T
he first time I saw a 454 truck, I must have been about 10 years old. Back then, seeing one of those trucks driving through the neighborhood, everyone turned their heads. That was everybody’s dream truck right there. I remember being with my dad somewhere in the Inland Empire, maybe east of L.A., and telling him, One day I’m gonna have that truck. The first time I actually got to drive it was when we shot the “No Es Pa Presumir” video in 2019. I was driving it and thinking, it looks like something straight out of the Nineties, like Chalino Sánchez would’ve been in it. It felt nostalgic, but it also felt powerful. Back then, Fuerza was starting to make noise, people were starting to notice, and that truck became part of that story.
What does this truck represent to our Mexican-American community? It’s like a hood trophy for us. If you have one of these trucks, it means you made it out. That’s what it is, it represents that a Mexican- American is doing good and that they made it when you see them driving down the street in a 454. There’s pride attached to it because people know the work behind it. You know they’ve been hustling, and you know they’ve been working hard for their goals.
Today, the 454 has become really close to Fuerza Regida. It represents where we come from and where we’re going at the same time. That’s why it became such a central image for us. It’s the image of making it out, making it happen. When I picture it now, I see the cover of the This Is Our Dream stadium tour. I think about kids seeing that same truck and feeling what I felt when I was younger — seeing themselves in it, seeing their culture in it, and believing bigger. The 454 is the time machine for this tour. It takes us back to where we started, but it also pushes us toward where we’re going.
