Olá BITCHES!
Get your passport and hit your parents up for some more cash, because we've got a feeling
that there's some hip hop fans on the other side of the world that need us!
WELCOME TO
BRAZIL!
Dis you know that they speak Portuguese in Brazil? And that it's the largest country in South America? And that it has more remote, un-contacted tribes than any place in
the world?
It's also got heaps of guns, drugs and racial tensions in the slums or favelas. That's the perfect breeding ground for hip hop babies!
Brazilian hip hop first appeared in the 1990s, mostly as a reaction to the gnarly drug scene in
Rio de Janeiro and
San Paulo which was causing people to shoot each other's faces off.
Racionias MC's rapped about life in the favelas and got together with the Ministry of Education to tell kids that crack was wack. Here's a song called "Hard Times", which talks about hard times.
While some rappers try to empower kids to stay off the gear and get an education, other hip hop groups were actually funded by drug lords (could you say the same about
Roc-A-Fella Records? Kind of?). Apparently this track
"Rap del Borel" referred to a dodgy neighborhood where drug lords would hold massive parties to recruit young drug dealers.
Who wouldn't be swayed by this party jam!
Gabriel o Pensador is a dude
who likes to hide his political raps under layers of ambiguity and subtle metaphor. Here is his 1992 hit
"Tô Feliz, Matei o Presidente" (I'm Glad, I've Killed the President).
He's also written a book of poetry for children. So there you go.
The Po-Po are apparently a massive problem in Brazil, with unjustified brutality against poor, black youths widespread. Rap crew
Pavilhão 9 got their name from the location where 100 convicts were murdered by the police inside the
Carandiru jail. Oh.
Flora Matos is like a Brazilian
Lauryn Hill.
Emicida is a young gun who composed a few tracks for
Max Payne 3. It'll make you want to wear camo and shoot stuff, in a good way.
DJ Jamaika is kind of like the grandpa of Brazilian hip hop. He was gangster as fuck, in the '90s, until 2002 when he became a Christian and started making gospel rap. According to the translated
Wikipedia page "the artist continued with great acceptance of the old fans".
@SineadStubbins