I just caught wind of of a new musical style sweeping the nation of Mexico, songs about drugs and gangterism! Crazy huh? I know what you’re thinking, “yeah Ese, I’ve heard Cock The Hammer by Cypress Hill, I had Black Sunday in the eighth grade!”  But I’m not talking about gangsta rap. No, it’s the other style of song about drug trafficking and guns, NarcoCorrido. Ariba, bang, bang.

This polka based ballads are literally songs sung in Spanish about cocaine, marijuana, street toughs and the like.  This music dates back to the 1970′s when pioneers, Los Tigres Del Norte burst on the scene with such hits as Contrabando y Traicion” (“Contraband and Betrayal”) and “La Mafia Muere” (“The Mob Dies”).

Mexican Congress is trying to pass a law banning musicians to sing NarcoCorridos.  Essentially throwing singers in jail for singing any song in this genre. Ridiculous. Forget salsa music, this is now the most popular music in Mexico. Not only that, most of the music is recorded in the U.S. and is equally as huge in the southern states.

If the history of this music interests you and you want to read more about the rise of Los Tigres or about Chalino Sanchez-who got into a gun fight with an audience member during his own show (!) check out Elijah Wald’s book, “Narcocorrido A Journey Into The Music of Drugs, Guns and Geurillas“.