Esteban Gabriel leads the local scene fusing regional Mexican folk with trap music.
Rapper Bo Bundy screams into his mic, roaring the hit track “Hay Niveles” (There Are Levels) for a throng of eager fans while the song’s creator — singer Esteban Gabriel — looks on during a recent Pasadena show.
Bundy later says it was one of the best moments of his life.
“I was starstruck,” Bundy says about sharing the stage with Gabriel, one of the biggest stars in the local urban corrido music scene. “This was the most energy I’ve ever felt from a crowd of 200 people.”
Bundy, 24, whose real name is Jorge Frias, has developed his own loyal following after spending several years making rap music aimed at a Spanglish-speaking, bicultural Mexican-American audience. That much of that same crowd, plus thousands more, know Gabriel’s music is something to behold. He has a way of serenading an audience, reaching both the women and the men with street-smart lyrics culled from stories straight from the streets of southeast Houston.
Gabriel, 24, armed with a sixstring acoustic guitar he learned to play by watching YouTube videos, has amassed millions of streams of his music and a growing national fan base.
“He had them eating out of the palm of his hand,” Bundy says about the fans who were adoring Gabriel off stage.
There were impromptu lines forming to grab photos hours before Gabriel’s set. All the attention has been enough to hold the singer over since that March 14 show, his last since COVID-19 put the kibosh on a slew of dates he was set to perform, including a high-profile festival in Los Angeles.
“The entertainment industry is at a stop,” Gabriel said recently from home. “There’s no shows, no meet and greets, there’s no physical interaction with your fans and the people who support you.”
Two worlds collide
That support is critical in a genre — dubbed “corridos urbanos” or “trap corridos,” which is a blend of new-generation hip-hop (trap music) and Regional Mexican music born in California — that has boomed, thanks to street-level fandom from young Latinos. Even the New York Times has taken note of the movement. Serious momentum and regular tour dates defined much of the past six months for Gabriel. It’s one thing to enjoy the music through video and music streams, but it really thrives through the live show and concert circuit.
Still, it was releasing music online that really powered Gabriel’s start.
The singer has a unique approach, giving a Houston spin to sierreño-style corridos. (Sierreño is Mexican music using three instruments: bajo quinto, bajo sexto, and accordion and either a bass or a tuba.)
He has a song called “Tirando