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. Cano joins a handful of like-minded artists in stretching the corrido form, like Arsenal Efectivo, Piso 21, and Fuerza Regida. Best known for his 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.” Those tracks rang up tens of millions of views and paved the way for 2019′s Corridos Tumbados, which hit number four on Billboard’s Top Latin Albums chart. Also that year, his song “El de la Codeína” topped Apple Music’s Latino chart. Along with 2020′s Soy El Nata and Las 3 Torres (a collaboration with Ovi and Junior H), he has remained a Billboard Latin chart favorite, hitting number 15 with 2020′s Trap Tumbado, number nine with 2021′s A Mis 20, and number 12 with 2022′s NataKong. The 15-track Nata Montana peaked at five on the Top Latin Albums chart.
Cano was born in Hermosillo, in the state of Sonora, in 2001. Though he loved music from a very young age, his parents had no idea it would completely take over. At 13 years old, he began teaching himself to play the guitar — his family couldn’t afford music lessons — from Ariel Camacho videos. He dropped out of school at age 16 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 efforts such as “El de la Codeína” 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. Cano happily obliged and branched out into Mexican music for the first time. Bunny began teasing the release on Instagram weeks before its release. On Halloween 2019, 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 record entered the Mexican albums chart at number one. In July 2020, Cano released the Play N Skillz- and Young Hollywood-produced EP Trap Tumbado. A proper full-length, Soy El Nata, arrived that September, followed in December by Las 3 Torres, a collaborative album with Ovi and Junior H. In May 2021, he released his sixth studio album, A Mis 20, hitting number nine on Billboard’s Top Latin Albums chart. Another full-length, NataKong, arrived in April 2022 and featured collaborations with Steve Aoki and Grupo Codiciado. It reached number 12 on Billboard’s Top Latin Albums chart.
2023′s Nata Montana offered 15 harrowing corridos tumbados with expansive production sounds. Its guest list included Peso Pluma (“Pancakes”), Junior H (“Eres”), and Chino Pacas (“En Corto”), among others. It peaked at five on the Top Latin Albums list. ~ Thom Jurek