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I’m writing this from New Orleans, where I’ll be speaking on a panel with TikTok at the National Association of Hispanic Journalists. I’m also in Louisiana working on what I think may be my best mini-doc yet. It’s similar to this mini-doc I made about the Mexipino population in the U.S. Any guesses?

Like my mini-docs, my newsletter explores the hyphen between various topics through the lens of Latino culture. In this newsletter, I’m exploring the hyphen between:

- Fernando

Intocable originated in Zapata. Grupo Frontera in Edinburg. Grupo Duelo in Roma. They’re all Mexican American music groups that have originated in the RGV, or as maps like to call it, the “Rio Grande Valley” of Texas.

The region sits at the southernmost tip of Texas, borders Mexico, and, I’d venture to guess, has one of the highest concentrations of Spanglish-speaker in the nation.

At least that’s the sense I got from my conversation with Hermanos Espinoza, the latest addition to the list of RGV música mexicana standouts.

“The switching from English to Spanish, like mid-sentence, I think that's the most RGV thing about me,” said Joel Espinoza, one of the members of Hermanos Espinoza.

The brother duo broke into the regional Mexican scene in 2022 with their hit song “Prueba de Fuego.” They have more than 6.4 million monthly listeners on Spotify and were named one of the 2026 artists to watch by the platform. In 2025, the brothers signed with Double P Management, the management firm founded by Peso Pluma and music industry executive George Prajin. I asked the brothers what was in the water in the RGV.

“I think the fact that we live right next to the border, right next to Reynosa,” said Joel. “We're exposed to both styles of life. We got all the Mexican food and Mexican music. And then even then from rap culture all the way to dance music, to everything that we see and know here, you know. So I think it's the fact that we have the best of both worlds here at home.”

I also think it may be something else that may lead to future stars from the RGV. A few months ago, I went to Austin, Texas, for a story about the growth of university mariachis. Many of these ensembles are in Texas. What I learned while visiting the University of Texas at Austin was that so many of the students in their mariachi program came from rigorous middle and high school marching bands in Texas. It makes sense given that Texas is the capital of high school football in the United States.

It wasn’t too surprising when I learned both Joel and Leonel were part of marching bands, too.

“That's the first place where I kind of started getting to know music, getting to know notes, ‘tonos,’ rhythms, all that stuff,” said Leonel. “And I just brought it on to the ‘bajo.’ I played ‘bajoquinto.’ I brought it on, and I could easily merge with my drummer. Like I know what he's gonna do and he knows what I'm gonna do. We're real connected.”

“It shaped me in the form of like being able to create music from the ground up,” said Joel. “We we were able to have those skills thanks to what I learned there in marching band.”

When I asked what was more stressful—marching band or performing before thousands of fans as Hermanos Espinoza—Joel didn't hesitate.

"Marching band, for real," he laughed.

The group returned to their hometown of McAllen to perform with fellow RGVians Grupo Frontera on July 17.

"It was twice as much pressure," Joel said. "I really gotta put on for the city because the city brought us up. It molded us into who we are."

Hermanos Espinoza is about to take its RGV energy around the country. The duo will kick off its 17-city LINAJE Tour through the United States this Friday. The tour includes stops in Los Angeles, Dallas and New York.

The term “No Sabo kid” is usually used in a derogatory manner to refer to kids of Hispanic heritage who do not speak Spanish.

Well, what happens when these kids become adults? Some of them are starting “conversation clubs,” which are half-social, half-educational spaces where “No Sabo adults” can improve their grasp of the language.

I visited two of them in Los Angeles for my latest mini-doc.

I post a mini-doc every two weeks on my YouTube channel. Subscribe to the channel so you don’t miss the next one.

What do Italian corridos tumbados sound like? Italian duo 3XVM is blending the Mexican sounds popularized by artists like Peso Pluma and Natanael Cano and fusing them with Italian lyrics, and this is what it sounds like:

What I think is interesting is that they post some of their videos with Spanish subtitles. [Remezcla]

Something interesting is happening in Eagle Rock, North Carolina. A Black man in North Carolina is leaning into the state’s Latino population boom. In 1990, there were just 70,000 Latino residents. Today, there are over 1 million. Donal Gooch is turning his family ranch into a hotspot for Mexican music concerts. [The Guardian]

The Latin music conference you won’t want to miss. Latin Music Month held its inaugural conference last year in Los Angeles. This year, it’s back and expanding to two days. The conference brings together music industry professionals, lovers and students for panels, music showcases and networking. Buy tickets here. **

U.S. Latinos are the third-largest consumer market in the world. And if they were a country, they’d be the fourth-largest economy in the world. Those are two of the key findings from the latest Latino Donor Collaborative report on Hispanic and Latino impact on the U.S. economy. [ASU News]

PETA Latino trapped Chiquis in a bathtub. The Hispanic outreach arm of the animal rights group is out with a new campaign featuring singer Chiquis as a mermaid trapped in a bathtub. The campaign includes a video of Chiquis playing the role of Ripley, a 30-year-old dolphin who’s been trapped in “tiny tanks” her whole life. [PETA]

Could Chipotle be the next Taco Bell? The American Mexican food chain (try saying that three times fast) opened its first location in Mexico. Chipotle’s CEO told Bloomberg it was trying to tackle an “emerging trend.” “What we’re working to do is really tackle this emerging trend that we see around the globe—we also see it down in Mexico—this idea around fresh ingredients being prepared same-day, freshly in restaurants,” said CEO Scott Boatwright. “We believe what we do, what we offer, will really resonate with the Mexican community.” Will it face the same fate as Taco Bell, which had two failed attempts at Mexican expansion? [Watch my video]

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This section is a random musing from the week that is not related to my work as a journalist, usually. 

This week’s musing:

I came across this story of a 33-year-old woman who is using TikTok to save her parents’ pupusería from struggling sales. My parents don’t own a business, but it reminded me of the time I tried “sprucing up” a family-owned grocery store’s Facebook page in college to no avail. The stakes weren’t too high for me there, but I imagine they’re pretty high when it’s your parents’ business. I imagine there must be other people who are doing something similar, leveraging social media to help their parents’ business. Have you heard of any businesses who fit the bill?