Singer and writer Jorge Santa Cruz, along with his group Quinto Elemento, were among a wave of new Mexican musicians to expand, update, and reimagine the corrido style in the first decade of the new century. Santa Cruz's lyrics touched on the drug-related violence that flooded his home state of Sinaloa, and often featured real people and characters, and while Santa Cruz and his band also featured more traditional-sounding corrido pieces, rancheras, and romantic ballads, his biggest hits like “Mas Que Una Diosa,” “Secuestro Express,” and “Gerencia MZ” were in the new corrido style. The group’s much-anticipated album, La Supremacía, arrived in 2011. ~ Steve Leggett