"Mi Final" (My End) is a corrido from Grupo Recluta told by a guy who knows exactly where his life is heading, and he says it out loud. He opens by admitting he "no he sido muy santo" (I haven’t been much of a saint) and that in one of his "locuras" (crazy moments) he went "de malandrĂn" (the outlaw route). MalandrĂn is a great word to learn: a crook, a thug, someone living on the wrong side of the law.
The softest part is about his mother. She can see his new car, but "se le ve que no es feliz" (you can tell she isn’t happy), and he prays heaven will comfort her "cuando me toque partir" (when my time comes to go). Then it turns blunt: "aquĂ uno paga con su vida" (here you pay with your life), a debt he says he has owed since the day he was born. He asks San Judas Tadeo, the saint of desperate causes, to let him take one enemy with him in the "lluvia de fuego" (rain of fire), and he refuses prison outright: "las rejas no son pa’ mĂ" (bars are not for me).
The last verse is the coldest. "Más barato un cholo con pistola" (a cholo with a gun is cheaper) than becoming a respectable person, he does not want a "sermón pendejo" (a stupid lecture, and pendejo is a rude word) about not studying, and the closing line ties it all up: "el dinero es mi final" (money is my end). It is a dark song, but a very clear lesson in Mexican street slang.