The power of music and respect between mega artists transcends any language. Such kindness is what we saw from hip-hop icon Snoop Dogg during Banda MS’ Los Angeles concert on Feb. 19. The rapper paid tribute to late legend Vicente Fernández by DJing one of his famous hits and giving out roses to the massive crowd’s front row. The video of this emotional gesture went viral, especially when Vicente’s son, Alejandro Fernández, reposted the tribute to his father on his social media.
“No words. All the way to heaven, viejo. LOVE @snoopdogg!” Alejandro Fernández, also known as “El Potrillo,” wrote on the repost that he shared to his fanbase.
“Let’s show some love to one of our fallen heroes – to one of the great ones. You know who I’m talking about,” Snoop Dogg said as he dropped the unmatchable song “El Rey” in front of the Crypto.com Arena. The song is instantly recognizable, and the fans went wild seeing the representation and feeling seen by the rapper and entrepreneur. In the recorded video, we see him handing out red and white long-stemmed roses to the audience. He later lowers his head as a form of respect.
It is no secret that Snoop Dogg is a huge fan of Mexican music, especially that of banda and ranchera. By paying his respects from one great to another, Snoop Dogg surely won many of the “El Charro de Huentitán”’s fans over, especially in front of more than 20,000 Banda MS fans. It’s always beautiful to see our Latine music being appreciated by other cultures, especially those who don’t speak Spanish — a true testament to music being a universal language.
Later during the concert, where Snoop Dogg was invited as a special guest, he performed his hit collaboration “Que Maldición” with Banda MS, a song that earned them their first top 10 Billboard’s Hot Latin Songs Chart.