“Luis R will always be Luis R,” the Mexican star says
Luis R Conriquez has been itching to make a rap and reggaeton album for a long time. Sure, he’s a corridos artist at heart, but he’d always wondered if other genres could work, too. “With everything going on with corridos,” he tells Rolling Stone over Zoom, “it made eve more sense to do this. We were already changing things up.”
In recent months, several corridos stars, including Conriquez, have stepped back from the genre as the spotlight on narco-themed music has grown. A few months ago, Conriquez even had to cut a show short after fans expressed frustration over his decision not to play corridos at the show in Mexico. But now, he’s ready to pivot and roll with the punches in the changing landscape.
On Friday, the Mexican star dropped Meneo, a nine-track record experimenting with reggaeton, EDM-cumbia, and raps sounds. He taps reggaeton heavy hitters like El Alfa and Anuel AA, and also Mexican artists Gabito Ballesteros and Fuerza Regida, to explore new musical territory.
The shift isn’t that far-fetched for Conriquez. He previously joined Tito Double P and Joel De La P on “Dembow Bélico,” a track that pushed all three Mexican singers outside their corrido comfort zones, back in 2023. And it became an instant hit. On Meneo, he includes “De Fresa y Coco,” a reggaeton mexa track he released in 2023 with Los Dareyes de la Sierra and Edgardo Nuñez, which has no traditional Mexican instrumentation. Since its release, the song has become a nightclub staple, racking up more than 155 million streams on Spotify.
“I have people’s acceptance despite being someone who sings corridos,” Conriquez says. “I said, ‘I’m going to try to change my music a little. I’m going to try an album with different styles — whether reggaeton, rap.’”
He’s especially proud to expand into new genres while collaborating with reggaeton heavyweights like Ryan Castro, who will appear on the second part of Meneo, which is set to drop next month. The album cover itself nods to reggaeton’s roots, showing Conriquez looking over a city with the flags of Mexico, Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, and Colombia flying high.
“Like the Colombians want to sing corridos, we want to sing reggaeton too. It’s fucking cool to see more Mexicans singing reggaeton. We all gotta unite,” he says. “The album is a two-part puzzle, and I love it.”
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Even as he explores reggaeton and other sounds, Conriquez promises his corrido identity stays intact. On Meneo, even includes a rap track, “Mexicano Soy,” blending trumpet and 808 beats, where he raps about his Mexican roots and reflects on his upbringing.
“Luis R will always be Luis R,” he says. “I hope people will support this new version of me.”
Tomás Mier
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