Natanael Cano

Charting singer and songwriter Natanael Cano is at the forefront of the 21st century corridos tumbados (aka "trap corridos") movement whose artists add hip-hop beats, production traits, rapping, chanting, and other urbano trappings to Mexico's 150-year-old folk song tradition. Best known for the 2019 hit collaboration with Bad Bunny on the remix single "Soy el Diablo," Cano had been working on the style since his mid-teens as evidenced by smash YouTube singles such as "El F1" and "El Drip," that rang up tens of millions of views. His song "El de la Codeína" topped Apple Music's Latino chart. Cano joins a roster of like-minded artists in stretching the corrido form, including Arsenal Efectivo, Piso 21, and Fuerza Regida. Cano was born in Hermosillo, in the state of Sonora. Though he loved music from a very young age, his parents had no idea it would completely claim his attention. At 13, Cano began teaching himself to play the guitar -- his family couldn’t afford music lessons -- from Ariel Camacho videos. At 16, he dropped out of school to pursue music full-time and by 17 he was already posting videos of his own songs to YouTube and other social media channels. At 18, the Rancho Humilde label, an organization led by Jimmy Humilde with its finger forever on the pulse of the underground, signed Cano and began issuing singles to SoundCloud and YouTube; early tracks such as "El de la Coedina" and "Perfecta" garnered interest immediately. In 2019, both artist and label began an assault on social media and streaming with a bounty of singles including "Soy el Diablo," "El de Los Gentes Gucci," "El Drip," and others. In the spring, Cano issued a ten-track digital mini-album entitled Todos Es Diferente; the latter half featured guest Ruben Figueroa ("El Gryffindor"). In the fall, Puerto Rican star Bad Bunny was so taken with Cano's single "Soy el Diablo" that the singer heard about it and approached him to add a remix. He happily obliged and branched out for the first time into Mexican music. Bunny began teasing the release on Instagram weeks before its release. On Halloween, Rancho Humilde issued Corridos Tumbados, featuring a stripped-down sound that relied solely on bass and guitar rhythms; corrido's de rigueur instruments, tuba and accordion, were absent. The album entered the Mexican albums chart at number one. ~ Thom Jurek, Rovi