The Argentine rapper Thunder once again placed national urban music in one of the most important showcases on American television by debuting on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. The presentation took place in the NBC studio in New York and functioned as the international letter of introduction of “TURR4ZO“, the fourth album by the artist born in La Boca. The driver Jimmy Fallon He introduced it by holding the vinyl of the album and announcing that he would perform the main theme of the new work.
The staging was marked by a dark and minimalist aesthetic. In the same scenario where they were Ca7riel and Paco Amoroso, Trueno appeared dressed completely in black, accompanied by a band made up of Argentine musicians such as Leo Genovese, Pedro Pasquale, Nico Taranto and Nacho Mateu. The show started with a sampler of “Take a step”one of the most emblematic themes of The Wachiturros, in what was quickly interpreted as a direct tribute to that formation that marked the popular culture that emerged in the suburbs of the early 2000s. On that sound basis, the rapper developed his interpretation of “TURR4ZO”, mixing rap, hip hop, trap and references to Argentine neighborhood culture.
The performance also had several hints of a strong Argentine identity. Trueno danced on stage with movements inspired by the so-called “turra” aesthetic and closed the performance by showing on his back a phrase that reformulated the famous message left by the perpetrators of the robbery of the Río de Acassuso Bank in 2006. The inscription said: “In the industry of rich people without weapons or grudges, it is only money and love.” The gesture was read as a combination of social irony, neighborhood demand and artistic statement within the international music industry.
The most commented moment on social networks, however, was the use of the “Tirate un paso” sample, because it connected millions of viewers with a very particular phenomenon of national pop culture: Los Wachiturros. The band emerged in the Buenos Aires district of Morón and was created by the producer and representative Simón “La Torre” Gaete. The group was made up of young people from popular neighborhoods in the Buenos Aires suburbs and combined cumbia with influences from reggaeton, electronic music and the street aesthetic that was beginning to prevail among teenagers at that time. His name mixed the term “wachín”, used in Argentine urban slang to refer to a young boy, with “turro”, a word associated with the town and neighborhood culture.
The Wachiturros quickly became a massive phenomenon thanks to catchy songs, simple choreography and an easily recognizable image: flat-brimmed caps, tight pants, sneakers and extravagant haircuts. His style was directly linked to “urban cumbia”, a variant of cumbia villera that incorporated elements of reggaetón and dance pop. The group achieved enormous popularity with songs like “Tirate un paso”, “I am single”, “La wachiturra” and “I am falling in love”. In a few months they went from performing in neighborhood clubs to appearing on television shows, international tours and massive festivals in different Latin American countries.
The phenomenon had an enormous impact between 2011 and 2013. During that period, Los Wachiturros dominated parties, discos and youth television programs, becoming a symbol of an era marked by the rise of electronic cumbia and urban adolescent tribes.
However, the impact was relatively short-lived. Media saturation, internal conflicts and changes in musical trends caused a rapid decline in popularity. Towards the middle of the decade, the group had lost centrality in the Argentine music scene, although several of its songs were established as popular classics and inevitable references of the urban culture of those years.
Precisely for this reason, Trueno’s tribute had a strong symbolic charge. The rapper not only brought his music to one of the most influential programs in the United States, but also claimed an aesthetic and a sound that for years was considered marginal or associated only with popular entertainment. By using the “Tirate un paso” sample in front of a global audience, Trueno made Los Wachiturros part of a broader story about the cultural identity of Buenos Aires neighborhoods and the evolution of national urban music.
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