At the start of 2018, the future looked bright corridors singer and songwriter Codiciado. Grupo Codiciado, the band he had co-founded three years earlier, was rising rapidly: After his entry Bulletin board2017 Hot Latin Songs chart with “Gente de Accionar”, the song peaked at No. 8 on the Regional Mexican Albums chart with Miro Lo Que Otros No Miran (I see what others don't). And with its success, the group helped define the urban style of Rancho Humilde, the Los Angeles-based company known for its modern take. Música Mexicana.
Then, on a cannabis possession charge, Codiciado's visa was revoked at the US-Mexico border in April. He had immigrated to the United States in 2016, working in the agricultural fields of Southern California to support himself as he tried to launch his music career. Now, physical walls along the borders of his native Tijuana—and legal restrictions preventing his re-entry—stood in his way.
It was a disastrous turn of events. “I really wanted to stop. I didn't want to make music,” the 31-year-old artist (born Erick de Jesús Aragón Alcantar) admits today. “I struggled when I left. I didn't have a job. I spent my entire career in the United States. I thought that something divine wanted me to leave, like someone didn't want me here. Then I put on my pants and said, “Well, if I'm here [in Mexico]I have to give it all.' At the end of the day, I was very optimistic [about] I'm getting my visa back.”
Rather than let the visa revocation end his career, Codiciado forged a new one. Driven by a reborn creative conviction and fan support, he split from Grupo Codiciado and went solo. “People encouraged me to say it wasn't over, that it was just an obstacle,” he says. “I had to go on.”
Growing up in Tijuana's Villa del Real III neighborhood—a poor place, but rich in Mexican music—Codiciado absorbed the culture of his surroundings. Influenced by icons such as Los Tucanes de Tijuana and Explosión Norteña, he began writing songs as a teenager and channeled the chaos of his surroundings into his music.
Codiciado's first songs were inspired by the notorious Sinaloa drug kingpins and were written partly out of financial necessity. Drug lords often pay songwriters to write charts for them, and although Codiciado notes that he “didn't know about the cartels in those days, just what I heard on the street,” getting the job marked a turning point in his career. As he completed his musicianship, he teamed up with longtime friend and drummer Giovanni Rodríguez to form Grupo Codiciado in 2015, recruiting four more members in Tijuana.
The band organized and recorded a concert by the end of the year, amassing millions of views on YouTube. just one of these videos garnered 233 million views. Its frequent new releases helped it cultivate a loyal fan base, and soon the band was headlining festivals throughout Tijuana. The following year, Rancho Humilde signed the deed and came to the US
“Erick was the first artist to bring this new style to Mexican music eight years ago with Grupo Codiciado,” says Fabio Acosta, who is part of Codiciado's four-member management team. “They were pioneers in changing the style of the genre, shifting from heavily embellished suits with fine stones to incorporating streetwear.”
Codiciado's sense of style, now common among contemporary acts like Natanael Cano and Fuerza Regida, was ahead of its time. “I had disagreements with older colleagues,” he recalls. “A lot of people took it as an insult, saying, 'No, man, we're the same, and you're wearing rags and hats and sneakers, and we're here in cowboy hats and boots.' “
“He was at the forefront of this new wave of runways,” says Chris Den Uijl, another member of Codiciado's management team. “They were one of the first to appear in Air Force 1s and had a more progressive style.”
Codiciado performs at Toyota Arena on May 3, 2024 in Ontario, California.
Lalo Gonzales
Since late last year, Den Uijl has overseen Codiciado's touring strategy alongside Aaron Ampudia, with whom he co-founded festivals such as Baja Beach Fest and Sueños. In fact, Ampudia, who has roots on both sides of the border, was the first of the current management team to connect with Codiciado, through a mutual friend. Ángel del Villar, founder of corridos DEL Records, completes the team. “[My managers] they help me structure my work, my company, my band, my music,” Codiciado says. (She releases music independently and has a distribution deal with Warner.)
As Codiciado's career blossomed and he debuted at Bulletin board on the charts, his life took a sudden turn. In 2018, while crossing into the United States from Mexico, US Immigration and Customs Enforcement accused him of being in the state on a non-resident visa and attempted to revoke it. “I said I had a work visa and traveled back and forth a lot,” he says. “Then when they checked my bag they found less than a gram of marijuana that I don't know how the hell it got there. They kept me 12 hours without [access to] a lawyer. They made me sign for voluntary deportation, giving up my visa and rights. A lawyer would tell me not to sign and go to court.”
Back in Mexico, Codiciado felt “disappointed and alone” as he watched música mexicana move forward without him. Rancho Humilde founder and CEO Jimmy Humilde “started signing new acts like Fuerza Regida,” Codiciado says from his home in Riverside, California. “A year passed, two years passed, three years passed and nothing happened. [with getting my visa back].”
Ultimately, Codiciado decided, he says, “to come to terms” — including officially parting ways with Grupo Codiciado, which disbanded in 2021 and released his final single as a group, “Maquinando,” in February 2022. He increased solo songs and in 2023 he released his first solo album, Golpes de la Vida (Strokes of Life), distributed by Virgin Music US Latin? He wrote and produced 17 of the set's 20 songs himself.
The album kept the essence of his sound intact, while recent singles like 2024's “Gabachas” have embraced his upward trend electrocution — electronic music orchestrated corridos woven and sampled throughout. As he chronicles the monumental changes in his life amid his visa struggle (including becoming a father for the second time; he has a 10-year-old daughter and a 4-year-old son), his lyricism has also deepened. “The biggest lesson was that I had to keep pushing and not wait. If I had waited, I wouldn't have grown. Despite my departure from the team, I can say that I succeeded. I came back a different person.”
With legal help and the proper paperwork, Codiciado returned to Southern California on a new visa (he declines to specify which type) in 2023. Earlier this year, he completed the aptly named — and very successful — five-date Ando Enfocado (I'm Focused) tour; Live Nation is producing a second run of eight dates that will take Codiciado coast to coast in September and October.
“It touches the little children of the Corridos [with] this new generation sound,” says Den Uijl. “He has a big fan base of local Mexican fans who show up in cowboy hats and come up to him saying, 'You helped me through my hardest times.' Grown men cry to him saying, “You gave me the strength to bear it when I lost my job to find the next one.” Things like that really touched me seeing it in the first wave of his concerts.”
Meanwhile, Codiciado returned to Bulletin board diagrams. He made his solo debut in February 2023 with “VAMC (Vamos Aclarando Muchas Cosas En Vivo),” which reached No. 31 on Hot Latin Songs. the track also peaked at No. 29 on Regional Mexican Airplay. And “Gabachas” debuted at No. 41 on Latin Airplay and hit No. 9 on Latin Pop Airplay.
“I have been an artist for eight years [of experience]. Perhaps many have come faster and achieved what I have not yet in less time. But I'm the only one who has done it this way,” Codiciado says. “Maybe I bring out two, three, four hits a year, but they're hits that stick with people and have a message.”
But now, his ambitions go beyond commercial success. Codiciado's work with La Fundación UFW, founded by civil rights activist César Chávez, underscores his commitment to the broader immigrant community. “We as a society need to be kinder and more empathetic to people who have not,” he says. In April, KNAI (La Campesina 101.9) Phoenix, the radio station founded by Chávez in 1983, announced a partnership with Codiciado to provide hot meals to local farmers. “We should help people if we have the means,” Codiciado says. “God gave [to] to give back. The more I have, the more I help.”
And as his influence grows, Codiciado also wants to bring about broader change. “I want to change my mind. I can't change everyone, but [artists] they have the influence to make big changes, just like a politician,” he says. “Our audience is very large, and revolutionary speaking, that's what I aspire to be.”
This story appears on Bulletin boardThe special issue of Rumbazo, dated September 14, 2024.
Billboard Latin Music Week returns to Miami Beach October 14-18, with confirmed superstars such as Gloria Estefan, Alejandro Sanz and Peso Pluma, among many others. For tickets and more details, visit Billboardlatinmusicweek.com.
from our partners at https://www.billboard.com/music/latin/codiciado-corridos-singer-songwriter-visa-solo-career-rebirth-1235772531/
