GEORGE PRAJIN: PUNCHING HIS WAY TO THE TOP

For music-biz lifers, it often begins with family. That’s how manager, label boss, attorney, fierce negotiator and música Mexicana champion George Prajin got his start—he was born into it. Working at his family’s retail stores and one-stop in Southern California, Prajin became not only an expert in retail, wholesale and distribution but also an expert in the urban audience. Customers, many of them Latino, who frequented Prajin’s retail stores consistently requested both hip-hop and regional Mexican music.

Two decades later, Prajin launched a label, nearly exited music before spending a considerable amount of time in the MMA world, became an attorney, re-entered the music biz and noticed an uptick in royalties from his work as a publisher and rightsholder. The timing of that royalty increase coincided with the streaming boom ushered in by Spotify and Apple Music.

Through his decades of relationships within the Mexican music community, Prajin eventually met, managed and partnered with Guadalajara-based singer-songwriter Peso Pluma, the most groundbreaking artist to come out of Mexico in this century, just before his meteoric rise.

Prajin guided Pluma (born Hassan Emilio Kabande Laija) through his breakthrough year of 2023, which included all-time streaming records for a Mexican artist as well as a sold-out U.S. tour. With a run of features on such smashes as “Ella Baila Sola,” “La Bebe” and “PRC,” capped by his milestone debut LP, GÉNESIS—which made history as the highest-charting regional Mexican album of all time—Peso Pluma became a household name in both the U.S. and Mexico, leading música Mexicana’s growth across the globe.

Following the launch of Double P Records in partnership with Pluma, Prajin Parlay expanded its management division, label services and studios. Prajin has created one of the most powerful independent operations in the Latin music space, one that encompasses recording, publishing and touring. Along with Pluma, the firm recently signed Mexican acts like Santa Fe Klan, Código FN, Jasiel Nuñez and Los Dareyes de la Sierra.

We caught up with Prajin following a Grammy win for Best Regional Mexican Album and ahead of Team Peso’s campaign for the artist’s sophomore album, ÉXODO, which included a headlining slot at Coachella, an arena tour produced by Live Nation and expanded support from CAA. The veteran sports and music entrepreneur recounts his winding path to becoming a Mexican music mogul, and why fighters and artists want Prajin in their corners.

Let’s start with the family business. What was your upbringing like?

My dad began selling music—specifically Spanish music—around the time I was born. He and my mom would drive into Tijuana and sell music at flea markets. They eventually opened a retail shop in Huntington Park in 1972. His motto was, if he didn’t have it, it didn’t exist.

I grew up in the store. I did everything from cleaning the floors to helping customers, all while learning as much as I could about the different genres, artists, composers—I love the history of music. Even today, I like to show off that I’m an encyclopedia.

How did your time at the shop shape your music and business acumen?

The store cranked. We only had four feet of frontage, so we would put a huge speaker out in front on Pacific Boulevard and blast music to get people’s attention. The music choices became extremely vital to our business—the right song would attract more customers. That was our research. You start evaluating and absorbing that data, you start training your ear to what is commercial. I think that was crucial to my education in identifying a commercial song.

The store gradually turned into wholesale, and we became Prajin 1 Stop. And with that we started a retail chain. At one point we had 26 retail stores in SoCal under Latin Music Warehouse. I ran the retail division, so I would meet a lot of artists—that made us unique. We had access to many indie acts before major distributors. They would come directly to us to sell their cassettes or CDs.

My dad was the first person to sell [corridos legend] Chalino Sánchez cassettes. We had a huge Sinaloa clientele—Broncos Sinaloa, Los Tucanes de Tijuana—these guys came to the store and asked if we would sell their cassettes. The relationships we built with these Mexican artists—our store was like a newsstand to them. They would ask, “What else do you have?” and without even looking just buy a stack of 20 cassettes.

So what was the next step?

Seeing my dad connect Chalino to [regional Mexican labels] Cintas Acuario or Musart, I started thinking, why are we finding these acts, developing their distribution and handing them over to major labels? So I thought we needed to open a label. My dad was against it. He thought, Why would we put up money for these artists? They’re already bringing their music to us; we’re making our distribution fee plus retail markup on their releases.

I wanted to be hands-on on the musical side. So when I was 23, I took a chance and signed a kid that I thought was a good prospect. He agreed to let me produce an album for him, so we hired a band, went into the studio and made an album, all with no distribution, because I was doing it behind my dad’s back. It didn’t end up doing well because I was trying to keep it hush-hush and sell it at the same time. But it did lead me to an amazing artist that I would eventually work with, Jessie Morales. After hearing him in a random studio and learning he was only 14, I set myself on signing him. Luckily, I was able to convince him to sign with me. The kid was so good that I actually did tell my dad about it.

What was his reaction?

Actually, the way I told him was by playing one of the songs we recorded in the store, and six people came up in a matter of 10 minutes to ask who it was. My dad was like, “Who is that?” And I said, “Oh, it’s this new kid.” And he goes, “Wow, that’s going to be a big seller.” I said, “Thank you. I signed him.” And he kind of just smirked, and then he never said anything after that.

The kid ended up having multiple platinum albums. I think he really revolutionized the urban and regional Mexican movement. This was around 1999. We did the first two albums independently through my label Z Records and eventually signed a deal with Univision Music. His first release through them debuted at #1 on the Latin sales chart. He had an impressive run. Seeing firsthand on the retail side that the same customers who bought 2Pac and Biggie would also buy regional Mexican, I always envisioned fusing hip-hop and regional Mexican. We really pushed the limit with Jessie.

It sounds like a foreshadowing of what happened in 2023 with música Mexicana.

We integrated 808s and had extra bass with banda. He ended up with a more urban sound. We even did crazy things like putting “Extreme Bass: Caution” on the album cover, “Explicit Lyrics.” He was on a trajectory to do great things—he performed to half a million people at festivals. But then the music industry at the time started to crater. It became nearly impossible to monetize anything.

How did this impact the family retail operation?

It was sad. Artists that moved hundreds of thousands of units were suddenly moving like 10-15k. I tried to lower prices, but there was no salvation. It was heartbreaking because not only did we have to shut down but we had people that worked for us for many years that we were no longer able to employ.

After that I moved to the desert for a couple of years to take care of my dad, who was sick. Meanwhile, I was always associated with MMA. I used to train and have many friends who are fighters. When I got back to L.A., one of my best friends, Tito Ortiz, essentially became the face of the UFC. He was going through changes in his career and needed someone to help negotiate. I had some background in law and contracts, so I represented him, and he said, “Wow. I have never gotten anything near that amount.” And I was like, “Yeah, this is pretty fun.”

Word spread amongst the fighters that “George is negotiating all these great deals for Tito.” So then I ended up representing some of the top-tier names in the sport—[legendary female MMA fighter Cris] Cyborg, then Alistair [Overeem] and [UFC Hall of Famer] BJ [Penn]. I built really good relationships with the owners of the UFC. I did that from 2008 until around 2020.

Why did you stop?

The entire time I was also representing labels and artists as an attorney. I also never got rid of my catalog. My friend was administering Z Records and started noticing that the minimal money that it normally accrued was beginning to multiply. My law partner also noticed the resurgence of the music biz and suggested I relaunch Z Records. I found myself in the studio every day, wanting to produce and create new music. I realized that I had to give 100% to the music—and so that’s when I stopped representing artists in sports and also started tapering out of providing legal services to other record labels.

The streaming boom brought you back.

At first my idea was to come in and just be like a sub-distributor for a lot of these acts. I partnered with a label, Grand Records, that had a relationship with Junior H—he was our first signing when I came back. That’s a massive, massive signing for your first artist on a new venture.

Everything changed when everyone adopted streaming. It’s still tough to make a profit on streaming—you have to put up numbers in the millions to make money. Fortunately for us, we do billions of streams now.

Independently, no less.

It takes a lot to get to that point, a lot of investment and amazing artists. I’m fortunate to work with Peso Pluma, Tito Double P, Jasiel Nuñez, Dareyes and now Santa Fe Klan and Código FN. And, of course, Peso is a gamechanger. Everything I envisioned, he fulfilled it. He’s always quick to say “Thank you” for what we’ve done for him. But I always tell him “Thank you for making me love music again.” He was the answer to the puzzle I had from the beginning—how do I mix these two genres together? And he answered it overwhelmingly. He always maintained that you don’t try to mix them, you find someone who can do it all. He’s that guy.

So let’s go back to how you met Peso.

It goes back to Jessie Morales—I’ve known him since he was 14. We sort of drifted apart when I took a break from music, but around 2019 he said, “GP, you need to come back—we need you.” He was the one who connected me to Grand and Junior H. Jessie started doing A&R work, and he discovered Peso on Instagram. At that particular moment, we weren’t on the best of terms, so I didn’t take action when he tried to show me Peso.

Peso ended up signing with Jessie’s brother, Herminio Morales, for management. They signed with me on the label side. We worked well together, but in 2022 Herminio got very sick—thank goodness he is okay now, but at the time it was so bad that he had to focus on the battle ahead of him and couldn’t fulfill his obligations as a manager. So Peso signed with me for management as well. I would’ve done anything to help Herminio regardless, but I also saw how different and special Peso was. I remember meeting him for the first time, just a few months before that conversation with Herminio, and he was just hanging in the studio. I thought, he doesn’t look like a regional Mexican singer. But then he started playing guitar, and I quickly realized that he’s super-talented.

When did you first realize Peso Pluma was the truth?

I was focused on doing big productions, with multiple acts collaborating on one big record. We also had two or three artists that were promising, and they were releasing five to seven tracks a month. When Peso turned in his record, me and my engineer made some tweaks, and we ended up with “El Belicón.” That just had a spark—I knew it and felt it. I told everyone, “We’re going all in on Peso Pluma.”

So “El Belicón” was when things changed?

It was more than that. I knew the kid trusted me. With music and in sports, when you put your heart into a project, you just want your team to be loyal and faithful. Sometimes, with athletes and artists, outside players can get into their heads. I knew Peso had 100% faith in me, so I felt really good about this.

What was the strategy to really break through?

We changed the strategy of releases. We stopped trying to focus so much on one big album. Peso became a priority, and we invested in every way. I made it my personal project with him to go out and secure the collabs—that was the strategy, to go global.

I noticed that in the beginning Worms Music was attached to Peso’s releases.

Once Herminio got better, I brought him back in. He is Worms Music.

What ignited Peso’s hot start in 2023? “AMG,” “PRC” and “La Bebe,” were all blowing up simultaneously right before “Ella Baila Sola” dropped.

Peso always wanted to rap, do reggaeton, other genres. I reminded him that our foundation was Mexicana. We had an agreement that for every reggaeton track, we’re going to drop five corridos. Let’s go out there and do everything we can to be successful in that space, and from there we can go into other genres. We sold out our U.S. tour based on our core audience within música Mexicana.

And globally?

The plan was to continue to roll out corridos but be strategic with collaborations. Let’s find a major artist in Colombia to do a reggaeton song with. Let’s connect with a major artist to have a presence in all these different countries—and follow it up with infrastructure.

If there’s one thing I learned from the music business, especially the physical world, it’s that you can have a hit song, but if you don’t have your products available in the market, you lose your opportunity. We hired PR in Chile, Spain, all over the world and made sure that we had a presence in each country independently of the artist we collaborated with.

At what moment last year did it hit you that this run was going from hot to historic?

It hit me pretty quick. When we were reaching out to artists to collaborate, Peso had his own wish list, and we hit that quickly. What was really cool is I realized when these artists wanted to jump on a corrido, that we had the ability to bring our sound to that country as well. Now we had name recognition because of the affiliation with that major artist, but we allowed our music to speak for itself. Then, suddenly, all of these songs started charting all over the world. “Ella Baila Sola” was our first global #1; “La Bebe” came next. Of course the #1s solidified it for me.

Also, a good chunk of the fans and artists who love Peso and corridos don’t even speak English. Rappers will come to shows, show us what they’re listening to and want to jump on a corrido. Joaquin Phoenix came to a show last year—it was in San Bernadino at this venue where you can get stuck in the parking lot for hours after the show. Joaquin was like, “I’ve heard about that nightmare; I think I’m gonna leave early. What’s left on the set list?” I told him what was left. He said, “I can’t leave—I love those songs.” He’s a real fan. Peso loves that story. It makes us all so proud, because you’re reaching so many different people and expanding an audience that—with all due respect—no Mexican artist has ever achieved before.

How did demand factor into his first U.S. tour?

We came to the U.S. in April of last year, and we didn’t know what his value was. We could have made some big mistakes. We could have sold 10% of what he ended up making per show for the whole calendar. I always say there’s some luck in it, but there’s also strategy.

We decided to do a show at Toyota Arena in Ontario with [indie promoter] Bobby Dee, who took a chance on us, and we ended up selling that place out in two hours. That helped me then negotiate a massive deal with Live Nation, which transformed it into a bigger tour halfway through the original routing, because we just kept seeing the momentum that we were creating.

We’ve been fortunate to work with Live Nation. They allowed us to change the tour midway. Sometimes people don’t want to take those risks. “Do we really need to add more dates or move to bigger venues?” They were good partners throughout the tour. Obviously, it was to their benefit as well, but they always supported us in every decision we wanted to make. I think that’s a big reason why Peso chose to do [the ÉXODO] tour with them as well.

You started the year with a Grammy win and you had a top Coachella billing. What are your expectations for the rest of the year?

I feel that ÉXODO is going to be a massive album; we’re seeing really strong numbers and engagement. I think we should land some big nominations again. Last year was amazing—obviously, the goal is to top last year. But I feel very confident that this will be another strong year.

How have you expanded Prajin Parlay?

We’ve been aggressive in signing artists and building our team. We’re hiring the best in the industry to offer services for our artists and their labels.

We’re working with Santa Fe Klan now. I’ve known Angel [Quezada] since he was 21. He’s an amazing artist. We’re working on his new album right now, and we’re working on expanding his footprint in the U.S. Código FN and Dareyes have both been successful for a long time but have recently started to peak.

Tito Double P is developing strong. He just got his visa, so there’s a plan for a U.S. tour. He’s a big contributor to Peso’s work and one of our top songwriters. Jasiel Nuñez is another growing artist and top writer. We’ve got more artists we’ve signed that will be announced soon. We’re excited about the model we’ve built for our acts and creating with them.

How would you describe your role in the studio?

I don’t want to compare myself to him, but I sort of play the Rick Rubin role in our studios. He’s a legend and has such a great ear. That’s what I aim for—I give input when needed. Peso doesn’t require an actual producer to be in there guiding him because he’s so in line with his audience. That’s why I made him a partner in Double P. He’s got an amazing ear and he’s an amazing A&R.

Considering all the hats you’ve worn, what’s your favorite part of the biz?

I love negotiating—I’ve done it for a long time in sports. I also love producing, being hands-on, building a team. I really love being in the studio and the A&R process.

You’re building a dynasty.

It’s been a lot of work, and it’s been a lot of failure too. Not every project has been successful. And the fact that now we’re getting all these accolades and respect—it’s very cool. But at the end of the day, it’s not about me, it’s about the artists I represent, and I feel the job isn’t done.

What am I going to do? Sell out? Then who’s going to come and finish the job? Who’s going to make sure that Peso is going to be financially stable for the rest of his life? Who’s going to make sure that he doesn’t have a sophomore jinx or a junior jinx? I made these promises to these artists, not someone else, and I intend to fulfill my obligation. So that’s something in the back of my mind. Everybody’s like, “Oh, is he going to take the money and run?” But I don’t look at it that way. I look at it like, who’s going to come in and fulfill my promise?