As the California sunset paints the sky bright orange on a hot August day, a caravan of luxury SUVs makes its way through the dirt roads outside of Los Angeles that lead to the Pico Rivera Sports Arena. When they arrive, the door of a pristine white Mercedes-Benz G-Class opens and 28-year-old Luis R Conriquez appears. Dressed in black jeans. a white, black and yellow button down shirt. black boots; and a suede tejana adorned with feathers, it perfectly matches the Instagram-ready aesthetic of the largely millennial crowd gathered here. The heavy silver chain resting on his chest is the only obvious sign that Conriquez isn't just another Belicolandia opening attendee: The singer-songwriter is one of today's greatest corridos bélicos stars, and the thousands gathered here will soon see him close the festival-like event produced by his label, Kartel Music.
As Conriquez makes his way to his trailer just behind the stage, an intimidating security detail follows – but the musician himself offers friendly smiles to everyone he meets. Once settled into the trailer, where he'll spend the next hour or so, Conriquez really lets it down, joking with good friend Tony Aguirre about how early his fellow Corridos singer (another Kartel collaborator) had turned up that day. “That's how we get along. everything is funny,” says Conriquez. “We like to have a good time.” The trailer becomes a revolving door as emerging and established local Mexican artists drop in to say hello and snap a quick photo with him, as Conriquez fans anointed him early in his career, the King of Corridos Bélicos. The moniker is no exaggeration: Since his debut in 2019, Conriquez has pioneered the Mexican subgenre that has gone global in the past two years thanks to him and others like Peso Pluma.
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