All the shades of MARIACHI FUNK: Kobe Mane made Mexican Phonk to “Face the Devil”

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All the shades of MARIACHI FUNK: Kobe Mane made Mexican Phonk to “Face the Devil”

63%Overall Score


• Too short! Too short!
• Loved how Kobe Mane avoided tropes and followed the original outline
• Trumpets are “free to breathe”


Generally, easy formulas are hard to praise especially when it comes to Phonk, where I have observed artists picking up literally everything from Beethoven to Rihanna, slapping a Phonk bassline and calling it a day. Not “MARIACHI FUNK” though, which is a great way to know Kobe Mane.

Well, his idea is straightforward given the title: Mariachi melodies with usual Mexican instruments, and a Phonk layout underneath. Super effective! This is not the first venture for the Mexican creator, who acquired some notoriety with the similarly styled “Mexicano ALV” and “El Rey“, to name a few. The trumpets, guitars, and guitarróns: altogether formed a warm and welcoming ensemble that when listening in an EDM context, introduced me to a world I wasn’t familiar with yet (except when watching the Pixar movie “Coco“).

Kobe Mane showcases an impressive vibrancy and set of percussions that kicks hard immediately, a sturdy bassline that tries to step up from the cliches of this genre but rather adheres to the original melody.

The original take is quite laudable, and also the idea of not using a generic Phonk loop and letting the trumpets “breathe”. The extremely short duration (93 seconds), however, kind of ruined my experience by making the song stop too soon. This is clearly more for the new market of TikTok & Reels, where the songs need to be short and grabby; but for a reviewer, it’s hard to draw conclusions after such a short period of time. A second half would be needed. At least you can already find a “sped up” or “slowed down” version, ready to be deployed in TikToks and similar short videos.

Great endeavor, I prefer how Kobe Mane has a creative idea of bringing Phonk to his audience, albeit “MARIACHI FUNK” remains a quick, easy-to-grasp release that could have more minutes and elements to remain longer in my memory.

You can listen to “MARIACHI FUNK” here: