When Drake headlined the Houston Rodeo in March, the rapper sauntered out of a black Maybach onto the iconic Texan stage, rocking a fringed jacket and pants. As he walked on, the strums of requinto and the unmistakable voice of Chino Pacas vibrated throughout the packd stadium.
At the time, Pacas was a 17-year-old musician. With his distinct wailing vocals and barrio lyrics, he had already made a name for himself within the corrido tumbado space. He had a TikTok hit with “El Gordo Trae el Mando,” and a handful of catchy Fuerza Régida collabs. But how the hell did he manage to link up with the Toronto rapper?
Today, the musician born Cristian Humberto Ávila Vega — who dropped his debut album Que Sigan Llegando Las Pacas, including a collab with Champagne Papi, last week — tells the story of his Drake co-sign quite nonchalantly.
“He DM’d me on Instagram,” Pacas, now 18, tells Rolling Stone, taking a pull from a freshly rolled joint over Zoom. “He reached out to me so I could write a corrido for him, about him, and that I sing it.”
Pacas was up for the challenge. In their DM conversation, Drake sent over a paragraph for him to base the corrido off of, and Pacas — alongside his brother Turo — took it from there. “We wrote three songs for him using that paragraph,” he says. “That song ended up being ‘3 Letras,’ which he played at the Houston Rodeo.”
The tres letras in the title refer to “OVO,” Drake’s label imprint October’s Very Own, which Pacas sings about as if it were a cartel and Drake its kingpin. Pacas muses about how “well business is going” and shouts out Drake’s righthand man Nessell “Chubbs” Beezer and OVO co-founder Oliver El-Khatib in the lyrics. “In my land, they all respect me,” he sings from Drake’s perspective. “My connections run strong.”
After the Houston Rodeo moment, the corrido about Drake was a success by all accounts, but the link-up wouldn’t end there. “He said he wanted to work together,” Pacas recounts. “So we sent him several songs.” Drake ended up being fond of “Modo Capone,” originally titled “Cabrón,” which Pacas already had recorded for his album.
Drake, Pacas, and Fuerza Régida’s JOP ended up recording the new version of the song during the same trip to Houston for the rodeo.”You can tell his professionalism and his years in the industry,” Pacas says. “It’s something else. We have a lot of chemistry and that’s why we ended up working together.”
The song hears JOP and Pacas trading verses while Drake takes over the chorus, singing fully in Spanish. The outro even features an 808 beat more up Drake’s alley as he sings the chorus one final time. “I never imagined I’d be singing with Drake,” Pacas says. “I’m a fan of English hip-hop, but I never thought I’d be singing with him.”
JOP — who has championed Pacas’ career through Street Mob Records — thinks the collaboration is about “bringing música mexicana to the global stage,” noting that featuring Drake brings things to a completely different level. “We knew that with the right talent and team, it would happen,” he tells Rolling Stone. “We are happy it’s with Pacas. From the start, we saw pure talent in the way he [writes] and crafts his music… It’s a historic moment for us all.”
The two Drake-adjacent songs land in the middle of 15 back-to-back corridos, many of which Pacas has been holding onto for two years. He features fellow artists Armenta and Gabito Ballesteros for collaborations, but most of the production was led by his big brother, Turo Pacas.
“The most important part was pouring heart into this. We really felt this music and the lyrics,” says Turo, who’s photographed on the album’s tracklist as a child holding a baby Pacas. (He’s also featured on “Pues Podemos.) “We put a lot of ganas into this project, and that’s what truly inspired us. When we made the first song, ‘El Gordo Trae el Mando,’ that’s where we decided to get married to the music.”
“It was like winning the lottery,” adds Pacas. “When there are songs where we get frustrated, we know that’s not the song for us. It happens sometimes, but when we click well, we make good music.”
There’s been no official announcement, but Que Sigan Llegando Las Pacas‘ Spotify and Apple Music pages credits Street Mob Records, Geffen Records, and Chubbs and Drake’s recently launched PFL label as the home for Pacas’ music. PFL founder Chubbs says it’s about bringing the genre to the “next level.”
“’Modo Capone’ isn’t just a standout track — it’s the cornerstone of an album that breaks new ground and introduces a wider audience to the beauty of Mexican music,” Chubbs tells Rolling Stone in a statement. “Each song showcases Paca’s remarkable talent for blending tradition with modern influences, creating something truly unique… We’re beyond excited to see the lasting impact it will have on the genre and listeners worldwide.”
Now, with his debut album under his belt, and a completely new set of eyes on him, Pacas is starting to feel the weight of the responsibility. But, like he was with the Drake DM, he’s up for the challenge. “When we started we’d pull up with guns in our videos. But now things are más chill,” he says. “This is just the beginning of my career. And it’s only going to go up from here.”
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