Adan Zapata

Born in 1990, Mexican rapper Adán Zapata had already spent time as a skater before turning to music. He entered Mente en Blanco in 2006 and helped shape the group’s first album, Anticuados, a set that ran to more than fifty tracks; Zapata Producciones appeared the following year. His style combined brash, intricate rhymes with unfiltered lyrics, yielding tracks that were often severe and hardcore yet occasionally gave way to gentle love songs. Once additional members joined, the collective toured Mexico extensively and built a strong following. Borrachos y Grifos, the third album, surfaced in 2010, and The North Side Kings arrived in 2011. On June 1, 2012—the day after his son’s birth—Zapata and three fellow members were shot dead by gang assailants, cutting his life short at twenty-one. The group’s last project, Soy de Barrio, was issued posthumously later that year, and digital compilations of his recordings have appeared since.