.so that new style for example Grupo 360 how their corridos were totally different before,now they are rappin.yea mexican rap which I hate that shit mostly fukin trash bullshit.kinda weird tho cuz I like that new shit rap corrido.it sounds alright its not mexican rap like the other shit.at least it's corrido based I guess.yea fukin weird tho i never couldve predicted the music would change like this.fukin sad too.smoke these motherfukers new

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  18. Typical snitchaloa delusions.

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    Replies
    1. Bingo. Todo ñengo esté buey y según ahora sí es un chingón

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  19. I'll stick with Chalino, Saul Viera, Jorge Gamboa, Leonel El Ranchero y Los Allegres del Barranco

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