July 22, 2003

Memo From Mexico, By  Allan Wall

Molotov’s “Frijolero”— Malicious Mexican Music On MTV

“Frijolero”, a single recorded by the Mexican rap-metal Molotov attacking border “racism” is a big hit on Mexican radio, MTV en Español, and possibly even a U.S. Spanish radio station near you. It's doubtless being played somewhere at this moment.

First, some background for the culturally deprived.

Molotov is the premier Mexico proponent of the rap-metal genre, and they are big. They’ve done extensive touring in Mexico, the U.S., and Europe, they’ve played in Argentina and Russia. Molotov has been written up in “Billboard”, “USA Today”, “Newsday”, The LA Times”, “The New York Times”, “Chicago Tribune”, “Rolling Stone”, “Vibe”, “Bass Player”, and “Rap” magazine, which called them “...one of the most important groups of Latin America.” They’ve appeared on the Latin MTV Video Music Awards Show, and earned gold and platinum records in various countries (including a platinum in the U.S.), and their music has appeared in the soundtrack of “The Big Hit” and on the Howard Stern radio show.

Molotov has four members: Rapper/Bassist Paco Ayala (paco@molotov.com.mx), Rapper/Guitarist Tito Fuentes (tito@molotov.com.mx), Rapper/Bassist Micky Huidobro (huidos@molotov.com.mx), and Rapper/Drummer Randy Ebright (randy@molotov.com.mx).

Randy Ebright?

If you think that last name sounds like he could be an American , it’s because he is an American. Born in Michigan, Randy is the son of a DEA agent stationed in Mexico, and forms 25% of Molotov, where he is known as “El Gringo Loco”. In fact, Ebright is one of the co-writers of “Frijolero”. (To see a photo of the members of Molotov, click here.)

Although Molotov is a Mexican group protesting gringo racism, they seem quite fond of Gringo Corporations. The group is signed to and distributed by the American corporation “Universal Music”, Molotov has an American PR firm (Rogers and Cowan), their “Dance and Dense Denso” album was recorded in the U.S.A. (Larabee Studios in Los Angeles, California), and the “Frijolero” video was recorded in Austin, Texas.

Radio airplay of “Frijolero” began in January of 2003. It’s certainly getting exposure, some of my students were singing it in class! “Frijolero” is a single on the CD “Dance and Dense Denso” released the following month , February of 2003. By that time, “Frijolero” was so popular that when Molotov presented a concert to promote the new CD, the most eagerly awaited song of the night was “Frijolero.”

(El Universal, Feb. 27^th, 2003, Presenta Molotov Disco “Dance and Dense Denso”)

Both the CD and the single have been successful in the U.S.A. “Dance and Dense Denso” had the highest U.S. release of the band’s career, and peaked at #10 on Billboard’s Latin Pop Albums Chart. It was on the top 20 for 11 weeks. The single “Frijolero” got a lot of airplay on KHDC (El Paso, Texas), WNMA (Miami-Fort Lauderdale), WRTE (Chicago) and XMOR (San Diego/Tijuana). Who knows, it might be playing at this moment in a radio station in your town? You might ask about that.

Though their musical genres are poles apart, there are links between Molotov and The Tigres del Norte (who sing “Somos Mas Americanos”). Molotov member (and “Frijolero” co-writer Paco Ayala) has declared himself a “follower” of the Tigres.

Despite musical differences, both groups share the same view of the U.S. border. Nothing strange about that though, since every influential sector of Mexican society, from the political elite to the Catholic Church, is in agreement that the U.S. border need not be taken seriously.

For the benefit of VDARE.com readers who may not desire to purchase Molotov’s CD, I present below the lyrics of “Frijolero”, with translations of the Spanish sections (some of it is in English anyway):

WARNING TO  VDARE.COM READERS: The lyrics of “Frijolero” are offensive on several levels, in both Spanish and English.   I elected, however, to transcribe and translate the song exactly as it is, so readers will know exactly what’s being listened to.  You have been warned.

“FRIJOLERO”

(Paco Ayala, Randy Ebright,  Micky  Huidobro)

FIRST RAP:

“MEXICAN POINT OF VIEW” – (Spoken in Gringo Accent)

Yo ya estoy hasta la madre de que me pongan sombrero
Escucha entonces cuando digo no me llames frijolero
Y aunque exista algun respeto y no metamos las narices
Nunca inflamos la moneda haciendo guerra a otros paises
Te pagamos con petroleo e intereses nuestra deuda
Mientras tanto no sabemos quien se queda con la feria
Aunque nos hagan la fama de que somos vendedores
De la droga que sembramos ustedes son consumidores

TRANSLATION:

I’m sick and tired of them putting this   hat on me
Listen now when I tell you – don’t call me “frijolero” (beaner)
And though there’s some respect and we don’t interfere
We never inflate currency making war on other countries
We pay you our debt with oil and interests
But we don’t know who winds up with the change
Although we are famous for being the sellers
of the drugs we grow , you all are the consumers

SECOND RAP (IN ENGLISH)

“GRINGO POINT OF VIEW (spoken in “Frijolero” video by a U.S. border patrol agent):

Don’t call me gringo, you fuckin beaner
Stay on your side of the goddamn river
Don’t call me gringo you beaner

THIRD RAP:

“MEXICAN POINT OF VIEW”  RESPONSE  (Spoken in Gringo Accent):

No me digas beaner, Mr. Puñetero
Te sacare un susto por racista y culero
No me llames frijolero , pinche gringo puñetero

TRANSLATION:

Don’t call me beaner, Mr. Masturbator
I’ll give you a scare for being a racist and “culero”(“coward” -derived  from term for  anus)
Don’t call me “frijolero”, cunt gringo masturbator

FOURTH RAP (IN ENGLISH AND SPANISH):

Now I wish I had a dime for every single time
I’ve gotten stared down for being in the wrong side of town
And a rich man I’d be if I had that kind of chips
Lately I wanna smack the mouths of these racists

Podras imaginarte desde afuera,
Ser un mexicano cruzando la frontera.
Pensando en tu familia mientras que pasas,
Dejando todo lo que tu conoces atrás.
Si tuvieras tu que esquivar las balas?
De unos cuantos gringos rancheros?
Les seguiras deciendo (sic)  good for nothing wetback?
Si tuvieras tu que empezar de cero?  

Now why don’t you look down to
Where your feet is planted
That U.S. soil that makes you take shit for granted
If not for Santa Ana, just to let you know
That where your feed are planted would be Mexico
Correcto!

Now I wish I had a dime for every single time
I’ve gotten stared down for being in the wrong side of town
And a rich man I’d be if I had that kind of chips
Lately I wanna smack the mouths of these racists
Can you imagine yourself
As a Mexican crossing the border
Thinking of your family while you cross
Leaving all you know behind
What if you had to dodge bullets
Of some gringo ranchers
Would you keep saying “good for nothing wetback?”
If you had to start from scratch?
Now why don’t you look down to
Where your feet is planted
That U.S. soil that makes you take shit for granted
If not for Santa Ana, just to let you know
That where your feed are planted would be Mexico
Correcto!

Some Relevant Commentary On “Frijolero” -

THE GRINGO ACCENT AND THE BLEEPING (OR LACK THEREOF) –

In "Frijolero", Molotov uses an accent ridiculing how we gringos speak Spanish.

This has not prevented the song from getting airplay on MTV en Español. But can you imagine MTV playing a song by an American group that ridicules the accent of a Mexican speaking English? Or a song promoting immigration restriction?

And speaking of MTV en Español, when the “Frijolero” video is broadcast, Spanish expletives are bleeped, but not the English expletives, and not the taking of the Lord’s name in vain. They don’t care about offending English speakers.

ANTI- AMERICAN?

When Molotov was in Madrid, Spain, band members declared that Molotov is not “antiyanki,” just against the “racismo en la frontera con México.”

El Universal, June 2nd, 2003, Rechaza Molotov ser "antiyanki"

You have to understand though, what Mexicans mean when they condemn “racism.” The Mexican definition of racism is “Any attempt by the U.S.A. to control its own border with Mexico.” It’s noteworthy that in the “Frijolero” video, the character who raps the “American point of View” is a U.S. Border Patrol Agent!

In February of 2003, Molotov guitarist Tito Fuentes expressed the band’s opposition to the imminent U.S. war with Iraq – “We’re not in favor of Bush’s proposal.... It’s an anti-gringo, anti-Bush posture.” Certainly, opposition to Gulf War II is not necessarily the same thing as being anti-American. But why didn’t Fuentes just criticize the war without calling his posture “anti-gringo?” Why, indeed?

Randy Ebright:And why is Randy Ebright, Molotov’s gringo member, so opposed to the U.S. controlling its border with Mexico? Randy is one of the co-writers of “Frijolero” and is the rapper who sings Rap #4 (with the “this used to be Mexico” conclusion). What was Randy Ebright’s motivation for “Frijolero”?

Well, just read his own explanation:

“The words to ‘Frijolero” came to me when I was with my (Mexican) wife and daughter, visiting my family in Michigan. At immigration in Miami, we had to stand on separate lines, and I felt like we were being treated differently. They were looking at my daughter, like, why does she have two last names? What is this Latino name?”

“... the United States is a country of immigrants. And to suddenly say it’s time to close the border to future immigrants, I think, is very hypocritical.”

(“Molotov Takes on Racism and Politics” April 8^th, 2003 The Salt Lake Tribune-Knight-Ridder News Service)

If you’d like to email Randy and discuss immigration with him, his email is randy@molotov.com.mx

THE “FRIJOLERO” VIDEO which has received heavy rotation on MTV en Español (it was #1 for a time,) was recorded in Austin, Texas. Filming took two days, which was followed by a month of “rotoscoping”, a technique which transforms live film into a sort of cartoon. (The video’s producers were Paul Beck and Jason Archer, who produced “Waking Life”) The video also includes an unfavorable cameo appearance by George W. Bush and Dick Cheney, who looks like the devil! Apparently Bush’s incessant pandering to Mexico didn’t impress the Molotov boys in the least!

PROPERTY RIGHTS? It’s obvious that Molotov opposes the U.S. controlling its own border and keeping Mexican illegal aliens out. They also oppose the right of private property owners on the U.S. side of the border from protecting their property. Does that mean Molotov is composed of ideological opponents of property? Do they believe borders and private possessions are bad and everybody should be sharing all the world?

Well, that depends a lot on on whose possessions are being shared . The members of Molotov sure don’t like the U.S. trying to exclude illegal aliens. But there’s evidence they take their own property rights rather seriously.

Another song on “Dance and Dense Denso” is entitled “Queremos Pastel”, Spanish for “We Want Cake!”, the traditional chant at a Mexican birthday party.

Molotov’s Micky Huidobro (who co-wrote “Frijolero”) explains the song thusly:

“ ‘Queremos Pastel’ talks about a strong subject.... Like the guy who arrives at your house and doesn’t know if it’s your birthday or not, but only lights his joint, uses your carpet as an ashtray, writes on the wall and leaves memories.”

Huidobro thinks it’s OK that millions of Mexicans enter the U.S. illegally, some of whom damage private property on the border. But he’s not too keen about uninvited guests entering his (presumably posh) house and using his carpet as an ashtray!

Molotov is also very opposed to the unauthorized copying of their music (pirate copying of movies and music is very common in Mexico). Despite the band’s cultivation of an anti-establishment pose and rebel stance, they are not at all happy when people make pirate copies of THEIR CDs. That cuts into THEIR profits. So to fight back, their new CD has an individual code on each copy (Universal, January 30^th, 2003, Fox y Bush “actúan” en video de Molotov), which enables its owner to enter a special VIP section of the Molotov website.

If you buy a pirated copy, you can’t enter the Molotov VIP site – which, for a Molotov fan, must be a real deprivation.

According to Molotov being illegal in the U.S.is good, but if the U.S. controls its border it’s racist. And ranchers protecting their own property - that's bad.

On the other hand, making unauthorized copies of a Molotov CD, and thus depriving the group of some of their multi-zillion dollar corporate profits, is bad. But when Molotov protects its corporate profits, that’s good.

Amazing how it works out like that, isn’t it?

[For video of Frijolero, click here...]

American citizen Allan Wall lives and works legally in Mexico, where he holds an FM-2 residency and work permit, but serves six weeks a year with the Texas Army National Guard, in a unit composed almost entirely of Americans of Mexican ancestry. His VDARE.COM articles are archived here; his FRONTPAGEMAG.COM articles are archived here; his website is here. Readers can contact Allan Wall at allan39@prodigy.net.mx.