Los Tigres del Norte “Pacas de a Kilo (One-Kilo Packets)” (1993)

Label: Fonovisa

Most loco lyric: "Muy pegadito a la sierra tengo un rancho ganadero/Ganado sin garrapatas que llevo pa’l extranjero/Qué chulas se ven mis vacas con colitas de borrego."

Translation: "Right by the mountains I have a livestock ranch/Livestock without ticks, that I ship abroad/How nice my cows look with their little ram’s tails." [Ed. Note—"Ram’s tails” suggests clumped, drying marijuana stalks.]

When the Tigres asked Teodoro Bello, one of Mexico’s most successful songwriters, to invent a new kind of narcocorrido, his response was this intricately coded lyric, sung in the first person by a shadowy drug lord. It became a huge hit as listeners argued about its hidden meanings, such as a line saying the trafficker received “shade from the pines,” perhaps a reference to protection from the resident of Los Pinos, Mexico’s presidential mansion.