Euphoric and with a fed up tone, Peso Pluma moves on stage and addresses his audience to talk about what has been said about him in recent weeks.
Shouts and applause of encouragement accompany him in what was going to be his last song of the set that he had prepared for the occasion, but first he had to get something off his chest: “I'm on stage for you.”
The 3,000 attendees, who gathered this Wednesday to see one of the most important current references in Latin American music, poured out their support for every word of the singer at the Moody Theater in Austin, Texas, which served as the stage for the musical event that
Rolling Stone
magazine had organized
within the framework of the South by Southwest Festival (SXSW) to highlight the talents of the future.
The videos of his presentation, which began to come to light on Thursday night on social networks such as TikTok or YouTube, affected the moment in which the artist “shut up” and attacked the media: “To the media and the press, keep talking.
Keep talking motherfuckers
[
continue talking motherfuckers
, he emphasized in English] Because, do you know something?
All your comments and opinions make me sick.”
The reappearance and venting against the media of Hassan Kabande, 24, better known by his stage name Featherweight, occurs after more than a month in which he was absent, a time in which his name was the subject of headlines due to rumors. and controversies related to his personal life.
The first of them had to do with his breakup with singer Nicki Nicole due to alleged infidelity.
The love story between the two musicians, born behind the scenes and fueled by the hypotheses of fans on networks, had been confirmed last November with a kiss during the Argentine artist's concert in Mexico City.
However, the relationship between the two ended in mid-February due to a viral video on the X platform (formerly known as Twitter) in which the man from Jalisco appears in Las Vegas accompanied by a woman whose identity has not been revealed.
“Respect is a necessary part of love.
What is loved is respected, what is respected is cared for.
With great pain, know that I found out in the same way as you, thank you for the love you are sending me,” Nicole Denise Cuccose, as the Argentine artist is called, wrote on her Instagram account, hinting at Kabande's infidelity.
To the author of
Lady Gaga
, one of her most recent songs, who took her first international steps last year on the stage of
The Tonight Show
, the most successful program on late-night television in the United States —hosted by Jimmy Fallon—, singing the The success of
Ella Baiba Solo
by the group Eslabón Armando, which closed 2023 as one of the most listened to artists on Spotify's global charts, began 2024 in a turbulent manner.
Her invitation to participate in the Viña del Mar Festival in Chile—one of the most important on the continent—was questioned due to the apology for drug trafficking in his lyrics.
The accusation against the artist came through an opinion column by Chilean sociologist Alberto Mayol in which he denounced the young man as a “promoter of narco culture.”
The scuffle between the festival organization and political figures of the South American country continued for weeks, citing criticism that a public event, broadcast by a state channel, Televisión Nacional de Chile (TVN), was carried out with government funds.
“Drug culture must be stopped in every corner,” argued René Lues, councilor of Viña del Mar, who requested the cancellation of the
show
.
Even representative Joanna Pérez, from the centrist Democrats party, presented a bill to prohibit the participation of artists who promote drug trafficking and other criminal activities in massive events financed with public resources.
Finally, a few days after his breakup with Nicki Nicole, and despite the organization's position to keep the artist arguing “that he will not incur any type of censorship or discrimination,” Peso Pluma announced that it was canceling its participation in the Festival. from Viña del Mar for “personal reasons”, as well as the suspension of his tour through Latin America.
“We hope to be able to return to these territories soon to give them the experience they deserve,” reported the singer's office.
“A troubled river gains fishermen,” says the saying.
So the speculations did not wait.
Different Mexican media began to echo rumors, “information from the inside” and even “exclusive photos” that Peso Pluma was admitted to a rehabilitation center in his native Jalisco to deal with alleged addictions and mental health problems.
He was the same Double P artist who brought up his whereabouts during these weeks of rest from the public eye.
He put an end to the rumor mill in an interview with Rolling Stone
magazine
, which dedicated the cover to him calling him “the future of music.”
Kabande poses for the publication bare-chested in the photo, with a defiant look and a tattoo under his neck that says
all
eyez on
me
.
“The last few weeks have been truly crazy.
People are always going to have something to say about what I'm doing and create their own narrative.
But the reality is that I have been in the studio working on
Éxodo
,” he tells the music magazine about his newest work, the successor to
Génesis
, for which he received his first Grammy for Best Mexican Music Album.
Much is said and much will be said about Featherweight.
“A lot of fucking controversy and a lot of fucking controversy,” as the artist referred to the last few weeks in front of his audience in Texas.
However, everything seems to indicate that Kabande still has his sights set on continuing his crowning at the top of the corrido tumbado and the Mexican regional.
In April he will be one of the headliners at the prestigious Coachella festival.
The singer does not seem to mind being in the eye of the hurricane for being part of the youth that sings to drug traffickers, despite the fact that last year he had to cancel six concerts in October due to being threatened by the Jalisco Nueva Generación cartel.
On the stage of the Moody Theater, pointing to his band that accompanied him, he thanked his fans, reaffirmed himself as an artist and as a representative of a musical genre that he has taken to the Olympus of success.
“We continue making music for you.
As long as I am alive and every member of this team is alive, we are going to continue breaking every scenario no matter what happens,” said Peso Pluma and, leaving his audience ecstatic, he finished his challenging speech: “Long live the corridos.
Hurray Mexico.
And forever and ever, may the fucking double P reign and long live.”
Subscribe to the EL PAÍS México newsletter
and the
WhatsApp channel
and receive all the key information on current events in this country.