Jimmy Humilde, founder of L.A.’s trailblazing regional Mexican record label Rancho Humilde, is writing a new narrative about Mexican American success — and it starts with Mexicans no longer being embattled underdogs in the stories we tell about them. (Think “Stand and Deliver” and “Selena.”)
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“I’m trying to get away from all that,” said Humilde, calling from his mansion in Downey — where three years ago, I happened upon his indoor shark tank and got a tour of his extensive low-rider collection. “There’s a reason why our label’s music has been hitting. Our artists are not out here like, ‘We’re poor and we don’t have anything.’ It’s more like, ‘What we have, we appreciate it.’ There is no better moment than today to say, ‘I’m Mexican American, I’m a Chicano.’ Now let’s get it!”
Long before Humilde became a buzzy independent music mogul, he was raised in Venice by Mexican parents. Working at a taco truck by day, by night he raised his profile as a party promoter throughout Southern California. Inspired by West Coast hip-hop stronghold Death Row Records, as well as the famed corrido singer Chalino Sánchez, Humilde began booking and developing Mexican bands such as Hijos de Barrón and Komando Negro — who eventually ditched him to sign deals with more resourced record labels. “I had to start my own thing,” said Humilde, now 44.
Established formally in 2011 by Humilde and his friends, José “JB” Becerra and Roque “Rocky” Venegas, Rancho Humilde has since emerged as the home of a hot, increasingly mainstreaming sound that’s so essentially Los Angeles: corridos tumbados, or Mexican folk songs imbued with the hustler ethos of American gangster rap and trap.
Since then, Bad Bunny, Steve Aoki and Snoop Dogg have all lined up to collaborate with Rancho Humilde’s first international star, Natanael Cano. Before breaking out this year, Peso Pluma, the chart-topping newcomer from Jalisco, sought collaborations with Humilde’s artists to gain visibility; Rancho Humilde’s most acclaimed act, Fuerza Regida, recently backed Colombian pop icon Shakira in “El Jefe,” a smoking revenge corrido aimed at her ex-partner, Gerard Piqué.
While some fans balked at what they perceived to be a pop star’s cynical appropriation of Mexican music, Humilde embraced Shakira’s corrido as a positive sign of the times.
“If someone else wants to use our sound to become a success with it, I’m excited,” Humilde said. “We are building a culture — the way we talk, the way we dress, the way we sing — and it’s cool.”