Not to diminish in any way, shape or form the deaths of Tupac Shakur, The Notorious B.I.G., and other rappers who fell victim to violence, but the so-called East Coast-West Coast feud at its most vicious could not hold a candle to the numerous, frequent and often gruesome deaths of artists in the world of narcocorridos.
Due to close relationships with prominent members of the Mexican drug cartels--whose adventures are extolled in narcocorridos, hence the narco part--in recent years, a significant chunk of artists involved in the subgenre, which comes from the norteño folk corridos, have met untimely deaths, rumored to be at the hands of rival drug gangs who target these artists out of spite and/or jealousy.
According to Wikipedia, those murdered include, Valentín Elizalde; Sergio Vega; Sergio Gómez, lead singer of Chicago-based Duranguense band K-Paz de la Sierra; Gerardo Ortiz; Javier Morales Gómez, singer for Los Implacables del Norte; members of Tecno Banda Fugaz, and Los Padrinos de la Sierra; trumpeter José Luis Aquino of Los Conde; record producer Marco Abdalá, manager Roberto del Fierro Lugo, Jorge Antonio Sepúlveda, Jesús Rey David Alfaro Pulido; Nicolás Villanueva of tropical group Brisas del Mar; and four members of Los Herederos de Sinaloa, among others.
In addition, assassins made a concerted effort to kill lead singer for Zayda y Los Culpables, Zayda Peña, who despite not being a singer of narcocorridos or having any criminal affiliation, was allegedly targeted for being the daughter of a Mexican prosecutor.
Yikes!
