Benji V says that in Sinaloa, the Mexican state where he grew up, it's commonplace for cartels to contact corrido singers to ask them to write songs for them. Most drug traffickers want songs that narrate their exploits, their “achievements,” and the battles they’ve won in the violent world of drug trafficking. This artist seems to have been no exception, and although he avoids giving details about whether organized crime has ever contacted him, he’s clear that this isn’t the path he wants to follow. First, because the Mexican government has, for some years now, punished artists who praise the criminal activities of the cartels, and second, because he wants to protect his image to focus more on the issues that young people like him talk about and experience. “Things are very bad [in Mexico], well,” he said. “Right now we’re very careful about what we post [on social media].”

An example of what he has personally experienced is captured in “The Sky Is the Limit,” a seven-song EP he just released, dedicated to his friend Adan Acxel Millan Sarabia, a 17-year-old who was part of his team and was murdered in Culiacan, Sinaloa, a few years ago.

“We still remember the old man,” said Benji.

He was not only one of Benji’s main songwriters, but he also aspired to become a singer. Benji, 26, says his friend was in the wrong place at the wrong time.

“He thought it was easy to go partying and not realize the situation, how things really are,” he said. “One day he turned up shot.”

One of the songs Benji and Adan wrote together is “Pa aclara” (To Clarify), a single whose video Benji filmed in 2024 and which is included on the new EP. In addition to this track, there are others that Adan finished and that the interviewed singer plans to include on his next album, which is already in production.

But right now he's promoting “Miss Universo” (Miss Universe), a song about an intense attraction between the protagonist and an attractive girl. Besides this track, there are others on “El cielo es el limite” (The Sky Is the Limit) with collaborations from artists like Marca MP, Hans El Oso, and Ivan Orozco.Benji, who lives in the Mexican city of Puebla, plans to spend the Christmas holidays in Culiacan, where his family lives. He will then return to Puebla to resume his budding career and continue recording his new album. He also hopes to book many dates because he dreams of doing extensive tours. He already wrote all of this in a letter to Santa Claus.