Peso Pluma bolsters boom in Mexican music with Bizarrap

Bizarrap, the Argentine producer who everybody wants to work with, is used to laying down his electronic rhythms behind successful urban artists from different corners of the world. And on Wednesday, he trained his focus on Mexico for the third time. For his BZRP Music Sessions #55, the producer collaborated with Peso Pluma, the current doyen of the Mexican corridos tumbados music subgenre. The track is the latest in his musical sessions, in which he lays the musical foundations and guest singers deliver their lyrics. This time, the Mexican rhythms have subsumed Bizarrap’s electronic classics, which remain in the background for much of the song’s three-minute playtime.

The song’s verses evoke Peso Pluma’s usual lyrics about times of pure hedonism, money and fame: “And they will see us partying. Pure thick chain and the girls are from Instagram. Diamond-encrusted glock [pistol ]... .” The song, which could be just another of the Mexican singer’s original repertoire, is part of the exponential success of corridos tumbados, the musical subgenre that has entered the top of the music charts. On this occasion, the Argentine producer’s typical electronic basses have been submerged, only coming to the surface in the last minute of the song.

A year and a half ago, Hassan Kabande — Peso Pluma’s real name — was almost unnoticed on the scene. The dynamic began to shift when he released El Belicón, a corrido marked by war-themed lyrics and intricate guitar strumming. The warlike overtones are reflected in the session, with gunshots simulated by the producer.

Peso Pluma has reached number one on Spotify and Billboard several times with Ella Baila Sola, a collaborative track with the band Eslabón Armado. Now, the musician from Zapopan (Jalisco) has easily made a name for himself on the global scene, a fact that is supported by this latest collaboration with Bizarrap. In the lyrics of the song, Peso Pluma also mentions Sinaloa, where part of his family is from: “Y ahora me voy para LA [Los Angeles], pa’Sinaloa me voy también” (And now I’m going to LA [Los Angeles], and I’m going to Sinaloa too).

The vision of Bizarrap — whose real name is Gonzalo Julián Conde — is once again seizing the moment to launch collaborations. In January, he released a session with Shakira. The Colombian artist was then still raw from her breakup with ex-partner, soccer player Gerard Piqué. He laid the bass, and she wrote the lyrics: “I understood that it’s not my fault that they criticize you, I just make music, sorry I splashed [salpiqué] you.” In the last word, she fired a reference to the athlete’s last name with a small pause between syllables: “sal” and “piqué.”

It was not an isolated case. Another example was Bizarrap’s collaboration with Quevedo, last August, when the singer from the Canary Islands was gradually making his way onto the scene. The collaboration materialized in Quédate (BZRP Music Sessions Vol. 52), a song that became a smash hit in the charts within minutes. Now, together with Peso Pluma, the Argentine producer is taking advantage of the singer’s exponential success — with several songs at the top of the global charts — and of Mexican regional music. The subject did not go unnoticed before it came out. “Compa, this is going to get out of control!” warned the Spotify Mexico account via the social networks.

Hassan Kabande’s name is now added to those of rappers Aleman and Snow Tha Product, another two Mexican artists who previously collaborated with Bizarrap. Peso Pluma has been at the center of controversy in Mexico for references to violence and drug trafficking in his songs. An example of this was his concert at Culiacán’s anniversary in October, where a giant image of the Mexican drug trafficker Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán was projected while he sang Siempre pendientes. The musician has since defended himself, claiming that his team was not in charge of the projection. “They tried to sling mud at me there,” he said in an interview with businessman Pepe Garza.

Controversy has also marked the regional Mexican subgenre. The variant was born in 2019, with the release of Natanael Cano’s album Corridos Tumbados. He tried to adapt to the current scene by mixing the traditional rhythms of corridos with the influences of urban genres such as reggaeton and rap, which set the trend for hits. In an interview with this newspaper, Peso Pluma declared that Mexico is experiencing a golden age in urban music: “We are here to stay [...] We are putting the name of Mexico on high.”

Sign up for our weekly newsletter to get more English-language news coverage from EL PAÍS USA Edition