A new wave of regional Mexican newcomers are ushering the urban and trap corridos movement, a spinoff of the traditional Mexican corrido, with songs that typically cover themes like cannabis legalization or immigration.
Leading the movement are music labels such as Rancho Humilde, co-founded by Jimmy Humilde, which includes urban regional artists like Natanael Cano — who recorded a corrido tumbado remix with Bad Bunny — Fuerza Regida, Legado 7 and Arsenal Efectivo.
Also, DEL Records with Ángel del Villar at the helm and artists signed include T3R Elemento, whose songs reflect a bicultural lifestyle in the U.S., and Lenin Ramírez.
At Billboard and Telemundo's LatinFest+, a dicussion of urban, trap corridos will take center stage at this year's "Regional Mexican Goes Urban" panel taking place April 21 in Las Vegas.
The panel will discuss the newest regional Mexican music trend of fusing traditional and urban beats and will feature some of the most influential players in the Regional Mexican and Urban Corrido genres.
T3R Elemento’s Sergio Cárdenas, Del Villar, Legado 7’s Alex Guerra, Humilde, Fuerza Regida’s Jesús Ortiz Paz, singer-songwriter Lenin Ramírez and Arsenal Efectivo’s Shrek will all speak at the anticipated panel.
The Snoop Dogg and Bad Bunny-approved trap corridos reach 2nd and 3rd generation bilingual corrido fans who listen to both English and Spanish music. "The strength and popularity of our music is a reflection of the demographics of this country. Our fans speak English but love to listen to music that keeps them connected to their roots," Humilde previously told Billboard.
The up-and-coming corrido singers also reflect those demographics. T3R Elemento's lead singer Kristopher Nava, born and raised in Las Vegas, grew up listening to rap and corridos and fuses both cultures and languages on his tracks.
San Bernardino, Calif.-based Fuerza Regida started off as a local cover band adding "East L.A. flavor" to their covers and now their original songs include lyrics about street life and Mexican culture.
Meanwhile, Mexican-American band Arsenal Efectivo escalated the Billboard charts thanks to their trap corridos. The band's 2018 debut album, En La Fuga, earned Arsenal its first-ever top 10 on the Regional Mexican Albums chart (dated July 14, 2018). “Trap corridos, for me, is the inspiration I get from the hip-hop trap music," Shrek told Billboard in a previous interview.
Other stars confirmed so far to participate at LatinFest+ include Ozuna, J Balvin, Rosalía and Los Tigres del Norte. Registration for 2020 LatinFest+ is already open at http://latinfestplus.com.
The inaugural Latinfest+ also marks the 30th anniversary of Billboard’s Latin Music Conference, the longest-running and biggest Latin music gathering in the world. Latinfest+ will be an immersive, week-long experience for the Latin entertainment industry, artists, executives and fans and will include superstar conversations, industry panels and workshops, celebrity fireside chats, live concerts, fan experiences and live activations of some of Billboard’s most celebrated franchises, including Growing Up Latino.
The three-day music event culminates with the 2020 Billboard Latin Music Awards, which will air live April 23 on Telemundo.
