With artists releasing songs at a fast and furious pace, it’s difficult for the average hip-hop head to keep track of it all—no matter how tapped in they are. That’s why we created The Ones, a daily post to highlight the song you need to hear.
Nivel Codiciado – “Vacío”
Largely formed in Los Angeles, “trapcorridos” blend traditional folk sounding Mexican ballads with popular rap, and the music of North Carolina’s Nivel Codiciado has been slotted into this subgenre. Watch any of the group’s music videos, and you’ll see fitted caps, bubble coats, jewelry, girls in tight dresses chugging Modelos, and all the Chevrolet Silverados they can find. They’re essentially Southern street rap clips except they also happen to have a guy playing the tuba.
“Mexican kids are growing up with trap music in the South,” said professor Jennifer Jones about the growing movement in an interview with the Times. “They’re fusing those two pieces of their lives, growing up in Black neighborhoods, and are attentive to how Black culture has shaped the south and are also a part of a new wave of Latino settlement in these places.” Even “Vacío,” which I believe is the best Nivel Codiciado track of the year so far, merges overpowering acoustics and brass solos with wailing that doesn’t stray too far from rappers like Rylo Rodriguez and Rod Wave. Nivel Codiciado are far from the first crew to make music in this style (there’s tons of it on YouTube and SoundCloud), but few groups have a sound as fully formed as theirs.
Check out previous Ones, and listen to new rap from Nivel Codiciado and more on our Spotify playlist.
