Tigres Del Norte: The Legacy of los Jefes

The last time we checked in with Los Figres, they were one tigre shy of a street streak. A streak is a group of tigers.

We learned so much on this show. Anyway, Laaro had gone solo after twenty eight years making music with his Hermanos Iprimos.

He left the band when they were on top of the world. The singles off their most recent album, nineteen ninety five's Leshemplo, had competed for chart domination week after week with the likes of Luis, Miguel and Selina.

You got to hand it to the lone Thede. He chose a gutsy time to walk away.

Raoul had wanted to expand into Banda and Mariacci music to show another musical side of Sinaloa, but the band wanted to stick with Norteno.

I knew Raoul was a Leo Moon, so.

The band was in a bit of a bind. Luckily, there was one Ernanda's brother waiting in the wings, and when the band got started in Mexicali, he wasn't even born yet.

Oh oh, it's the little baby from when the family's watching Simpren Domingo.

Yes, that's right, Luis Ernandez, named after his father Don. Luis was born in nineteen seventy four, the very same year Los Diigres del Norte broke out with Contrabando Ytracion.

Imagine growing up seeing her brothers on TV, movies and records and posters.

Those are actually some of Luis's earliest memories. Later in the seventies, Los Diigo's had a cameo in a movie based on one of their songs, La Bana del Carojo, and Louise remembers his mother crying in the seat next to him because she was afraid their characters would get killed on screen.

It sounds like you knew better as a child, like mom, it's not real anyway. After years of seeing his family in the limelight, Luise gets a call from Jorge and.

He immediately thinks he's in trouble for something.

Because Horgue has been the man in the house for a while now.

But it turns out today is Luis's lucky day. Jorge wants to keep the band in the family, and he's inviting Louise to join them.

Didn't we tell you that Thedi's story was just like a fairy tale?

Luis's live debut with Los Diigias is at a show here in New York, and when he's introduced to the crowd and invited to step on stage and join the band for the very first time, he takes one step and falls flat on his phone.

Oh my god, Luisito. Now I'm crying, just like his mom watching the movie.

Okay, but he does get up with a little scrape on his chin and a big smile on his face.

And that was the world's first taste of Los FIGIs as we know them and love them today. Porque Ernan edue, Alo Cousin, Oscar and.

Luis and Lusito wasn't a mere replacement for Raoul as a third vocalist. The littlest or Nanda's brother kept the band young, giving them a youthful edge even as their founding members were entering their forties. By the way, that is not old.

That is not old, It is not And that right there is what you call staying power, y'all, staying relevant with the younger friends, and staying true to yourselves.

And lostitas what spend the next decades doing just that, putting out some of their most artistically renowned work and doing right by the downtrodden.

Down trodden you mean, Luisito.

Now that we're recording this in person, I'm going to smack youl.

Do we get that? On the mic? I'm calling HR.

I'm your host Liliana Orosquez.

And I'm Joseph Carrio And this is Becoming an Icon.

A weekly podcast where we give you the rundown on how today's most famous LATINX stars have shaped pop culture.

And given the world some extra level.

Sit back and get comfortable.

Because we are going in the only way we know how, with buenas vias, unassas chime and a lot of opinions as we relive their greatest achievements on our journey to find out what makes them so iconic.

Like we said in the intro, Los Dignas were enjoying chart recognition well into the nineties, alongside acts like El Ricodo, Bronco and of course Selena.

We're always seeing how great the nineties were for culture, and it turns out that was true for Mexico too.

In a departure from the traditional Mexican pop that used to rule the charts, regional music was taking off, and not just Norteno but the Hanno Mariacci, Francero and more.

And in nineteen ninety eight, Los Digitis released their magnum opus of Corridos Nortenos, the album Hefe The.

Hefes That's Me Wait I thought it was me. No, we did talk about this title track a little bit in our last episode. It's the one with Felix Gayadro, the cartel boss, bragging about his power in influence.

He's the sun and the shade. Everyone wants his protection and fears his punishment.

By the time this album came out, Felix Cayaradro was just one of a whole cast of drug kingpins whose empires had spread throughout Latin America.

We're talking of Pablo Escobar, El Chapo, Griza, Bablanco.

Los Digre sang about the common man's struggles, and by then Narco Trafico had impacted the lives of millions of Mexicans and Mexican Americans, not.

To mention Los Siga's home state of Sinaloa. Helloo, the Sinaloa Cartel.

You can bet that they thought about Rosa Morada every day they heard a piece of news about Nadco Trafico.

So even though the Mexican government and the radio were trying to shut them up. Lostigis went and wrote an entire album of corridos about losn.

Aracles, a double album. Joseph, Damn.

If I didn't know any better, I say they were trolling.

More like going for the jugular. The album starts off with the title track that we talked about half of the heif is Me not You, which sends a clear message about how powerful the cartels had become. Then on the same disc you have songs like Hello Lord de Padre, which is sung from the pov of a father watching his children succumb to addiction. And if you're wondering if it glamorizes Los Nacos, like the critics argued, just give the closing lyrics a read quote.

I know some folks who are traffickers. Now they know I lost a son and you all are the reason. Sorry to offend you, but it's the pain of a father.

Damn, Lostigits aren't fucking around here. Like the very first thing you hear on the album is someone's voice saying I like corridos because they sing the pure truth. And then Lostgras go and do that for nineteen tracks.

Straight and the truth resonated with the people. This is their best selling album, y'all, their first number one on the Billboard Latin Album Chart, and their first platinum record.

So despite all the efforts to ban the Natco Corrido, Los Theras wracked up ri double A certifications and accolades from Lonuestro Awards to the first Latin Grammy for Best Northeneo Album for Edencia Defamidia in two thousand.

But don't get it twisted. They weren't just writing a trend of regional music. This was years in the making.

Thegiras had and still has the kind of following you can't buy or manufacture. They have cred. Fun fact we love a fun fact. When Los Digas first hit big with Condrabandracion, their first ever tour was built around the harvest season. So when migrant farm workers were picking potatoes in Idaho, Los Thegos were in town two, grape season in California, apple season in Washington, asparagus in Michigan, oranges in Florida. Wherever the fruit was ripe, the Los Thegras we're playing.

That's actually genius. I wonder how many bands do that? Now?

You got to follow the greats, right. But remember Los Thegras didn't just know their audience.

They lived that life, and they weren't just singing songs about it.

They were doing the work. Remember how Los Thegras had to moonlight as musicians and work during the day m hm.

And they weren't doing something cute like making lattes, no shade. They were out there picking tomatoes, gardening, scrubbing toilets.

Right. It's important to remember that, not just to show how far they'd come, but to show how they came from exactly the same circumstances as their fans.

So when they wrote to Corrido in nineteen eighty nine versus out of Chavez, the farm workers union leader, they weren't singing about him as a folk hero.

They were singing about un compagnero, one of their own.

And then years later, in two thousand and six, when Losdes marched in the streets for immigrant rights, it wasn't just solidarity. They had skin in the game.

Chicago, Houston, Phoenix, Atlanta, La, New York, all across the country, Latino immigrants staged a walkout dubbed a Day without Immigrants Latinos Simpapelees, just like Los Thegras showed the world how much this country relies on them.

So when you think of Ernan Raoul and Oscar picking tomatoes and gardening his children, when you think of Jrge breaking his back as a janitor and taking English classes.

Care workers, kitchen workers, drivers, I mean remember essential workers.

Immigrants, immigrants, immigrants from the bottom of society. Two stars like lostidras.

And even though Los Thegras have become fathers of US citizens, they haven't forgotten where they came from. In a New York Times profile at None the Basis says, my sons have lots of friends, kids they went to school or soccer games with that I always thought were born here, but are threatened with deportation because they came here as little kids. There's so much like my own boys that you would never imagine they're here illegally. Some of them

Little kids who are probably even younger than THEEFNA this boys when they got here. Damn, I feel like I need to go out and do something now, like Lositas are putting us all to shame.

Wait, come on, boo, it's not a competition. It's not about shame. It's about being proud to be Latino. Oh and speaking of pride, that was last month, boo, I know that. But in twenty fourteen, Los Tita's released their first corrido featuring a queer romance.

I got oka degress, brothers. What's the story?

So the song is actually about a woman in the old neighborhood whom all the men would fight over, but none of whom could win her interest.

He not always the way. So who's she checking for?

I mean, who else? She gives flowers to her best friend?

Oh oh, and her best friend is a girl.

You know it? Oh honey, Los thes y'all they know authenticity when they see it.

Wait, isn't this the song that domask me from Rolling Stone told us about. They helped me come out to my dad.

Actually, that's so funny, but loss and they played a big role in making what Yes.

We need to know this story to tell us the story.

Basically, Los Thedos have this song about like a lesbian daughter.

It's like a fake story.

And so I played that song from my dad after I had come out of the closet and it hadn't gone as well as I wish it had. And I heard him bopping along and I could tell that he was listening to the lyrics, and I think his like nodding was like my way of like finally accepting that he accepted me.

Wow, Wow, that's really yeah.

And then like three years later, I interviewed ose Theos in North with my dad and he told the story can stop it.

Absolutely unplugging this. I'm unplugging right now, goosebumps right now.

Well, Joseph, We've traveled a long road with Vegas and we've got one more stop to make. Los Diigres del Norte went from playing for tips at Cantinas to touring across the US for farm workers and then rose to international stardom.

They've performed all across the Americas, in Spain, in Japan, and Korea. They've played immigration rallies and political events from Washington, d C, Tol Socalo in Mexico City, and.

They even played MTV and plugs with artists like Juanis and Caya Trese and Rage against the Machines. Zak Bela Rocha joined them for a rendition of the fan favorite somos mas Americanos.

The song practically made the phrase I didn't cross the border, the border across to me into a rallying cry.

For Mexicans who trace their ancestry back to this land before the US of A. The song is an anthem.

And a middle finger to racistas.

That resonates across generations. The legacy of Los Degres is one that ignites hope in Latinos of all ages and inspires artists from besl Pluma to Jujeta, Venegas and Mana.

But there was one audience. Lostigitias had always wanted to play for, an audience they were supposed to play for, but never got a chance to.

That all changed in twenty eighteen, the fiftieth anniversary of Johnny Cash's legendary concert at Folsom State Prison. Oh sh Here we Go.

And fifty years after, Lostigies, back when they were Los L'tennos at Chihuahua, found themselves seen papellis in front of Solidad Prison in San Jose. Now Los Theiters were finally going to play a legendary show for inmates.

The performance was captured in a documentary directed by Tom Donahue, for Netflix, and at the time the documentary was released, forty three percent of Fulsome's inmates were Latino.

At an unset of the show, quote our idea was to expect what Cash said about why he played here, to bring light to a dark place. These human beings lost their original path and may not find it again, but we believe there's a possibility of hope and redemption. Our contribution is on this visiting day to give them that, and in return we take away reflections on the beauty of freedom and the harshness of being an inmate.

Eduarddou continued, Latinos go through rough times equally. It doesn't matter if you're legal or not. They put you in the same situation when they see you on the street. We're accused of being the worst. When we came to live in the United States, we were illegal and we experienced it. We understood that for an hour, we were there to feed their hope.

So Lastite's donned matching black suits a la Johnny Cash, and they played a set that included haw La de Orto, the Golden Cage. They're owed to the plight of the Mexicano, unable to return home over more than fifty five albums with over seven hundred songs, over thirty million copies sold, sixteen film appearances and fifteen Grammy not nations, and numerous collaborations. It's safe to say Losigo's legacy is built to.

Last, and they've made sure that the legacy of the Corrido lasts as well. Through the Los Digres del Norte Foundation, they've established a program at UCLA for the study, research, acquisition, preservation, dissemination and presentation of authentic, traditional and folk musical traditions in Espagnolo, helping to ensure recognition for the past, present, and future of the proud musical storytelling tradition they have

You should go check that s out and see if our past selves are there.

Just look for an old, dusty photograph of Las Sombra. You love going there. On the next Becoming an Icon, we're stripping down and getting dirty. Joseph cannot contain his excitement. Becoming an Icon is presented by Sonoo and Iheart's Michael Guda podcast Network. Listen to Becoming an Icon on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast