The Spanish novelist Arturo Perez Reverte wrote the great Mexican novel La Reina del Sur. Hugely influenced by the novels of Sinaloan writer Elmer Mendoza, it tells the story of a how a young woman from Sinaloa came to dominate the drug trade in southern Europe, but is then drawn back to her native country for sentimental reasons. The book was a huge sensation, and was turned into a popular television series in Mexico.

Los Cuates de Sinaloa made their name by singing Corridos, or story songs. Many of their songs fall into the category of Narcocorridos, because they tell the stories of famous drug traffickers. In fact I first became aware of them from the narcocorrido they sang in the opening sequence of an episode of Breaking Bad… It seems fitting that they would sing the story of La Reina del Sur.