Santa Fe Klan (real name: Ángel Quezada) was 15 years old when he first got a taste of virality. With his first recordings, such as “El Niño,” “Los De Siempre,” and “Somos de la Calle,” the Guanajato-born artist was able to monetize his music and earn about $10,000 Mexican pesos (about $500) each month.
“As a teenager who recorded his own music, filmed his own music videos, and did his own marketing, having millions of views on a song was a big deal for me,” he tells Billboard. “I didn’t have anything. All I had was YouTube and SoundCloud.”
But his plan was never to upload music on the internet; instead, he wanted to entertain his family and friends at gatherings.
“I began doing hip-hop in the barrio between the age of 12 and 13. My barrio taught me what hip-hop and rap music is. That’s when I began writing my own music,” he says. Overall, he credits his father for instilling a love of music from an early age. “He discovered my talent when I was a little kid. He would buy me a lot of toy instruments and I would play pretend drums with the pots and pans.”
His artistic name is also an ode to his barrio. “At rap battles, my friends and I were known as the clan of Santa Fe — but I’m the only one who continued using the name,” he says. “The word ‘clan’ also represents my fans, my producers, and my entire team.”
Santa Fe Klan
Inspired by artists such as Cartel de Santa, C-Kan, Gera MX, and MC Davo, Santa Fe’s real, ultra-personal, and raw lyricism ultimately landed him collaborations with artists such as Snoop Dogg, Lupillo Rivera, Calibre 50, and Piso 21, spotlighting him as one of Mexico’s biggest rappers. His first entry on Billboard‘s Hot Latin Songs arrived this year in April with “Mar y Tierra,” part of his fifth studio album Mundo. His single, “Asi Soy,” later debuted and peaked at No. 8 on the Latin Digital Song Sales chart dated Aug. 6.
“My songs are emotions and feelings that I write at the moment,” he notes. “Eres” is dedicated to his late mother and “Luka” is a letter to his newborn son, for example. “I’ve been through a lot, through the good and the bad, I’ve done a lot of things and I finally feel that I have found my path. I know where I am standing and where I’m going. Writing for me has been very simple because it’s my truth.”
Below, learn more about this month’s Billboard Latin Artist on the Rise:
Name: Ángel Quezada
Age: 22
Recommended song: “Se Acabo,” because we all have problems right now, but this song is about leaving your pride behind and reconnecting with your loved ones — because life is only one [time].”
Major accomplishment: In 2021, the artist signed his first-ever exclusive agency deal with 33 & West for exclusive representation for the U.S. and Canadian territories. This year, he won the 2022 Premios Juventud award for new generation Regional Mexican. But for Santa Fe, touring the U.S. has been a dream come true in his career.
What’s one thing you’d like us to know about the Mexican rap scene? “Every day we are learning more and more about the industry and every day we have more and more talented artists. There’s a lot of talent in Mexico. We’re all proud of being Mexican and we’re all authentic. On my end, I’m teaching a lot of talented kids from my barrio the different paths to music. This new generation of Mexican artists is learning and growing each day.”
What’s next: “We’re working on a documentary about my life to show fans my reality. I’m working on an album with different genres including banda, corridos, mariachi. There’s a lot of projects coming up, including new music each month.”
