LOS ANGELES — Crystal Hernandez holds a violin and surveys the crowd from the sixth floor of the building. Sophie Stadium when 70,000 fans flock to Los Angeles Rams home game. Below, blue and gold jerseys mingle with charro and sombrero outfits as the low rumble of pre-match noise fades into the opening notes of a late song. Ozzy Osbourne “Crazy Train” is reimagined with trumpets, guitarron and vihuela.
To Hernandez's right, rock guitarist Nita Strauss takes over with an electric solo as a multi-piece mariachi ensemble gets into rhythm. In the lobby, fans pause midway with their phones raised, captivated by the incredible combination of rock, mariachi and football.
In games you can often hear Kendrick LamarBad Bunny And Beyoncé music booms from the speakers. But the Mariachi Rams are changing their sound NFL game day, combining traditional Mexican music with hip-hop and Los Angeles rock in a way no other team in the league does.
“Mariachi music has such flexibility, and I think it’s special because we can show how versatile mariachi music is to the NFL audience,” says Hernandez, the only woman in the first official mariachi band in the NFL. She is the daughter of Mariachi legend Jose Hernandez, who created the ensemble when he teamed up with the Rams in 2019.
At one point they are playing classic mariachi standards. The next they turn Tupac Shakur “California Love” turns into a brass-heavy anthem as a lowrider bounces nearby and fans roar from the stands.
“What comes from our communities, all of our communities, we all represent each other,” says rapper Xzibit, who performed with USC Marching Band at halftime during the Rams' game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He says seeing the Mariachi Rams on the NFL stage speaks to how culture moves through a city without borders.
“To get into something where the culture is perceived on this level,” says Xzibit. “That’s when you feel like you’re part of something important.”
Jose Hernandez didn't end up with the Mariachi Rams by accident.
A few years ago, a Rams employee approached him with a video of a mariachi band performing at a major football game and asked him a simple question: “Could this work for football?” remembered the Grammy-nominated musician and band founder Mariachi Sol de Mexico and Mariachi Reyna de Los Angeles, an all-female mariachi ensemble that includes Cristal Hernandez.
Jose Hernandez didn't hesitate. He believed it could work with the right musicians and musical range. What followed was the formation of a 10-piece ensemble designed to fuse tradition with the modern sound of Los Angeles, performing classic mariachi standards alongside reimagined pop and hip-hop anthems from “El Rey” to Tupac's “California Love.”
“It’s pride and passion,” Hernandez says.
Mariachi Rams consist of:
Santiago Espinosa (vihuela), Mateo Real (guitar), Joshua Gutierrez (guitar), Kevin Ramirez (trumpet), Christopher Rubalcava (trumpet), Crystal Hernandez (violin), Adrian Arias (violin), Ricardo Rios (violin), Ricardo Cisneros (violin) and Joaquin Telles (violin).
Hernandez says his vision from the beginning was to reflect the surrounding city musically and culturally.
“When they see young musicians on that jumbotron in SoFi, playing songs that they absolutely relate to, you can’t even imagine how proud they feel,” he says.
While other NFL teams, including the Houston Texans, now include mariachi bands in their cultural programs, the Rams were the first to introduce a mariachi band as a recurring game-day element when they launched the Mariachi Rams six years ago. Since then, several teams have followed him.
Behind the stadium lights and viral halftime moments are musicians who spend much of their week away from the field, teaching students, working in offices, designing graphics or performing in classical orchestras throughout Southern California.
Several members of the Mariachi Rams teach at Jose Hernandez's mariachi academy. Others combine careers in education, banking, graphic design and orchestral performances before turning into stadium performers on Sundays.
“They have a career, their regular job during the week,” says Jose Hernandez. “For them to put on that suit and go to SoFi and play… you just can’t imagine the pride they feel.”
Santiago Espinoza, a vihuela player and music educator for the group, says the group has become “sort of rock stars,” especially considering how often they appear on SoFi Stadium's huge video boards.
“Other people who maybe don't know about mariachi come into the game and maybe experience mariachi for the first time and they just love it,” he says. “The energy and atmosphere it gives is just electric.”
This energy extends far beyond the lobby.
“Even the players on the field notice… the whole stadium is connected,” Espinoza says. “It's like a big family. We like to call it Ramilia.”
The band's presence has become so ingrained in the rhythm of the Rams game that fans can sense when something is changing.
The band typically performs three times on game day: at kickoff, during halftime in the first quarter, and again later, depending on the progress of the game. Their role has expanded to social events, parties and team activations throughout Los Angeles.
That evolution includes a holiday collaboration with the band War, who will perform “Feliz Navidad” with the Mariachi Rams on SoFi on Sunday.
“There was probably one game where we had to cut one of their performances, and people … heard about it in the voices of the fans,” says Marissa Daly, the Rams' senior vice president of studio and marketing. “It was like, 'Why did they only play twice?'”
While the Mariachi Rams are a Rams initiative and not an official NFL program, their growth fits into a broader league-wide effort to expand football's cultural connections.
Recently The NFL Has Gained the Attention of Latino Artists at international games and major events as part of its strategy to expand its global and multicultural presence.
Mariachi music has long been woven into the fabric of Los Angeles social life. It is a staple food in various areas: quinceañeras, weddings, parades, street festivals and championship celebrations. Bringing the sound to SoFi Stadium was about bringing something new to the city in hopes of reflecting what was already there, Daly said.
“Our main logo is the two letters “Los Angeles.” This is Los Angeles, right?” says Daly. “You can't help but celebrate Mexican-American culture if you're an Angeleno. If you don't understand Mexican-American culture, you probably won't be able to capture that market.”
For Crystal Hernandez, the meaning of the Mariachi Rams goes beyond music and game days. It's about visibility in a space that rarely has room for women.
“It makes people feel seen,” she says of the band's presence on SoFi. “It’s great for them to see that their home team, the Rams, recognizes that and embraces it.”
As the only woman in the group, Hernandez says she stands at the intersection of tradition and change. For her father, the moment is deeply personal: she broke the mold for seven generations of male musicians in his family.
Jose Hernandez believes that the group can also overcome barriers.
“I think this is the beginning of a movement in the NFL,” he says. “If these teams know they have Latino fans supporting them, they'll think about bringing in mariachis, too.”
