Jimmy Humilde, photographed in the Los Angeles Times in El Segundo on November 13.
Jimmy Humilde, founder of the Los Angeles-based Mexican record label Rancho Humilde, a pioneer in the regional genre, is writing a new narrative about Mexican-American success, and it starts with the idea that Mexicans are no longer the beleaguered 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 stumbled upon his indoor shark tank and took a tour of his extensive collection of low-riders. “There’s a reason why our label’s music has been so successful. Our artists aren’t here saying, ‘We’re poor and we don’t have anything.’ It’s more like, ‘What we have, We appreciate it.'There is no better time than today to say: 'I am Mexican-American, I am Chicano.' Now let's do it!
Long before Humilde became an independent music mogul, he was raised in Venice by Mexican parents. He worked at a taco stand during the day and, at night, he became known as a party promoter throughout Southern California. Inspired by the bastion of West Coast hip-hop, Death Row Records, as well as the famous record label ran As singer Chalino Sánchez, Humilde began signing and developing Mexican bands like Hijos de Barrón and Komando Negro, who eventually left him to sign deals with record labels with more resources. “I had to start my own business,” said Humilde, now 44.
Formally established 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 and increasingly popular sound that is quintessentially Los Angeles: lying down, or popular Mexican songs imbued with the scammer spirit of American rap and gangster trap.
Since then, Bad Bunny, Steve Aoki and Snoop Dogg have 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 artists to gain visibility; Rancho Humilde's most acclaimed act, Fuerza Regida, recently backed Colombian pop icon Shakira in “El Jefe,” a steamy revenge act. ran directed at her ex-partner, Gerard Piqué.
While some fans balked at what they perceived as a cynical appropriation of Mexican music by a pop star, Humilde embraced Shakira's idea. ran as a positive sign of the times.
“If someone else wants to use our sound to be successful, I’m excited,” Humilde said. “We’re building a culture — the way we talk, the way we dress, the way we sing — and it’s cool.”
