Fuerza Regida is flying high. Bandleader JOP wants Mexican music to soar

If there is anyone who believes in the power of manifestation, it is Fuerza Regida frontman Jesús Ortiz Paz. “I  always knew I was gonna do it,” he said in November, on the eve of the 2025 Latin Grammy Awards in Las Vegas.

What “it” is has become clearer in the last year for the 28-year-old vocalist, also known by fans as “JOP,” who has led his band to top multiple Billboard charts and helped propel the Mexican corrido tradition. We met in a cozy bar at the Crockfords, one of the swankiest luxury hotels on the north end of the Las Vegas Strip. Just minutes before our interview, a hotel staffer came by to shake JOP’s hand, as if the two had known each other for years.

“A brother from another mother,” the hotel staffer told JOP, who flashed a grin glittering with tooth gems. Dressed in a modest white tee and basketball shorts, the música mexicana star’s outfit that day was a far cry from the oversized streetwear and diamond-encrusted jewelry he usually dons in public.

The following night at the Latin Grammys, during Fuerza Regida’s performance of “Marlboro Rojo” at the MGM Grand Garden Arena, the internet quickly clocked the price tag still affixed to JOP’s jacket — prompting an endless scroll of jokes on social media. Rather than shrink in embarrassment, the singer poked fun at himself on his Instagram story with a caption that read: “Estaba en especial”/”It was on sale.”

Since then, JOP has continued to leave retail tags on clothes in various social media posts. If anyone is going to make the most of a situation, it’s going to be him.

Fuerza Regida has come a long way since it first went viral in 2018 for the song “Radicamos en South Central,” a rugged corrido tumbado that tells the story of how a kingpin’s empire was built brick by brick.

The San Bernardino band is a pioneer of the subgenre, which blends the traditional instrumentation of Mexican folk balladry with elements of American trap music, namely its beats and the gritty lyrical content that deals with matters of moving contraband, turf wars and endless hustle. Corridos tumbados embody the biculturalism experienced by Mexican Americans, fusing lo de aquí with lo de allá.

Thanks to its street-wise sound and ethos, Fuerza Regida has helped pave the way for a new generation to rise up within música mexicana. Luminate, a data analysis company, credited the growth of Latin music in 2024 to the surge of regional Mexican music; Fuerza Regida, Peso Pluma and Junior H were some of the most-streamed Latin artists in the U.S. that year, alongside reggaeton singer Bad Bunny.

In 2025, the band’s groundbreaking ninth studio album, “111Xpantia,” elevated it to new levels of global stardom. The 12-track project leaned heavily into genre-specific instruments like the tololoche and charcheta for its foundation while still managing to be experimental and ambitious — opener “Godfather” samples Nino Rota’s “Love Theme From ‘The Godfather’” from the iconic film.

The LP (the title is inspired by the Nahuatl word for manifestations, “ixpantia”) debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 chart and became the highest-charting Spanish-language album by a group or duo. Tracks like the hypnotic “Tu Sancho” and the gritty “Marlboro Rojo” topped the Mexican Billboard chart, with the latter earning the No. 1 spot on the Hot Latin Songs list.

“111Xpantia” landed just one spot below Bad Bunny’s chart-topping record, “Debí Tirar Más Fotos,” the first time ever that two Spanish-language albums have occupied the top two spots on the Billboard 200 chart at the same time.

This also kicked off a series of firsts for the band, which made its TV debut last year, including appearances on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” and “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.” By the end of 2025, Fuerza would wind up No. 10 on Spotify’s global top artist list.

(Ian Spanier/For The Times)

“My feet left the ground,” said JOP of the band’s groundbreaking past year and finding a new level of normalcy. “Now, my feet are on the ground and I’m chilling.”

Despite its mainstream success in both Mexico and the U.S. — and making various end-of-year best of lists — “111Xpantia” received zero nominations at the 2025 Latin Grammys and the upcoming Grammy Awards, which will take place Feb. 1 at downtown L.A.’s Crypto.com Arena.

“ I don’t get how that album didn’t get nominated,” JOP says. “But I respect their decision. Next time.”

There have long been widespread concerns regarding the music industry’s investment in música mexicana despite its decades-long track record of being a commercially competitive genre in the United States. Since the inaugural Latin Grammy Awards in 2000, critics and academics have lambasted the Latin Recording Academy, and the industry at large, for excluding popular acts like Los Tigres del Norte from contention in general categories — in comparison to the outpouring of support for mainstream pop stars such as Puerto Rican hitmaker Ricky Martin and Cuban queen Gloria Estefan.

Times contributor Justino Aguila voiced similar concerns about the marginalizing of Mexicans at the 2019 Grammy Awards: “It was surprising that the Grammys telecast didn’t include one regional Mexican artist, considering that Mexicans are the second-largest racial or ethnic group in the U.S. at about 36 million,” he wrote at the time.

Yet there have been recent efforts to diversify the Grammy electorate. In early November, the Recording Academy welcomed Latin Grammy voting members to its 2025 member class, effectively introducing more voters for Grammy Awards to come.

“We just need more Mexicans [in these institutions], that’s it,” said JOP, offering up solutions to both the Recording Academy and the Latin Recording Academy. “Little by little, I’ve been seeing more Mexicans everywhere, we’re getting in there.”

At the time of our interview, the band was up for its first Latin Grammy nomination under the regional song category for “Me Jalo,” a collaboration with Texan band Grupo Frontera, which took the TikTok world by storm. (The song would later lose to Los Tigres del Norte, who won for the song “La Lotería.”)

Mexican singer Jesus Ortiz Paz of Fuerza Regida performs onstage during the 26th Annual Latin Grammy Awards at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada on November 13, 2025. (Photo by VALERIE MACON / AFP) / RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE (Photo by VALERIE MACON/AFP via Getty Images)

(VALERIE MACON/AFP via Getty Images)

In February, both Fuerza Regida and Grupo Frontera will contend for their first Grammy Award in the música mexicana album category, for their joint 2024 EP, “Mala Mía.”

“ I was like, ‘Finally!’ said JOP. Fuerza Regida has claimed that its previous studio album, 2024’s “Pero No Te Enamores,” was sidelined by its label Rancho Humilde ahead of last year’s Latin Grammys.

Although Fuerza Regida still releases music under the imprint, the band is in the thick of a legal battle with Rancho Humilde — an independent record company led by music mogul Jimmy Humilde, who signed the group in 2018.

In September, Rancho Humilde filed a lawsuit against Fuerza Regida, alleging breaches of contract for unilaterally collaborating with artists outside the label (such as Chino Pacas and Drake) and signing exclusive live performance deals with Apple Music and Live Nation.

Fuerza Regida countersued, alleging that Rancho Humilde withheld millions in royalties and attempted to “sabotage” the band’s success, including by neglecting to submit its music for consideration ahead of the 2024 Latin Grammys. The legal tussle is working its way through federal court.

A request for comment sent to Rancho Humilde through its attorneys was not returned as of publication.

“People have done so much stuff to me, record labels and a lot of things like that, that it don’t faze me no more,” JOP said. “I just keep moving and onto the next, you know, and we’re gonna figure it out.”

Since 2019, JOP has been building up his own label, Street Mob Records, with the intent to support rising talent in música mexicana — including the Salinas, Calif., band Clave Especial. The players fondly recalled JOP’s rigor in the studio; one night he stayed up until 4 a.m. with the trio to help configure the beats on their latest record, “Mija No Te Asustes.”

“It’s like working with somebody with that same ambition,” said lead singer Alex Ahumada. “[It’s] like [a] loquera, that’s how I like to call it.”

JOP prides himself in teaching his artists the ins and outs of the music industry, including negotiation skills he wishes he’d learned at the start of his career. He’s advised the artists on Street Mob’s roster — Chino Pacas, Armenta, Chuyin and others — to view their time under the label as akin to a college education.

“You’re gonna be here for a certain amount of years, you’re gonna learn and then you can leave if you want,” explained JOP. “ I went through certain times in my career where like I was trying to learn and it was just like, daban la pata,” he recalled, as if to say people in the industry were just pulling his leg. “And they don’t show you s—.”

Throughout our interview, JOP stressed loyalty. He is almost always surrounded by his bandmates — requinto guitarist Samuel Jaimez, guitarron player Khrystian Ramos, tubist José Garcia and tololoche player Moises Lopez — but there are also other recurring characters who populate his wondrous rock star existence.

Often by his side is Cristian “Toro” Primera, chief operations officer at Street Mob Records, who used to lend JOP music equipment at the start of his career; and never far from the star is Jesus “Mosca” Amezcua, his manager and cousin, who fondly recalls playing soccer together when they were younger.

JOP is often flanked by bodyguard Mario Rogelio, who once got his foot run over by a car while protecting the band in New York City. His other bodyguard, Samuel “Rhino” Galindo, is a giant who loves to chat about his favorite Westwood cookie shop (Psst — it’s Diddy Riese).

(Ian Spanier/For The Times)

Protecting the famed band is a tough gig, though. In 2023, one of Fuerza Regida’s guards died from a firearm-related injury while in a vehicle in Veracruz, Mexico. The band offered their condolences at the time of the incident: “We want to send our most sincere condolences to the family of our security detail of Mexico, Mr. Morales, thank you for everything that you’ve done for the team, you will be missed,” the statement read.

Beyond all the drama, intrigue and financial complications of being a band, Fuerza Regida is still rising in the music industry — and reinvigorating cultural pride among many Mexican Americans. The group’s ascent is especially remarkable in a time when the Supreme Court has allowed the Department of Homeland Security to factor in race, language (Spanish), accent and job type when conducting immigration sweeps that have been targeting Latinos across the U.S. In some cases, federal agents have brutally targeted U.S. citizens of Latino descent who have asserted their legal status.

“ I think the genre itself, the Mexican music genre really helped Mexicans be cool,” said JOP — who used to bump songs by Chalino and Adán Sánchez on his way to school in San Bernardino, but then lower the volume as he got closer to campus. Most of his classmates, himself included, preferred to listen to hip-hop back then. “Now [people] are bumping Mexican music, they don’t even know Spanish.”

JOP spends most of his time throughout the day being filmed by a member of his team. With a personal YouTube channel that counts over 1 million followers, the singer is searching for the sweet spot between the music industry and the influencer economy, the latter of which is worth $250 billion and counting, according to a 2023 report by Goldman Sachs.

It’s a desirable business to break into, but JOP says his round-the-clock filming has a simpler origin.

“When I was young, my mom never recorded me, so I don’t got no recordings,” he said. He’s the only child of a mother who struggled with infertility; when she was pregnant with him, she prayed for his survival, promising to name him after Jesus Christ. “[I’m a] miracle baby, that’s why we blessed,” he said with a smile.

JOP said his mom had long hoped he would go to college. Yet after he graduated from Arroyo Valley High School in 2015, his main focus became pursuing music.

“I told her, when the leaves fall, I’ll be in college,” he said. “She told me one day: ‘The leaf fell [and] I don’t see you in college.’”

In December, JOP would get a taste of the scholarly life when Fuerza Regida headed to Harvard University to accept the Harvard-Radcliffe RAZA Trailblazer Award from a student organization for their advancement of Mexican music. Although it was not related to an honorary degree, the band members were each gifted caps and gowns to wear.

“There you go, a Harvard graduate,” JOP jokingly told The Times.

In an entertainment industry that rewards cheap gimmicks and surface-level solidarity with marginalized people, JOP’s cutting realness is a cornerstone of his identity as an artist. For many, he represents an underdog spirit inherent to working-class communities.

(Ian Spanier/For The Times)

When the wildfires ripped through Southern California last January, Fuerza Regida rented a hotel to house families who were displaced. Then amid the ICE raids in the summer, the band donated merchandise profits to organizations such as the Immigrant Defenders Law Center, which covers legal fees for affected individuals. In the fall, Fuerza Regida and Street Mob Records awarded four full scholarships for Cal State San Bernardino students and provided free meals to Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) beneficiaries when the government shutdown delayed the distribution of benefits.

By the end of 2025, its members launched the Fuerza Music Foundation in an effort to build lasting social change in immigrant communities. “Before [we] ever got nominated [for any award], I think we’ve been nominated by the community, by the hood,” said JOP.

The language of manifesting your dreams into reality might sound nonsensical or contrived, but to JOP, his magical thinking became his saving grace.

“My dad [would always say] ‘Get to work,’” recalled JOP. “My mom [would say] ‘Mijo, go to college, [or] you’re just going to be singing to drunks.’

“And now, I do sing to borrachos,” he added. “Seventy-thousand of those motherf—.”