Rewrite
From the streets of Guadalajara to the grandest stages across the globe, Peso Pluma’s whole life has changed. Covering Wonderland’s Winter 24 issue, he talks the oscillation of fame, the growth of his sound, and the magnitude of his ambitions.
Accompanied by an entourage of Stone Island-sporting cronies, Peso Pluma enters a cold, dilapidated warehouse in Hackney Central to find a large team of creatives awaiting his ever-so-slight tardiness—London traffic, ay? The 25-year-old, head-to-toe in black and puffing instinctively on a vape, carries himself subtly. He’s slight in frame, sculpted, expressionless, a set of curious brown eyes lurking behind designer shades.
It’s a big week for Mexican music’s new talisman. He’s in East London for his Wonderland shoot—the impetus for such a comprehensive congregation at a location fit only for a squat rave or hiding an A-lister from public attention. Days later, he will travel north to the city of Manchester, where he will attend, perform, and consequently triumph at the annual music awards, MTV EMAs. Peso will be granted the honours for Best Latin, and shall also sing, alongside his friend and featured artist Estevan Plazola, “HOLLYWOOD”, a standout single from his latest and fourth album, ÉXODO. “I’m proud to be the first Mexican to play the awards of that importance,” Peso says as we settle down in our makeshift interview arena; a kitchen moonlighting as a dressing-room and grooming station. “It’s a whole thing, that’s why I flew my band just to play Corridos for the first time here.”
The collection of musicians in question have been steadfast throughout Peso’s rise, and has only grown in number through his tenure; what started as three members has now expanded to nine. When on stage for the performance, the nonagon of instrumentalists (consisting of a trumpeter, multiple guitarists, a double bass player and more) assemble in a quarter crescent, split down the middle with Peso standing equidistantly front and centre. “So many memories, achievements I’ve lived through,” he sings in passionate rasps of his mother tongue to an awestruck arena. The limelight is fixated on him as if preordained—fitting for a man of devout faith, who is “happy with whatever blessing that God sends us.”
And today is a day of many blessings. Shortly after our conclusion ends the Grammy Awards nominations are due to be announced. Peso Pluma is occupied with acting debonair on camera, but team Wonderland have the live-stream playing, and with good reason: ÉXODO is nominated for Best Música Mexicana Album. It’s his second nod in the category in consecutive years, having been nominated for and winning the coveted prize in 2023 for his breakout third album, GÉNESIS. The album’s title is apropos for a work that sees Peso fully realising his role as the apexian protagonist in the Corridos revolution—a new horizon for a musical breeding ground that once lurked beneath the wider Latin shrubbery.
The traditional Mexican genre—formed of narrative-led balladry that documents realism, romance and history atop symphonies of classical guitar, strings and horns—has generally been swept under the rug of the global mainstream throughout modern popular music. Its old fashioned and uncompromising approach was deemed outdated by the masses, with criticisms lingering about its romanticism of narco culture within the style’s sub-strand, Narcocorridos. But the sound has been refocused and revitalised over the past few years, snowballing in pedigree and reaching more ears than ever. Peso Pluma ’s music has proven a bridge between the prototypical and the contemporary; both a pastiche of its lineage and a mission statement of its metamorphosis. “It’s a very unique taste and a unique way to explore music,” he explains of the genre, one which he spent his childhood immersed within, as well as obtaining a curiosity for US Rap. “What we talk about and sing about is real shit. It’s what’s happening in our country right now. It’s how we grew [up], it’s how we see things. In the past year or two, the style of Corridos has taken an evolution. And from that evolution, different angles and different niches of Corridos were born. I’m just happy to see how we’re part of its history.”
“I know who really treats me like a product, and who really treats me like Hassan”
Peso Pluma
It must be difficult for Peso Pluma to comprehend the totality of what he has accomplished in a strikingly short space of time—he’s only been making music seriously for a few years, after all. He’s a man of firsts; whether the aforementioned EMAs achievement, or being the inaugural Mexican to enter the Top 10 on the Billboard Hot 100 with “Ella Baila Sola” alongside Californian collective Eslabon Armado. He labels the March 2023-released cut that reached the number one spot on Spotify Global’s Top 50 and “became a whole sensation, a new experience for people,” as the moment he knew that his vision could translate onto the international stage. Peso is also the first Mexican artist to shift visual representation around the country’s musicians, with his image proving influential. His haircuts—from his former idiosyncratic take on the mullet to a new, crisper curtains-like form—have been trendsetting among his fans. His fashion style too has gained many admirers; modern, original and luxury-driven, he dresses more like a US rapper than a Mexican traditionalist, furthering the engaging dichotomy of his appeal. “I wanted to do something different from what was happening in Mexican music,” he offers. “The stereotype was there for a very long time, the sombreros and the leather boots. Everyone dressed like a fucking cowboy and we’re in the 2020s, like, ‘Bro, you have money already.’ Me, I just always wanted to be myself.”
For a cultural titan and a new-age Rockstar, Peso Pluma is quite an understated individual. “I always just did music because I love it, and I still do,” he says with quiet sincerity. “I don’t do it for the money, I never did it for the fame.” Born Hassan Emilio Kabande Laija in Jalisco, Mexico, as a youth Peso’s focus was always on “wanting to be the best in everything” he does. When he was in his mid-teens, Peso moved to and was schooled in San Antonio in Texas for two years, an experience that shaped his disposition and his desire to make his vision a reality rather than idealising opaque ambitions. “It was part of growing up,” he shrugs in recollection of his time in the States. “It was part of becoming an adult. Having that barrier of not being in my country with my family was something that really got me to chase whatever I wanted. I [have known] since then that if I wanted to chase my dreams, no one was going to help me. Not because they weren’t supportive, but [I realised] that nobody can do it for me. I knew I was going to have to sacrifice a lot of things, and that’s what I did.”
To read Peso Pluma’s full interview, pre-order Wonderland’s Winter 24 issue now.
Photography by Ciesay San
Styling by Anastasia Walker
Words by Ben Tibbits
Grooming by Sandra Hahnel at Caren using Clé de Peau Beauté
Photography Assistants James McNaught, Fola Abatan
Fashion Assistants Brandon Yamada, Ahlaam Osman
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From the streets of Guadalajara to the grandest stages across the globe, Peso Pluma’s whole life has changed. Covering Wonderland’s Winter 24 issue, he talks the oscillation of fame, the growth of his sound, and the magnitude of his ambitions.
Accompanied by an entourage of Stone Island-sporting cronies, Peso Pluma enters a cold, dilapidated warehouse in Hackney Central to find a large team of creatives awaiting his ever-so-slight tardiness—London traffic, ay? The 25-year-old, head-to-toe in black and puffing instinctively on a vape, carries himself subtly. He’s slight in frame, sculpted, expressionless, a set of curious brown eyes lurking behind designer shades.
It’s a big week for Mexican music’s new talisman. He’s in East London for his Wonderland shoot—the impetus for such a comprehensive congregation at a location fit only for a squat rave or hiding an A-lister from public attention. Days later, he will travel north to the city of Manchester, where he will attend, perform, and consequently triumph at the annual music awards, MTV EMAs. Peso will be granted the honours for Best Latin, and shall also sing, alongside his friend and featured artist Estevan Plazola, “HOLLYWOOD”, a standout single from his latest and fourth album, ÉXODO. “I’m proud to be the first Mexican to play the awards of that importance,” Peso says as we settle down in our makeshift interview arena; a kitchen moonlighting as a dressing-room and grooming station. “It’s a whole thing, that’s why I flew my band just to play Corridos for the first time here.”
The collection of musicians in question have been steadfast throughout Peso’s rise, and has only grown in number through his tenure; what started as three members has now expanded to nine. When on stage for the performance, the nonagon of instrumentalists (consisting of a trumpeter, multiple guitarists, a double bass player and more) assemble in a quarter crescent, split down the middle with Peso standing equidistantly front and centre. “So many memories, achievements I’ve lived through,” he sings in passionate rasps of his mother tongue to an awestruck arena. The limelight is fixated on him as if preordained—fitting for a man of devout faith, who is “happy with whatever blessing that God sends us.”
And today is a day of many blessings. Shortly after our conclusion ends the Grammy Awards nominations are due to be announced. Peso Pluma is occupied with acting debonair on camera, but team Wonderland have the live-stream playing, and with good reason: ÉXODO is nominated for Best Música Mexicana Album. It’s his second nod in the category in consecutive years, having been nominated for and winning the coveted prize in 2023 for his breakout third album, GÉNESIS. The album’s title is apropos for a work that sees Peso fully realising his role as the apexian protagonist in the Corridos revolution—a new horizon for a musical breeding ground that once lurked beneath the wider Latin shrubbery.
The traditional Mexican genre—formed of narrative-led balladry that documents realism, romance and history atop symphonies of classical guitar, strings and horns—has generally been swept under the rug of the global mainstream throughout modern popular music. Its old fashioned and uncompromising approach was deemed outdated by the masses, with criticisms lingering about its romanticism of narco culture within the style’s sub-strand, Narcocorridos. But the sound has been refocused and revitalised over the past few years, snowballing in pedigree and reaching more ears than ever. Peso Pluma ’s music has proven a bridge between the prototypical and the contemporary; both a pastiche of its lineage and a mission statement of its metamorphosis. “It’s a very unique taste and a unique way to explore music,” he explains of the genre, one which he spent his childhood immersed within, as well as obtaining a curiosity for US Rap. “What we talk about and sing about is real shit. It’s what’s happening in our country right now. It’s how we grew [up], it’s how we see things. In the past year or two, the style of Corridos has taken an evolution. And from that evolution, different angles and different niches of Corridos were born. I’m just happy to see how we’re part of its history.”
“I know who really treats me like a product, and who really treats me like Hassan”
Peso Pluma
It must be difficult for Peso Pluma to comprehend the totality of what he has accomplished in a strikingly short space of time—he’s only been making music seriously for a few years, after all. He’s a man of firsts; whether the aforementioned EMAs achievement, or being the inaugural Mexican to enter the Top 10 on the Billboard Hot 100 with “Ella Baila Sola” alongside Californian collective Eslabon Armado. He labels the March 2023-released cut that reached the number one spot on Spotify Global’s Top 50 and “became a whole sensation, a new experience for people,” as the moment he knew that his vision could translate onto the international stage. Peso is also the first Mexican artist to shift visual representation around the country’s musicians, with his image proving influential. His haircuts—from his former idiosyncratic take on the mullet to a new, crisper curtains-like form—have been trendsetting among his fans. His fashion style too has gained many admirers; modern, original and luxury-driven, he dresses more like a US rapper than a Mexican traditionalist, furthering the engaging dichotomy of his appeal. “I wanted to do something different from what was happening in Mexican music,” he offers. “The stereotype was there for a very long time, the sombreros and the leather boots. Everyone dressed like a fucking cowboy and we’re in the 2020s, like, ‘Bro, you have money already.’ Me, I just always wanted to be myself.”
For a cultural titan and a new-age Rockstar, Peso Pluma is quite an understated individual. “I always just did music because I love it, and I still do,” he says with quiet sincerity. “I don’t do it for the money, I never did it for the fame.” Born Hassan Emilio Kabande Laija in Jalisco, Mexico, as a youth Peso’s focus was always on “wanting to be the best in everything” he does. When he was in his mid-teens, Peso moved to and was schooled in San Antonio in Texas for two years, an experience that shaped his disposition and his desire to make his vision a reality rather than idealising opaque ambitions. “It was part of growing up,” he shrugs in recollection of his time in the States. “It was part of becoming an adult. Having that barrier of not being in my country with my family was something that really got me to chase whatever I wanted. I [have known] since then that if I wanted to chase my dreams, no one was going to help me. Not because they weren’t supportive, but [I realised] that nobody can do it for me. I knew I was going to have to sacrifice a lot of things, and that’s what I did.”
To read Peso Pluma’s full interview, pre-order Wonderland’s Winter 24 issue now.
Photography by Ciesay San
Styling by Anastasia Walker
Words by Ben Tibbits
Grooming by Sandra Hahnel at Caren using Clé de Peau Beauté
Photography Assistants James McNaught, Fola Abatan
Fashion Assistants Brandon Yamada, Ahlaam Osman
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