How Reggaetón and local Mexican music found surprising common ground

In October 2019, Bad Bunny, already a huge star, posted a video on Instagram, drinking tequila and singing a song in Spanish with guitars. It was “Soy el Diablo” by Natanael Cano, the then 18-year-old who made waves in local Mexican music with corridos tumbadosa subgenre that combines hip-hop swagger with traditional Música Mexicana instrumentation.

That Bad Bunny would gravitate toward the sound at first seemed counterintuitive: Reggaetón, built on beats, tracks and loops, is seemingly unrelated to local Mexican music, which is created primarily with live instruments.

But upon further consideration, it made perfect sense. Tumbados Corridos, like Bad Bunny's mix of trap and reggaetón, are as much about attitude and lifestyle as they are about music. Within weeks, a remix of “Soy el Diablo,” featuring Bad Bunny, reached No. 16 Bulletin boardHot Latin Songs chart.

The unlikely pairing at the time was revolutionary and sparked a wave of collaborations between reggaetón and Mexican music that continues to this day. Since “Soy el Diablo,” at least 14 songs that combine both genres have entered Hot Latin Songs — including Karol G and Peso Pluma's “Qlona,” which reached No. 1 in September 2023. And now , this year's Rumbazo festival — taking place September 13-14 in Las Vegas in partnership with Bulletin board — will reflect the affinity between the two genres; headliners Nicky Jam and Luis R Conriquez released a single together, “Como el Viento,” in 2023.

For Jimmy Humilde, founder and CEO of independent label Rancho Humilde (home to Cano and Fuerza Regida, among other Mexican music artists), Mexican and urban music are like siblings from another mother, and the new wave of Mexican music, many since it developed on the west coast, it is inextricably linked to hip-hop and by extension to reggaetón.

“Hip-hop was my heart,” Humilde said Bulletin board last year of his upbringing, like many of his artists, in Los Angeles. “I was a big fan of old-school hip-hop.” But Humilde was also a big fan of bad boy Mexican corridors sung by people like Chalino Sánchez. Early in his career, when he began working with Corridos singer Jessie Morales (also raised in Los Angeles), he had a simple but brilliant idea: Instead of wearing the traditional outfit of boots and cowboy hat, “I told him, ' Bro, why don't you dress hip-hop, how do you really dress? You don't have to go out in a hat or a suit.' ”

The idea of ​​introducing hip-hop style into Mexican music slowly but surely became the norm for a new generation of artists that now includes Cano, Fuerza Regida, Junior H, Peso Pluma, Eslabon Armado and Yahritza y Su Esencia, who dress more like rappers rather than singers of traditional Mexican music.

Real cross-genre collaborations, however, only began in earnest after the Bad Bunny-Cano remix. In 2020, they went even further when Snoop Dogg (another Angeleno and longtime fan of band music) recorded “Que Maldición” with Banda MS (which went to No. 4 on Hot Latin Songs) and later joined the band on stage in Los Angeles

Then in 2021, Colombian superstar Karol G released “200 Copas”, a real rancher ballad. Colombians in general (and Medellin natives like Karol, in particular) have long been die-hard fans of ranchera and mariachi music—and later that year, Karol's friend paisa and reggaetón star Maluma also recorded a ranchera: “Cada Quien,” with Grupo Firme, which became his first No. 1 on the Regional Mexican Airplay chart.

“Being on a Mexican chart in the US is a big deal,” Maluma said Bulletin board at that time. “I've always dreamed of it. When I travel to Mexico, it's like being at home. I feel part of it and I'm very grateful to Grupo Firme for making it possible.”

The growing list of Urban/Mexican collaborations also includes this issue's cover stars of Bulletin board. And while Nicky Jam and Conriquez's “Como el Viento” didn't chart, for Conriquez, it's a sign of the future.

“If we're smart about it, there'll be more songs like this, because it's an opportunity to bring the two genres together and let one enter each other's world,” says Conriquez, who has already recorded with reggaetonero Ryan Castro. . “I always thought reggaetón was global. But now, regional Mexican is also global.”

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.