Guzman's escape inspires drug ballads

Mexican drug baron Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman had barely vanished from prison when the first rhymes hit the Internet -- his second spectacular jailbreak has already inspired "narcocorridos," controversial drug ballads.

The genre is a big part of the "narco cultura" that is especially prevalent in the north of the country, where many films and the music glorifying the exploits of drug lords are produced.

It did not take long for Guzman's Saturday night escape from a maximum-security prison outside Mexico City to inspire several new narcocorridos, which are famous for their polka-like beat featuring guitar, accordion, tuba, drums and violence-laced lyrics.

In a music video posted online that had more than 1,300 views, Daniel Reyes sings as he drives his pick-up truck: "Saturday, July 11, I start singing about the most famous escape of Joaquin 'El Chapo' Guzman/He fled (President Enrique) Pena Nieto, he got away from the prison."

Reyes fixes his sombrero before continuing with the next verse: "I wasn't born a prisoner/I didn't grow up in a prison/I was born for business, so let me work/If the government tries to tie me up, I'll flee again."

The powerful Sinaloa drug cartel leader's escape from prison was Hollywood-worthy: He went down a shaft dug under his cell's shower and fled through a 1.5-kilometer (one-mile) tunnel to freedom.

In 2001, he escaped hidden in a laundry cart from another prison. He was recaptured by marines in his home state of Sinaloa in February 2014.

Lupillo Rivera, who has recorded more than 20 albums and is the brother of the late diva Jenni Rivera, starts his song with a sound bite from a newscast about Guzman's latest caper.

"The news is hot/But I'm not surprised/To capture 'El Chapo' was a scandal/Well-combed hair, and through the bath the man escaped again," sings Rivera.

- Fines and dead singers -

While narcocorridos are a popular music genre, the lyrics about murder and mayhem have been all too real for several musicians.
More than 50 have been gunned down in Mexico since the drug war began to intensify in 2006.

Many have admitted to being asked by drug traffickers to compose ballads singing their praises.

Some local governments have sought to prevent narcocorridos from being performed in concert.

One of the country's most popular corrido singers, Alfredo "El Komander" Rios, was fined nearly $8,000 in 2013 for performing such songs in Chihuahua, a northern state plagued by brutal drug violence.

- Opportunistic singer -

Another musician inspired by Guzman's escape, Ariel Nuno, defended his song.
"If some of us want to write corridos about events like Chapo's escape, then awesome. And yes, it is true that I'm an opportunist because I'm always seeking to get ahead in this medium," Nuno wrote on his Facebook page.

Performing with a guitar in a room covered with posters, Nuno's song alludes to suspicions that corrupt officials helped Guzman dig his tunnel, using a Mexican proverb for "money talks."

"With money the dog dances, and now I dance again/Thank God I came out of this jail," sings Nuno, who has had more than 70,000 web visits.

Los Alegres del Barranco, a band that sang about Guzman's capture in February 2014, wrote a song about the escape that has drawn more than 30,000 clicks.

"Where is 'El Chapo?' Only God knows/In Sinaloa or at the border, you've already left by plane or by land," they sing to an accordion-driven melody.