US Rappers Dedicate Their Songs to Mexican Drug Lords

Borderland Beat  Posted on BB Forum by "Bjeff"

 

Mexican drug traffickers, their activities and luxuries are no longer exclusive to narcocorridos and have moved to a new type of music: US Rap.

American rappers are dedicating their songs and album covers to major Mexican drug lords. In his latest video, Drojo, a Mexican-American rapper, appears hooded, pointing a gun at a man kneeling in front of him. With the sound of a radio communication in the background, he sings: "Give me the money, give me the money."

In an interview with El Diario de El Paso, Drojo says the 'Narco Wave' comes from the concept of the way he has lived all his life.

"Now I live on the border and the drug here is cheaper than in North America. This drug is a reality that many people do not know, especially further north", Drojo explained on the telephone.

In the same 'wave' is Gucci Mane, an African American rapper who has dedicated his first single to Joaquin 'El Chapo' Guzman, the main capo of the Sinaloa Cartel.

In his lyrics Gucci Mane says: "All I wanna be is El Chapo. Three billion dollars in pesos."

Drojo says it is an easy thing to explain: "In the eighties it was Miami, Cuban drug dealers, but now Mexican drug traffickers are the ones who are doing it".

Another one joining the list is Tony Yayo, a member of the rap group G-Unit, who dedicated his latest cover photograph to the popular Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, in a jacket and a cap and coffee within the Mexican criminal where eloped for over 10 years.

The album cover contains a visual effect whereby the face of El Chapo Guzman becomes Tony Yayo, who wears a black jacket, neck chain and cap with New York Yankees.

Yet behind an attempt to "exalt" the leaders of the Mexican cartels are sales, says Drojo. "the word 'drug' is now very popular on this side of the border.

Drojo, on the other hand, says that his intention is not to glorify the drug trade , but to demonstrate a social context.

"It is not to glorify the drug , my concept is more like a movie, is something that is happening, but I'm trying to see it as a movie."

He also said to have had to be "very careful" with not mentioning of any capo and even with the same word 'drug'. "I have family, I have kids and I do not want no problem with a capo on a misunderstanding, we are careful with our words," he says