Narco Corridos News Today

♪ ♪ ♪ telling a story with music, but is it a story worth telling? the reality of murder and mayhem in mexico with a catchy beat. it can be pretty tough to take like dance or rap on steroids. thelma gutierrez tracks down the musicians. their response? hey, its a living. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ >> its friday night and this club is packing them in. ♪ ♪ ♪ >> this isnt mexico. were in a suburb of los angeles, and all these fans are here to listen to traditional mexican music called corridos, b...

Expert john kuhn says that this isnt new. >> these exist in culture areas. there are italian mafia songs and hip-hop has been all about the criminal lifestyle in some ways and songs that document and make very powerful observations about the criminal underworld. >> reporter: does that ever worry you from a security perspective about whos in the crowd and whos in the audience watching you. who might like your music and who might not like your music? does that worry you? >> we try to be as careful...

Poka. >> theyre fanatics about the corrido because its the muse take makes them want to get up and dance. >> reporter: but the music that theyre listening to, if you listen closely to the lyrics and translate them, it has a very dark and disturbing message. its the illicit world of drug running. the narco world reported on the media and posted on youtube. have inspired the lyrics of the narco corrido. ♪ ♪ >> we went to inglewood, california, to meet some musicians. alfredo tapia and the grou...

>> they say the narco corrido is a little like gangster rap, controversial, raw commentary about whats going on. do you feel just a little bit responsible? >> i do. i do. i do. but if i dont do this kind of music im out of business. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ >> right now narco corridos are big business and the hottest phenomenon on the internet is larry hernandez. his videos youtube and myspace get hundreds of thousands of views. his concerts sell out and hes top of the latin billboard charts with no majo...