No nos pueden deportar a todos

The self-described "Tamale Kingpin," rapper/performance artist Chingo Bling, goes political in his new music "bideo." In perhaps the most succinct and brilliant argument regarding immigration and inevitable browning of America, Chingo matter-of-factly states: "you can't deport us all."

The fact that he's wearing Nike swooshed ostrich cowboy boots while referencing Kanye West's live TV indictment against George Bush, detailing the little known fact that Mexicans are the ones cleaning up after Katrina, and adding a tender homage to fallen Tejano star Selena only layers the powerful message of the video. Take that Tom Tancredo.

Words fail me when I try and accurately describe and convey the genius of Chingo. The knowing self-parody. The signifiers. The "Air Chingo" thong panties. So I won't try. Spend a few minutes, instead, clicking about his website. Youtube his "bideos." And to get to the origins of Chingo, revisit this article by M. Solis and the beginning of the creation myth. Here's the opening two paragraphs, click here to read the rest of the entertaining and informative report:

Who is Chingo Bling? Nuevo Tamalero, indie-rap superstar, Trinity University dropout DJ Biz, or Pedro Herrera? Actually, Chingo is all of the above and a lot more. His shtick and charisma owe an equal debt to Guillermo Goméz-Peña, Kool Keith, El Vez, Humpty Hump, and Xerox, crossed with some of Weird Al Yankovic's sense of pop-culture parody.

A native Texan known to his parents as Pedro Herrera, Chingo's immediate family - like his public persona - originates from the North Tamaulipas part of Mexico. After a prep-school stint in Philly, he arrived in San Antonio and copped a radio show at Trinity's KRTU. That's where the character Chingo Bling was born. Local DJ Donnie D recalls an evening in 2001 when he first met Chingo, then known as DJ Biz, in the studios of KRTU. "We had just met and were all vibing, and all of a sudden he flipped out and did this voice and it was Chingo Bling." That voice, somewhere between B-Real's exaggerated nasal tone, Tony Montana's fierce growl, and your cousin Pepe's accent, is one of the things that makes Chingo hard to swallow for hip-hop purists and most of San Anto's Spanish-impaired MCs.

Press play and be dazzled...