Paying close homage to the boom-bap roots of his influences, Mexican rapper Gera MX forged a successful career through the 2010s and 2020s, building a dominant domestic career both as a talented MC and as a key part of collective Mexamafia. After finding increasing commercial success in the late 2010s, Gera made history with 2021's "Botella Tras Botella," which became the first-ever regional Mexican song to debut on the Billboard Hot 100.

Born in the Monterrey suburb of San Nicolás de los Garza, Mexican musician Gera MX (full name Gerardo Daniel Torres Montante) spent his early years primarily in San Luis Potosí, having moved there with his mother and sister at age three. Though frequently bouncing between different cities and schools due to familial and social issues, one thing remained a constant: Gera's love for hip-hop. Influenced by the old guard of Mexican rap (Caballeros del Plan G, Control Machete, Cartel de Santa), Gera spent his early years freestyling for classmates and friends, developing a strong affinity for wordplay and flow. His potential soon became evident to local MC Rhinox, who invited the young rapper to join his collective Mexamafia after spotting his talent at one of his concerts.

Under the Mexamafia umbrella, Gera (now Gera MXM) began to make his first inroads into the music industry, debuting with boom-bap anthems like 2012's "Va Dedicado" and "A Medio Camino." His full-length debut came in November that year with the A Medio Camino mixtape, a collection of street-led rap anthems with features from Amenaza, Jahpeck, Crox, and Papiros. After a series of local tour dates, Gera set to work on his debut album, Precipicio: released in August 2013, the project offered a window into the gloomy realities of street living, detailing early-morning missions and half-broken dreams in potent brushstrokes. Two further albums, No Veo No Siento (2014) and No Me Mates Antes de Hoy (2015), continued to build the rapper's profile in the Mexican underground: the former gave prominence to Gera's compelling biography and imagery and the latter underscored his narratives with increasingly layered production work.

After the release of fourth studio album Los Niños Grandes No Juegan (2017), a series of disputes led to Gera's departure from the Mexamafia. Removing the last "M" from his name as a tribute to his home country, the newly rebranded Gera MX moved from success to success. Along with founding his own label Rich Vagos and releasing his most successful album to date, El Vicio y La Fama (2019), Gera was named Rapper of the Year 2018 by the country's highest-profile rap magazine Ritmo Urbano. His sound continued to evolve in the late 2010s and early 2020s, with the rapper dipping his toes into trap on El Vicio y La Fama before fully embracing it on Jayrick collab tape 444 Paradise Encerrado No Enterrado. Continuing to experiment with lighter, less-gritty sounds, Gera worked with Charles Ans and Nanpa Básico on 2021's Los No Tan Tristes, but his biggest success was just around the corner. In April 2021, Gera and Christian Nodal made history with the heartbreak anthem "Botella Tras Botella." Immediately breaking domestic streaming records, the ranchera-rap fusion became the first regional Mexican single to debut on the Billboard Hot 100 chart as it garnered hundreds of millions of streams across global platforms. ~ David Crone, Rovi