Corrido is going from old-school abuelo music to a more urbano and trap-infused genre lately. The classic regional Mexican sound, known for its narrative folk ballads, is slowly but surely joining in on the ‘música urbana’ movement that has the whole world listening. And with Bad Bunny injecting his hip-hop and trap flair into the genre, we can confirm that corridos tumbados, are officially the new thing. 

After visiting Mexico for a run of tour dates in support of his latest album X 100Pre, Bad Bunny surprised us all with a unique project: a corrido. 

In his latest release, the trap-reggaeton star tapped the urban regional Mexican label, Rancho Humilde, for a collaboration that would bridge the gap between regional Mexican music and Puerto Rican música urbana —and surprise us all with the result. El Conejo Malo got in touch  with the urban corrido, or corrido tumbado artist, Natanael Cano.

Natanael Cano is part of a new school of Corrido, the ‘Corrido Tumbado’ which adds trap and urban influences to the classic genre.

Cano is part of a burgeoning movement of Mexican artists making trap corridos (or “corridos tumbados”) that incorporate hip-hop elements into the traditional corrido style. At just 18, Cano has turned into an internet sensation. His viral hits “El F1” and “El Drip” have more than 17 million views on Youtube. And his song “El de la Codeína” made it to #1 on Apple Music’s Latino chart.

With the remix to ‘Soy El Diablo’ Bad Bunny wants to promote unity among all Latinx communities.

Bad Bunny and Natanel Cano emerged with a remix of Cano’s gritty 2019 track, “Soy El Diablo” (“I Am the Devil”). Taking cues from the Sonora native, Bunny sings Cano’s lines in his unmistakably Caribbean accent, over strums of acoustic guitar.

“Para mi gente linda de Mexico, Puerto Rico, Latinoamerica/Eso es pa’ toda mi raza/ America es nuestra casa,” says one of Bad Bunny’s lines —using the song as a platform to promote unity among all Latinx communities. “This is for my beautiful people in Mexico, Puerto Rico, Latin America/This is for my race/America is our home!”

Bad Bunny had been teasing the collab for a few weeks.

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ready pa' los PORN HUB AWARDS ???? pero MAÑANA comienza el X100PRE TOUR en MEXICO!! y ya yo estoy listooo CABRONES!!! ???????? VIVA LA RAZA!!!

A post shared by BAD | BUNNY (@badbunnypr) on Oct 11, 2019 at 6:11pm PDT

The unlikely pair dropped the first official urbano/corrido collab in October, weeks after teasing at it with Benito posting videos of himself on Instagram singing along to the song and drinking tequila from the bottle. “It’s something I never imagined. Like, zero percent,” Cano said in an interview about the remix. But the Mexican artist is acutely aware of the important place that Latin urbano sounds hold in the global musical landscape of the moment. “We’re the new generation [of regional], and we have that other sound naturally inside of us. It’s organic.”

In the song Bad Bunny even uses regional Mexican slang and references.

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YO HAGO LO QUE ME DA LA GANA!!!!!! ???????????????????????? #SoyElDiablo junto a mi compa @natanael_cano !!! Puros corridos tumbados!! ???? Disfruten la vida!! Hagan cosas nuevas siempre y sean felices!!! Hoy los shots de tequila son a nombre de ustedes!!! ESCUCHANDO ESTE ROLÓN!!!!! BUSCALA YA!!! VIVA MEXICO!!! VIVA LA RAZA!!! VIVA LATINOAMERICA!!!! ????????????????????????????!!!

A post shared by BAD | BUNNY (@badbunnypr) on Oct 25, 2019 at 3:17pm PDT

The corrido opens with Bad Bunny’s “Ajuaaaa.” His delivery, and even his slang —which include shout outs to Canelo Álvarez and Rancho Humilde and words like “compa,” and “banda” are typical of the regional genre to refer to the people— show the importance that Benito gave this remix.

The collab was first suggested to both parties by Marissa Gastelum, who runs Latin artist relations at Apple Music.

“In September, Noah [Assad, Bad Bunny’s manager] called me and asked me what I thought of this kid,” recalls Gastelum in an interview with Billboard. “He told me Bad Bunny really loves this song ‘Soy El Diablo.’ And I said, wait, lets do something!”

Gastelum called Jimmy Humilde, the owner of indie Rancho Humilde  Records, to which Cano is signed. Humilde, who has worked to create an “urban regional” sound that appeals to a younger generation of regional Mexican fans, thought it was a great idea, and so the regional/urban remix was born.

Bad Bunny chased his tequila-fueled release with a string of New England tour dates — and a stint as guest lecturer at Harvard University. If we can count on Benito to do one thing, it’s to inject his cool-effect on anything he touches. 

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If you look up the definition of a corrido, Google will tell you that it is a “ballad in a traditional Mexican style, typically having lyrics that narrate a historical event.” Key word here is “historical,” so if you hear those corridos that our parents played back in the day, you’d know what was going down in the Latino community during that time. Today, Latinos are going through a myriad complexities, and there’s a new generation of writers and performers that are singing about this crucial and terrifying time.

Meet brother and sister act Yaxeni y Ricardo who call themselves Los Luzeros De Rioverde. The siblings are a corrido band that is singing about the harsh times facing the community under the current administration.

????????Hola Amigos ????‍♂️????‍♀️queremos Invitarlos a que nos acompañen aver nuestro siguiente video???? ????????musical, este ????Jueves 19 de Julio !❤ ????SUSCRIBANSE ????a nuestro canal de ????️You ????️Tube, para que sea la primer persona en ????????verlo.y no se olviden de tocar la ????campanita pic.twitter.com/585240OlaY

— Los Luzeros De Rioverde (@YaxeniYRicardo) July 18, 2018

These cute kids are Houston natives and while they look very young they are wise beyond their years.

In their short time as artists, they’ve already released three albums. Their latest is called “Con amor y sentimiento.”

All of their albums feature songs in both English and Spanish.

They’s performed for audiences at various venues, including in national tv for people like Steve Harvey.

Watch local musical duo Yaxeni & Ricardo make Houston proud tonight at 7 on Little Big Shots! #KPRC2 pic.twitter.com/AsTGNuziOa

— KPRC 2 Houston (@KPRC2) July 12, 2018

Yup, they were featured on “Little Big Shots.”

However, they’re latest corrido is causing big waves on the internet because it’s about deportation.

The song is called “Si me deportan” (“If I get deported”).

The brother and sister sing about the strict laws of the United States, and they sing through the point of view of their parents.

“What if they deport us with our kids/even though they were born in the United States,” the song begins.

“We are millions who live here illegally/but we came here to improve our lives/and even though they call us criminals, that will never get us down.”

The duo has been showered with praise and love for the song highlighting the terrifying situation so many people are experiencing right now.

In 2016, Yaxeni y Ricardo talked about being against deportation and the separation of families.

They released a song about deportation back then called “El Descendiente” (The Offspring).

“We want to be the voice of all those kids who don’t have a voice,” Yaxeni said.

To learn more about Los Luzeros De Rioverde check out their YouTube page and their Facebook page.

READ: These Young Mexican-Americans Just Wrote A Corrido For Bernie Sanders

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