Ceci Bastida Featuring Rye Rye, “Have You Heard?”

by Blanca Mendez

You may not have heard of Los Angeles-based pop singer Ceci Bastida, but she has been in the game since the age of 15, when she joined ska punk band Tijuana No!, which early on included pop star Julieta Venegas. Bastida later left Tijuana No! to form part of Venegas’ band, and now she’s making it on her own. Last year, she joined Venegas for a U.S. tour and was nominated for a Latin Grammy for “Cuando Vuelvas a Caer,” from her debut solo album. This week she released one of her more socio-politically minded songs, “Have You Heard?”

The video follows a boy at a birthday party at which we get a glimpse of the family business. At first I was getting flashbacks to hate-watching the incredibly racist season of Weeds in which Nancy gets involved with a Mexican mayor/drug cartel leader and then (spoiler) eventually Kate del Castillo ends up floating face down in a pool. But I think it helped that this video is from the point of view of a child and focuses on the sense of family created by the shared business. The kid stares you down at the beginning to let you know that he knows what’s up. He might seem like just an innocent kid, but the family business is all he knows. So when you see the different generations of men in cowboy hats chuckling around tables and sneaking off into private rooms with briefcases, you know that drug trafficking is the boy’s predetermined trade and a fate he cannot escape. He even gets a gun for his birthday from his dad, because of course that’s what you get your 10-year-old son when you’re a drug dealer. Also, the dad looks like the bassist from Kinky, which is giving me all sorts of mixed feelings.

Bastida takes this upbeat pop song and turns it into a political statement about drug trafficking and how the battle between drug cartels and the Mexican government has turned Mexico into a war zone. There’s a childlike, sing-songy quality about the Rye Rye chorus — almost like a jump rope rhyme — that, paired with the subject matter, gives the song an eerie cadence. I know we’ve been waiting forever for Rye Rye to drop that debut album, but as long as she keeps guesting on dope tracks, we can sit tight. In the meantime, check out Ceci Bastida’s Veo La Marea, which is out now.

Blanca Méndez writes about music sometimes.