Back in my university days, we’d sometimes carpool with a friend. He drove like crazy, but always in control of his car, an old Chrysler Shadow, champagne coloured, always ready to carry 5 loud nerds. Some of my friends were nerdy about programming, others about videogames. One was an absolute freak for electronica music. I was the jack of all trades, and even if I didn’t have a perfect record on knowing stuff, I could get a general idea.

It was a late afternoon, around 6 pm. The sun was still out, and it was dry as hell. You could drive two ways out of my uni and we took the road less traveled because it was “insecure” (all of them were) and full of lorries near the highway. A rap song was playing on the radio. Hector, the electronica nerd, asked me:

“What’s the name of the band, Sam?”

“I think it’s Illy Kuryaki & the Valderramas” I said… then paid attention to the lyrics and heard quite a few expletive that were a 100% Mexican. Specifically from the north.

“Huh, I think I’ve seen them live! Machete something.”

It was Control Machete and I did see them in a previous holiday in Tampico, playing at a dinky bar called “Jarro’s”, near a supermarket on Avenida Universidad. Both that place and the supermarket are long gone. Control Machete played for maybe 10 dudes, me included. I only went because my aunt pretty much told me to “go out, you fucking idiot!” but in a less nicer, harsher way. Tough love indeed.

It’s hard to describe how much Control Machete marked the scene. Before them, Mexican music was pretty much blues-based rock. We’ve had a couple of rap bands, but mostly working as novelty acts that went nowhere once they tried to go serious. The MC Hammer effect, I guess.

Control Machete were dead serious. Their baggy clothes, the mean-streaked music, the “from the streets” lyrical basis, it was all there. Faked or not, it was our non-unionised Mexican equivalent of gangsta rap, with less soul and funk samples, and more tropical, vallenato, and traditional mexican music. It worked for me, but a lot of people from my generation hate rap, still to this date.

I didn’t own any music in spanish before them. The story is a little contrived, but suffice to say, it had to with my neurodivergence and with bad memories from junior high school. So me going out of my way to buy something in spanish made my dad raise an eyebrow. As soon as I told him it was rap, he shrugged it off. The cheap price of the CD, at Carrefour (another extinct supermarket in Mexico!) made him not worry about me “wasting money.” It was 28 pesos and 3 for 2, so I snagged Chumbawamba’s Tubthumper and Smash Mouth’s Fush yu mang.

Have I mentioned I have disparate tastes? I feel sorry for the people I’ve inflicted my playlists on.

Mucho Barato is a great album, and we’ve already written extensively about it at Sloucher. Their second album has an interesting story behind it, and one day I’ll sit down my ADHD ass down and write it out. In the meantime, I’m offering Justo’n, my all time fave song of theirs. Hope y’all enjoy it.

-Sam J. Valdés López