Narcocorridos: To the Glory of the Mexican Drug Cartels

 To a growing number Mexicans and Americans, narco traffickers have become iconic outlaws, a new  pathway out of poverty, and one step closer to the "American Dream".

Narcocorridos are popular on both sides of the border, with popular music videos, sold-out concerts and CDs sold at Wal-Mart. "We're bloodthirsty, crazy, and we like to kill," they sing. Modern day Robin Hoods? Hardly, but that's how many teens and young adults see them.

“I urge people to reconsider this idea that the cartels and the government are two distinct entities. On the contrary, it’s impossible for an organized crime organization — especially one that’s transnational — to function without employees inside the state at all levels." -- John Gibler, author of To Die in Mexico: Dispatches from Inside the Drug War

From the documentary Narco Cultura

“For Mexicans and Latinos in the Americas, there is no music more popular today than narcocorridos. These bloodthirsty and explicit odes to the exploits of narco traffickers and drug lords of Mexico openly glorify violence, narcotics and money. Like gangsta rap in the nineties, “Narco” is a movement threatening to burst into the mainstream.

Featuring powerful footage from the front lines of the drug wars and performances from some of the hottest Narcocorrido artists (including El Komander and Buknas de Culiacan) NARCO CULTURA takes viewers behind the scenes of the most explosive and violent music subculture in America.

It's hard to imagine the way it must feel to live in absolute fear in an increasingly poor and violent neighborhood, yet, at the same time, be able to see, literally, right over the fence--supposedly the safest city in America, El Paso, Texas--what appears to be a safe haven.