Featherweight during a concert in Las Vegas (USA), on April 20th. John Locher (AP)
The most notorious Mexican singer of recent months, Featherweight, this Thursday released Génesis, a 14-song album with which he intends to consolidate the global phenomenon that, in a short space of time, has led him to perform artists such as Miley Cyrus, Taylor Swift or to surpass Bad Bunny on the music reference charts. On this album, the singer has once again brought together some of the most iconic figures of the lying corridos – the most modern variant of the traditional corridos – and frequent companies of his collaboration, such as Natanael Cano, Junior H or Gabito Ballesteros.
The featherweight phenomenon has grown exponentially in just a few short months. Hassan Kabande – the Mexican singer’s real name – has managed to propel several of their collaborative songs to the top of reference lists such as Spotify’s Global Top 50, with one song flying the flag: Ella baila sola (along with Eslabón Armado). Genesis comes out less than a month after Featherweight forged a collaboration with Argentinian bizarre rap, one of the most sought-after producers on today’s urban scene.
The Genesis album has some recurring artists in the repertoire, but also has some surprises in store. It’s the first time the name of Tito (his cousin Roberto Laija) has appeared, the second composer on the Featherweight project and the one responsible for writing the most martial corridos and the most festive songs in the singer’s repertoire – to which Kabande refers more focused The lyrics are about women and heartbreak. On this album, he accompanies him on two songs: Gavilán and La People, which retain the warlike undertones of Tito’s lyrics.
The cover of “Génesis”, the next album by Featherweight.DOUPLE P RECORDS
The song list starts with Rosa Pastel, along with Jasiel Núñez. The song was released as a single in April and announced the launch of his own record label, Double P Records. It’s not the only song known before the album’s release. 77, along with Puerto Rican (born in Kansas) Eladio Carrión started playing a month ago; and Bye, solo made it a few days later. Singer Edgar Nuñez also previewed Vvs (which also features Darey Castro) a few weeks ago on businessman Pepe Garza’s show Pepe Office. On this occasion, Núñez sang the lyrics, but without Castro or Featherweight.
Kabande added to this record the usual collaboration of Natanael Cano, the progenitor of the Liege corridos, with only one song together, Carnal. Junior H, another of the subgenre’s biggest names, is also showing signs of life. The Guanajuato man is involved in two of the songs: Luna and Lady Gaga (which also features Gambito Ballesteros, another common name in the Mexican urban scene).
Génesis contains 14 songs, although only four are by Solo Featherweight, a dynamic common among today’s urban artists used to collaborating with other musicians. Kabande goes unaccompanied in Rubicón, Zapata, Nueva vida (a version of the theme of Succession M) and Bye. However, he also opens the doors with Luis R. Conriquez in his house. Conriquez is an old acquaintance for Kabande, having collaborated with him on the controversial song Siempre pending (2022), which drew criticism at a presentation in Culiacan, Sinaloa last October. A giant image of Joaquín El Chapo Guzmán was projected during the performance. The musician has defended in his interviews that his team was not responsible for this projection. “They tried to dirty me there,” he told Pepe Garza.
The announcement came almost as a surprise a week ago. The image on the cover is reminiscent of demo tapes from Canadian rapper Drake’s album Dark Lane, one of the Mexican musician’s greatest references. As with Drake, Kabande’s face is covered with a balaclava, leaving only his eyes and part of his nose visible. Genesis is his fourth album, the first to be released under his own record label, Double P Records. In 2020 he released a live album (Disco en vivo) and Ah y que?; and in 2021 side effects. The three under the umbrella of the Los Angeles Cartel discography.
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