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Natanael Cano, leader and creator of the corridos tumbados genre, defied the ban imposed by authorities in the Mexican state of Aguascalientes against narcocorridos on Saturday (May 3). During his performance at the Feria Nacional de San Marcos, he played a couple of songs with explicit references to figures of drug trafficking and glorification of crime. In response, the event organizers lowered the audio volume and turned off the lights, bringing the show to an end.
Videos on social media show the moment Cano responds to the request of some attendees at his concert during the Feria Nacional de San Marcos, who insisted on hearing “Cuerno Azulado,” a controversial song in which the musician talks about organized crime and its alleged ties to Mexican authorities.
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“‘Cuerno (Azulado)’ isn’t something you need to ask me for, my friend. ‘Cuerno’ is something you need to ask your government for. If you want it so badly, do something about it,” the singer responded to the crowd. “With all due respect, we came here to Aguascalientes to sing for you, my friend, and with all due respect to the people who are prohibiting us from singing and showcasing our art, we don’t give a damn. Do something about it yourselves, don’t come asking me for it here”
Natanael Cano’s performance, announced as one of the star acts of the legendary fair that has been held for 197 years, began with a series of corridos and ballads that adhered to the list previously approved by local authorities. However, after midnight, the setlist included “Pacas de Billetes,” a song referencing Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, the notorious drug lord who is currently serving a life sentence in the United States following his conviction in 2019.
The musician continued with “El de la Codeína,” a song that references substance trafficking, which led the organizers to lower the sound volume in the venue. In response, the artist’s technical team activated its own audio system so Cano could keep performing. However, after finishing the song, the organizers turned off the lights, and the singer abruptly left the stage without the concert officially concluding.
Billboard Español has reached out to Natanael Cano’s representatives as well as festival organizers and the government of Aguascalientes for comment on what happened Sunday, but has not heard back as of press time.
The incident with Cano comes three weeks after the concert by corridos superstar Luis R. Conriquez at the Feria de Texcoco in the State of Mexico on April 11 ended in chaos when he refused to perform narcocorridos, complying with restrictions imposed by local authorities on expressions that glorify crime in public spaces.
Conriquez revealed in an exclusive interview with Billboard that local authorities had warned him not to perform narcocorridos during his show at the Feria de Texcoco. “They said that if I sang a corrido, they would cut off the sound.”
The local Congress of Aguascalientes on April 16 approved legislation to penalize “the dissemination of content, images and artistic or musical expressions that promote activities related to organized crime.” State authorities have not commented on what happened during Cano’s show.
Aguascalientes is one of 10 states (out of 32) in Mexico that have banned or restricted the dissemination of narcocorridos or expressions that glorify crime. Without a federal law, local governments enforce penalties ranging from hefty fines to up to a year in prison for those who perform music that promotes violence.
Grupo Firme, another of the superstar regional Mexican acts that performed at this year’s Feria de San Marcos, declined to play corridos during its concerts on April 19 and 20, as previously announced by vocalist Eduin Caz in a social media message saying the band was complying with the new restrictions.
Junior H, another leading figure in the corridos tumbados genre, is scheduled to perform at the palenque of the mentioned fair Wednesday (May 7).
The new bans implemented in Mexico have expanded to the United States. In an unprecedented move, the U.S. State Department announced on April 1 the revocation of work and tourist visas for the Mexican corridos group Los Alegres del Barranco after it displayed images of the leader of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, also known as “El Mencho,” during a concert on March 29 at an auditorium at the University of Guadalajara.
After speculation that Bad Bunny would announce a global tour, the Puerto Rican star officially unveiled dates for Latin America, Europe, Australia and Japan. Set to kick off in November in the Dominican Republic, Bad Bunny will tour the world in support of his latest album Debí Tirar Más Fotos. He will wrap this year’s […]
Lali and Duki’s “Plástico” has topped Billboard’s latest new Latin music poll published on Friday, May 2. In support of the weekly New Music Latin roundup and playlist, curated by Billboard‘s Latin and Billboard Español editors, music fans voted for the Argentine artists’ collaboration as their favorite music release of the week. The electro-pop track — powered by a riveting, high-energy beat […]
It’s the first Monday in May, and you know what that means. The 2025 Met Gala is only hours away, meaning countless celebrities will soon walk the famous steps at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, wearing what will likely be some of the year’s most memorable high-fashion looks. But who can […]
DJ Akademiks has divided his followers by arguing Drake‘s “Family Matters” was the best diss track exchanged between Drizzy and Kendrick Lamar. As K-Dot and the 6 God’s legendary rap battle reaches its one-year mark, critics and rap fans alike have been reflecting on the cultural impact of the diss tracks exchanged between the two […]
Alex Warren’s “Ordinary” ascends 3-2 for a new Hot 100 high. It tops Streaming Songs (21.5 million streams, up 2%) and Digital Song Sales (7,000 sold, up 6%) for a second week each, while boasting a 17% surge to 19.7 million in radio audience.
Lady Gaga and Bruno Mars’ “Die With a Smile” dips 2-3, following five nonconsecutive weeks atop the Hot 100 beginning in January, and Drake’s “Nokia” holds at No. 4, after reaching No. 2.
Shaboozey’s “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” keeps at No. 5 on the Hot 100, following its record-tying 19 weeks at No. 1 beginning last July. It notches a 43rd week in the top five – matching The Weeknd’s “Blinding Lights,” in 2020-21, for the most weeks spent in the tier all-time. (Fittingly, it ties the top-five weeks record, at No. 5, and in its 55th week on the chart overall, on Cinco de Mayo.) “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” also adds a 43rd week at No. 1 on the multimetric Hot Country Songs chart.
Chappell Roan’s “Pink Pony Club” is steady at No. 6 on the Hot 100 after hitting No. 4.
Teddy Swims’ “Lose Control,” which led the Hot 100 for a week in March 2024, and became the year’s No. 1 song, lifts 9-7, as it logs a record-extending 60th week in the top 10; two weeks earlier, it surpassed the 57-week run in the region of “Blinding Lights” for the most such frames in the chart’s history. “Lose Control” notches an 89th week on the Hot 100 overall, the third-longest stay in the chart’s history. The only hits with longer runs: Glass Animals’ “Heat Waves” (91 weeks, in 2021-22) and “Blinding Lights” (90, in 2019-22).
Morgan Wallen’s “I’m the Problem” slips 7-8 on the Hot 100, after reaching No. 2; Benson Boone’s “Beautiful Things” rises 10-9, also after peaking at No. 2; and, rounding out the top 10, Doechii’s “Anxiety” returns to the tier, up two spots back to its No. 10 best.
ROSÉ split the apple down symmetrical lines at Charli xcx‘s final Brat Tour show in Brooklyn, N.Y., Sunday night (May 4), with the BLACKPINK star performing the viral “Apple” choreography on the Jumbotron amongst thousands of fans at Barclays Center. As is tradition on the “Von Dutch” singer’s trek, venue cameras singled out one guest […]
“Interviewing Grace Wales Bonner at the Guggenheim” sounds like a bar you would hear from Westside Gunn, or some other rapper with a high level of fashion sense and sophistication. But that’s what I did over the weekend when I had the pleasure of being invited to the British designer’s latest iteration of her “Togetherness” series where she brings people together from different walks of life that share similar interests when it comes to style, music, and art.
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There was an exhibit by multi-disciplined artist Rashid Johnson entitled A Poem for Deep Thinkers serving as the event’s backdrop, as sounds from electro-R&B genius KeiyaA and pop fusion maven Amaarae bounced off Johnson’s pieces — which included things like a framed throwback dashiki jersey (signed by “Civil Rights All-Star” Angela Davis), and sculptures made out of shea butter.
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Like most of the acts performing, Grace Wales Bonner is multi-faceted, incorporating different reference points into the clothes and accessories she designs for her Wales Bonner fashion house thanks to an almost maniacal obsession with research that then bleeds out into what she presents to the world. When I was walking to the event from the 86th St. stop, I noticed Nigerian rock band Etran de L’Aïr smoking cigarettes outside as they relaxed before they tore the house down later that night — but the first thing I noticed was that they were wearing brown traditional thobes while wearing yellow Adidas x Wales Bonner Adios Neftenga on their feet.
That’s Wales Bonner’s approach right there in front of me. The label mixes high fashion with traditional and street fashion. Soccer kits, durags and sneakers aren’t strange things to see on the label’s runway models. It’s that juxtaposition that makes the brand so interesting.
Etran de L’Aïr at Grace Wales Bonner Presents: Togetherness at Guggenheim New York on May 3, 2025.
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This year’s “Togetherness” event was no different and the melting pot that is New York City was the perfect setting. Hip-hop serves as one of Bonner’s many influences and reference points. “The street photography in New York is a way of understanding sound like looking at what people are wearing around their sound systems,” she said during our quick chat, as she referenced the photography of Jamel Shabazz during the early days of hip-hop. “Music and sounds are part of those references.”
When it came to how she approached curating the wide array of acts, she credited the city’s diversity as inspiration. “I feel like that’s what feels quite special about New York,” she began. “That’s what I always love. You can be with people of lots of different ages together, kind of like multi-generational, while also supporting each other. I think I’ve also been thinking about nomadic sound culture and people moving around and taking different influences through that movement. So, that’s been an influence in terms of programming — movement throughout the space and unexpected moments of discovery.”
One of the acts that incapsulated the event’s thesis statement was model, skateboarder and rapper Sage Elsesser, who goes by the artist name Navy Blue. Dipped in Wales Bonner from head-to-toe, he performed songs in the museum’s Lewis Theater and spoke to me about the similarities between his form of storytelling with Grace’s. “Music is the way that I express myself the best,” he told me in a quiet corner tucked away outside of the theater. “It’s the place where I get to express all of my interests and life experiences, like how I was raised, the food, it’s all of it, you know? It’s so multilayered. I think any artform is the crux of where all of your interests meet. So, I get why Grace is so inspired by music, and why she wants to have music be a part of her storytelling.”
Grace says that they first met through the fashion scene in which they both occupy. “There’s different ways that he can show up in the world of what I do,” she said of Elsesser. “I’m a fan of his music, so artists working with artists feels like quite a natural evolution. I’m always kind of like working and collaborating with different artists and researching a lot of different music for my shows, and have relationships with people that have grown and become organic.”
Another one of those artists that Bonner is referring to is Amaarae, whose style of music is hard to put in a box. She and Grace have been trying to connect on something this impactful for a minute and finally got the opportunity to do so. The two of them approach their art in a similarly unpredictable way.
“I think that a great artist is a great artist,” Amaarae told me backstage. “Whether you make music, films, clothing, draw, sculpt, or paint, I think that you go through life, and everything that you do, everything that you go through is a result of your influences and the things that inspire you.”
She added that one can only be inspired and influenced if they live a rich life culturally and educationally. “I absolutely feel the connection to Grace,” she said. “Just the way that we approach art, not just with music and fashion.”
“Togetherness” at the Guggenheim was a special event that bridged the gap not only culturally, but generationally. “I feel like there’s a strong sense of community in New York, which I really love,” Grace said “I also feel like there’s a kind of elevation and kind of sophistication about sounds I hear coming from New York, which I also see in my peers and their music.”
As New York Knicks captain Jalen Brunson would say, the vibes were immaculate on Saturday night (May 3) and I can’t forget to mention the fits which were of course very much splashy, very much flee, very much “I got that s–t on.”
The stars were out in full force in Miami over the weekend for the 2025 Formula 1 Miami Grand Prix, but the stars also aligned for a special performance at the hip ultraclub, E11EVEN, where Seal surprised the crowd with a special performance for his daughter’s 21st birthday. Explore Explore See latest videos, charts and […]
Hamilton: An American Musical this week becomes the first original cast album to log 500 weeks on the Billboard 200. The album debuted at No. 12 on the chart dated Oct. 17, 2015, which was the highest debut for a cast album in more than 50 years. It peaked at No. 2 in July 2020, which was the highest ranking for a cast album since Hair topped the chart for 13 weeks in 1969.
Hamilton logs its 500th week on the chart just one month after the album was elected to the National Recording Registry in its first year of eligibility.
Lin-Manuel Miranda, who wrote the book, music and lyrics for Hamilton, has been showered with honors for his masterwork. He won two Tonys (best original musical score and best book of a musical), a Grammy (best musical theatre album) and the Pulitzer Prize for literature. The show’s creative team (Miranda, Thomas Kail, Alex Lacamoire and Andy Blankenbuehler) was even honored at the Kennedy Center Honors.
Miranda also won a Primetime Emmy (outstanding variety special, pre-recorded) in 2021 as a producer of a Disney TV adaptation.
To mark Hamilton’s 500-week chart achievement, we have prepared this list of the 10 cast albums with the most weeks on the Billboard 200 (which dates to March 1956). Hamilton is one of just two shows on the list where a solitary songwriter wrote both music and lyrics for the show. The other: The Music Man, written by Meredith Willson.
Alan Jay Lerner & Frederick Loewe are the only songwriter(s) with two albums in the top 10 – My Fair Lady and Camelot. Lady gave us such standards as “I Could Have Danced All Night” and “I’ve Grown Accustomed to Her Face.” Camelot spawned “If Ever I Would Leave You” and “How to Handle a Woman.” Both shows had the same female lead – the incomparable Julie Andrews.
Here are the 10 cast albums with the most weeks on the Billboard 200.
Because of how the Billboard 200 chart is now compiled, where streaming activity is blended with album sales and track sales, albums tend to spend a longer time on the list thanks to continued streaming activity. The chart began utilizing streaming information in its methodology in December 2014. Previous to that, the chart was based solely on traditional album sales.
Also, a lengthy tracklist with multiple popular songs can help accrue large streaming totals, so albums like Hamilton (with 46 tracks) benefit from the continued weekly streams of their long tracklists.
Further, older albums (known as catalog albums; generally defined today as titles at least 18 months old), were mostly restricted from charting on the Billboard 200 from May 25, 1991-Nov. 28, 2009. Since then, catalog and current (new/recently released) albums chart together on the Billboard 200. As a result, older albums now regularly spend hundreds of weeks on the chart.
Man of La Mancha, 167
