It is July 2024. The sun is at its peak and in an open field a group of teenagers between 15 and 20 years old are celebrating a soccer game whose score was tied at halftime. While the players are resting and hydrating, the first beats of what seemed to be an electronic music song begin to be heard over the speakers of the stands, but ended up becoming an ode to the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG).
None of the attendees seemed alarmed that speeches praising organized crime were being played at a sporting event. “It’s music for kids,” commented a father in the distance, who could not fully understand the many references to the criminal organization narrated in the song, either because of the generation gap or because the field is not located in states like Jalisco or Michoacán, but rather between the limits of Mexico City and the State of Mexico.
Decades ago, the corrido was considered the preferred sub-genre of regional Mexican music for stories about drug traffickers or criminal organizations to transcend to the point of becoming part of Mexico’s ‘narco culture’. The formula was the same: guitars, tubas, trombones, tololoches and accordions accompanying lyrics that narrated the exploits or the life of some important character of the country’s underworld.
Over the years and with the fusion of other musical genres, narco ballads became progressive and then tumbado, becoming popular among new generations and internationally. Although it doesn’t necessarily have to talk about drug trafficking or criminals, the security context that Mexico has gone through has made this product not only a reflection of the reality of the country, but also a means of propaganda through which criminal organizations sought to build their social base.
Today, corridos remain popular among the Mexican public and, although local and U.S. governments are beginning to seek ways to ban them, criminal organizations have extended their narratives to other musical genres popular among the younger generations, as is beginning to happen with the cartel headed by Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, El Mencho.
The dembows and traps of the CJNG
The era in which the figure of a drug trafficker was conceived as that of a rancher of humble origin and originally from some of the country’s highlands is now a thing of the past. With the fall of the old guard capos, their legacy was left in the hands of new, younger and even better academically prepared leaders.
This generational change is not only perceptible at the top of criminal organizations, but also in the rest of their organizational structure, where young people are the main target of their forced or voluntary recruitment.
With such a precedent, it was only a matter of time before the transition was reflected in the cultural products around them, specifically in music. MILENIO’s tracking of different digital platforms identified how leaders and members of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG) have begun to print and disseminate their discourses in musical genres that have little to do with regional Mexican music.
What is dembow, trap and guaracha?
Dembow is a style of music originating in the Dominican Republic that is identified by a fast percussion pattern, also considered a sister genre of reggaeton.
Trap is identified as a sub-genre of Hip Hop that emerged as a result of the use of electronic rhythms synthesized with the beats -or tracks- characteristic of rap. In turn, the fusion of trap and regional Mexican derived in the creation of corridos tumbados.
Finally, guaracha or aleteo is an electronic musical style that originated in Colombia and incorporates drums and trumpets but also accordions and arrangements similar to the traditional cumbia. Although it could be confused by its name, the also called “zapateo” is not related to the traditional Cuban guaracha.
Among the exponents of these musical genres who dedicate songs to the four letters cartel are local artists such as Ian Cordova, Dario Salazar, Lokotlan, Pitufo BDA and El Pitbull LDK, however, this phenomenon is also beginning to expand to more recognized performers such as Tito Doble P.
Unlike narco corridos, which tend to be discreet in the names of their songs, most of the dembows, traps and guarachas usually contain the initials CJNG in their titles and, in some cases, the codes or aliases of the members for whom the song is intended.
The covers of their singles also tend to show not only the name of the criminal organization but also images of tactical equipment such as plate carriers, weapons, name brand vehicles and even the image of Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, El Mencho. In the most explicit cases, even photographs of alleged members of the criminal organization with or without their faces covered are used.
The tracks are available on platforms such as Spotify, Apple Music and Deezer from at least 2023 until 2025. Some of the identified performers first dabbled in regional Mexican music and others in rap.
Unlike corridos, on tracks with electronic overtones but combined with instruments such as accordion or guitar, the life of alleged CJNG members is narrated not only flaunting luxury and money, but also the story of how they came to join the ranks of the criminal organization.
Some of the songs also include fragments of alleged conversations made through portable radios, sounds of armed confrontations, recordings of newscasts where they talk about the four-letter cartel, and even the alleged voice of the members of the criminal organization to whom the songs are dedicated.
A common practice among the interpreters of the CJNG’s dembows, traps and guarachas is to send greetings to those to whom the song is addressed, while pointing out that they do so “with a lot of respect. While many of the songs are dedicated solely to narrating the story of their protagonists and their participation in the cartel, in some cases the compositions tend to be similar to those of progressive corridos, where there is no reservation about the brutality of their acts.
“I love blood and seeing them beg, why don’t they get out of the way if they see how shit is here? We arrive, we crash, no one honks at you here, we make yours dress in mourning and black, if you’re an enemy you’ll be destroyed, the terrains belong to Don Mencho, don’t turn around, accelerate straight, I’m El Caicas, at your service, with the four letters on my chest,” is heard in a trap song released by Pitufo BDA in December 2024.
“I’m trained, we’re well-equipped. If they order me to, I’ll execute you. I have no remorse. I came out unscathed in the riots of Pátzcuaro, and in Zamora, I carried a weapon for a while. My appearance looks very grim, always very tactical…” can be heard in one of the first verses of a song released by Lokotlan last February.
Calling themselves “The Masters of Terror” is also a recurring theme in songs dedicated to members of the CJNG. They also often include the sounds of roosters in their songs in allusion to another of Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes’ aliases: El Señor de los Gallos.
Who are the CJNG’s “narco trap songs” dedicated to?
Although since 2015 the Jalisco New Generation Cartel began to become the protagonist of multiple narco ballads, within regional Mexican music these songs tend to be directed at its longest-lived or most prominent leaders, such as Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes -El Mencho-, his stepson Juan Carlos Valencia González -El 3- or Ricardo Ruíz Velazco -better known as El Doble R.
While such characters are often mentioned in the dembows, traps and guarachas now circulating on social networks, the protagonists of the songs in these genres are more likely to be members of the armed wings of the CJNG.
Los Deltas, Los R’s, Las Fuerzas Especiales and Los Cannabis are the groups constantly mentioned in the songs. They also often refer to Ramon Alvarez Ayala, alias R1, a former associate of Mencho and leader of the CJNG whose freedom was ordered by a federal judge in 2022.
Another of the top commanders often evoked by the controversial topics is Aldrín Miguel Jarquín Jarquín, alias El Chaparrito, who was arrested in August 2024.
The real names of those to whom the songs are directed are not usually explicitly mentioned, however, there are songs like Un tecno y un Chocohongo performed by Ian Cordova that feature a parade of aliases of people allegedly linked to the CJNG.
“I was nicknamed El Plumas, I was born in Guanatos […] He’s known as La Firma and that man is like my brother […] We are in service for El Tres […] My buddy Shrek is in full effect [….] We won’t leave out El Lic. We are mutually in league with El Gallero […] You’ll see El Tierno kitted up, also El Güero Loco, they’re ready to fight,” is heard throughout the song.
To the list of aliases that the ‘narco traps, narco dembows and narco guarachas’ evoke are added Delta 35, El 13, El 21, El Rebelde, El Fer, El H3, Caicas, Comando 80, Riky y Charly, El Barbas, El Talibán, Panchito F1, El Chespirito R6, among others.
The mention of not-so-media personalities in these songs is also linked to the places mentioned as their areas of operation, because while the narco ballads dedicated to high-level commanders usually mention cities in Jalisco such as Guadalajara or Puerto Vallarta, in these cases they mention various municipalities in Michoacán or Guanajuato, states where the CJNG has a strong influence.
The displacement of narco corridos in the narrative surrounding the Jalisco New Generation Cartel is a reflection of the generational change within the criminal organizations, but also outside of them as they begin to become popular and take root in the younger sectors of the population.
It also calls into question the actions that the U.S. government and some local governments in Mexico are taking to ban corridos because, although some great exponents of the genre may result in revoked visas or be subject to costly fines, this will not prevent organized crime from continuing to seek ways to disseminate their discourse and narratives.
Source: Milenio
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