El de La Guitarra

A cloud of mystery shrouds singer/songwriter El de La Guitarra, the Mexicali native who is often masked during his performances. The legend goes that the Rancho Humilde artist, born in 1997, gave his friend one of his songs to upload to YouTube in 2016, and because he didn’t yet have a name, he baptized him with the matter-of-fact moniker (which translates to “the one with the guitar”). A prime exponent of the corridos verdes movement––popularized by the likes of Apple Music Up Next artist Natanael Cano and Fuerza Regida––El de La Guitarra has no qualms about celebrating the chill pleasures of a 420 lifestyle while mythologizing the hustle of the cartel man, as he does in “El Monstro 7.” The tune tells the story of a trans-border outlaw who lives on the edge, weapon in hand, and smokes “a weed joint with some wax" to unwind. The song amassed millions of streams on YouTube in late 2017 before officially debuting on the artist’s album Lo Prometido Es Deuda, Vol. 2 (2018). But while El de La Guitarra uses narcos as his primary subjects, he eschews tales of carnage to instead focus on the more pleasurable trappings of the trade, as in 2018’s “A Lo Lejos Me Veran,” a life-affirming ode to wine, women, and song, with a bit of gold-plated heat tucked in for good measure.