Ernesto "El Chapo" Pérez may be small in stature, but he's quickly become one of the biggest stars in the Mexican regional music scene.

Born in Badirahuato, Sinaloa – reportedly an important hub for narcotráfico – El Chapo first broke through with the narcocorridos Quisieron Tumbar al Jefe (They Wanted to Take Out the Boss), La Tienda Surtida (Well-stocked Store) and La Mafia Del Sinaloense. Not one to shy away from controversy, Pérez shrugged off warnings that singing about the drug trade could be dangerous for his health: "Artists shouldn't be worried about it, because it's not our job to say who works as a narco, who's a delinquent or who does good."

A notorious ladies' man, El Chapo hit the mainstream with Sinaloense love jams like Tu, Yo y la Luna (You, Me and the Moon) and Recostada En La Cama (Lying Down in Bed). His latest album, Mis Rancheras Consentidas, features El Paletero, a flirty single in which El Chapo taunts: "Don't say you don't like me if you haven't had a taste." Pérez, instantly recognizable with his black hat and thick black moustache, often performs on horseback, earning him the title 'El Numero Uno Del Jaripeo.'"

Like many artists on both sides of the border, Pérez has turned his street cred into Grammys by winning over the toughest critics: the ladies.

See: myspace.com/elchapomyspaceoficial

K-Paz de la Sierra

The discovery of Jose Luis Aquino's lifeless body last Wednesday marked the end of a bloody week in México. The trumpet player for Los Conde had been bound and badly beaten, his head covered with a plastic bag. Aquino was the third regional music star murdered last week.

Zayda Peña, the 28-year-old leader of Zayda y Los Culpables, was killed in Matamoros, Tamaulipas. Known as "La Dama del Sentimiento," Peña was shot in the back and survived only to be shot again – this time, mortally – while recovering in a hospital room.

Hours later that same day, Sergio Gómez of duranguense band K-Paz de la Sierra, was kidnapped in Morelia, Michoacán. He was later found tortured and strangled to death.

The three killings come a little over a year after banda singer Valentín Elizalde, "El Gallo de Oro," was shot to death leaving a concert hall in Reynosa, Tamaulipas. The motives for all four murders have not been confirmed, but some speculate that at least two are the handiwork of drug cartels.

But unlike Elizalde, last week's victims did not perform narcocorridos, but up-tempo romantic songs, prompting Mexican authorities to speculate that organized crime is now targeting mainstream acts. Political analyst Sergio Sarmiento sees a trend: "The murdered artists are no different than the rest of the victims of crime in our country...Their deaths however, have the advantage of getting the people's attention."

This year, over one thousand men, women and children have been murdered in México by crime syndicates involved in drug trafficking, according to Mexican law enforcement officials.

At only 23 years old, cousins Gabriel and Nano Berrelleza, aka Los Cuates De Sinaloa, are revitalizing the Mexican regional genre with their fast, agressive take on Sierreño (Mountain) music.

Their bare-bones set up of two acoustic guitars and a bass – a style appropriately nicknamed "guitarras" – packs a punch, producing live jams that rival those of Prince or Garth Brooks. Onstage, the Cuates are for reals with a play-every-note-as-if-it-was-your-last cowpunk attitude that is introducing the genre to a new generation of fans, much as Los Tigres Del Norte did for their audience in the '70s.

Perhaps it's no coincidence that Gabriel and Nano Berrelleza's personal history mirrors that of many Mexican immigrants. After getting la bendición to head north from their mothers left La Vainilla, Sinaloa at age 14 in search of gigs. They first settled in Phoenix, Arizona, where they paid their musical dues in relative obscurity while working odd jobs. The cousins soon hit the indie circuit, touring and gigging for five years before signing a deal with Sony Music and releasing their major label debut in 2006.

Their second album with Sony, Puro Sierreño Bravo (which could be loosely translated as "hard, o.g. Sierreño") has proved controversial with some of the most provocative narcocorridos in recent history. The album's lead single, El Carril Numero 3 ("border gate number three"), tells the tale of a highway lane popular with drug traffickers in an unnamed border city in northern Mexico:

Once again, it's obvious
Money is power
This is how a Mexican
Buys off Whitey
Even though he's "the most wanted"
He's still able to come and go as he pleases

The CIA arranged
For his special "papers"
That's how border gate number three
Is now his designated lane
All so he can cross when he likes
just to go shopping.

In "true gangsta" style, Los Cuates have even boasted about performing at lavish parties for drug bosses in the Sinaloa mountain range. Their bravado is not without its detractors – even Mario Quintero of Los Tucanes de Tijuana once warned the duo: "it's better to keep some things to yourselves."

The duo's defense is likewise familiar: Los Cuates claim they're only singing about the world they see around them. Los Cuates mean to "keep it real."

Last November, the popular Mexican banda music singer Valentín Elizalde, his manager and their driver were shot to death in an ambush as they exited a concert. Rumors, some official, hold that Elizalde was killed in retaliation for the lyrics in one of his narcocorrido songs, “A mis enemigos” (To my enemies). (The key to this theory is a video posted on YouTube, where videos of the crime scene and the singer's autopsy have also been posted.)

The violent episode is reminiscent of the death of banda singer Chalino Sánchez in 1992, who, after being gunned down in Culiacán, Sinaloa, became a folk hero. Over 25,000 mourners were said to have attended the 27 year-old Elizalde's burial last month in the town of Gusave, Sinaloa (population 277,402).

Universal Music has just announced Elizalde’s swan song, Lobo Domesticado (Domesticated Wolf), an album of songs recorded just prior to his death. The album will be released on Valentine's Day, February 14th, and includes songs written for him by Juan Gabriel and Joan Sebastian.