Rodrigo González

Who was Rodrigo González?

Rodrigo González, better known as Rockdrigo or El profeta del nopal, was a Mexican musician and songwriter. He founded the Movimiento Rupestre, a voice-and-guitar folk music scene that strongly influenced Mexican rock. The early death of this tamaulipeco musician in the 1985 Mexico City earthquake gave him legendary status among listeners of the Mexican rock.

Rodrigo was born in Tampico, Tamaulipas and studied at the Félix de Jesús Rougier school in Tampico, where he was a good student. He always liked psychology, he even studied by a brief time at the Universidad Veracruzana in Xalapa before moving to Mexico City in 1977 with the desire to make music.

He arrived to the capital and began playing in bars and cafes. At first, he survived by singing covers in the streets of the city "in the English style." Then he developed an interest in "seeing what happens at an existential level, being a street musician." Over time, he began to create an oeuvre from his experiences on the streets.

The lyrics of Rockdrigo mixed the urban lifestyle with the troubles of the urban poor, and found many listeners among students.