For years, Mexico’s drug lords let themselves be celebrated as heroes on polka melodies. The new generation prefers narco rap. From the point of view of the security forces, a police officer now wants to counter this with hip-hop.
Chalco – In the recording studio in his home on the outskirts of Mexico City, Alan Galván adjusts his hat and protective vest over his uniform. He picks up the microphone and starts. When he’s not on the patrol, the Mexican policeman raps about the drug war.
He puts on his headphones and goes through the stanzas of his rape “Mi autobiografía” (“My autobiography”). He moves his arms rhythmically and atmospherically. A Mexican flag hangs on the wall.
“You would never have thought that my dream would come true; I proudly tell you that I am a rapper and a policeman (…); am a policeman on duty; ready to face the enemy, ”sings Galván, who goes by the stage name Ese Gorrix.
His genre is called “war rap”, says the 29-year-old from the German press agency. It is in contrast to the rap that glorifies the drug lords, the narcos. With his music, Galván, who has been active in Mexico City for ten years, also wants to motivate other police officers and soldiers.
More than 500,000 subscribers
Ese Gorrix has more than 500,000 subscribers on YouTube. His videos have been viewed 112 million times. In December he appeared in front of thousands of spectators in the bullring in the Mexican capital at a police event.
“I give a voice to the people behind the uniform. They contact me, tell me their experiences and pay me to write a song about them, ”he continues.
The “war rap” also has other representatives such as Mr. Tyson, who is recognized by his colleagues as a forerunner, MC Razo and El Gafe. The advantage of Ese Gorrix is that he knows the security guards’ point of view better as an insider.
His music label, with which he also supports other singers, is called Flow Blindado Music. The word “blindado” means armored in Spanish. In September he will release his first album with a record company.
“Rather represent the good side”
“I’m often compared to another Mexican rapper who, in my opinion, is very musically gifted. But he only sings about Narcos and I tend to be on the good side, ”explains the rapping policeman, who does not wear his official work clothes when performing.
In the Mexican drug war – with a good 350,000 homicides and 96,000 people missing in 15 years – the lines sometimes blur. There are former police officers who are now drug barons, soldiers who work with criminals, and human rights violations by security forces. This is also addressed in some of the songs by Ese Gorrix, where he accuses human rights organizations of taking the side of the criminals.
In any case, the music genre rap is on the rise on both sides. In the past, drug traffickers celebrated their heroes in so-called narcocorridos with polka rhythms, accordion and trumpet. The younger drug lords prefer other melodies. “There is a generation change,” says the philologist Enrique Flores in an interview with the dpa.
At first the criminals adopted these musical styles, and later the security forces too, says the author of the book “Rimas malandras: del narcocorrido al narco rap” (Bad rhymes: from narcocorrido to narco rap). “It’s like a battlefield in culture, where one is like an answer to the other”. Dpa
