Narcocorridos – the music genre that chronicles and often glorifies the explicit exploits of Mexico’s drug cartels – can be a sticky subject. Much like gangster rap, it is often vilified for romanticizing violence, and blamed for its corrupting influence on Mexico’s youth. But although they seem to celebrate the often horrific actions of the drug cartels, narcocorridos are also the expression of disempowered people looking for an escape from a reality .
Love them or hate them, there is perhaps no subject who has been more ardently sung about in narcorridos than drug kingpin Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzman. Plenty of artists have dedicated songs to him, some depicting him as a generous, hardworking man who loves to love. You know, instead of the guy that Mexico and surrounding countries are losing their shit over because he just broke out of prison once again.
Milenio put together a playlist of 18 narcocorridos by El Komander, Los Tucanes de Tijuana, Lupillo Rivera, and more dedicated to one of the world’s biggest drug lords and different aspects of his life. Hit play to hear songs about Mexico’s most wanted man.