Hippy Hoppy Brasil!

Again, I am investigating the impact of Brazilian government funding in hip-hop and social movements. I have learned a lot about the issue in the past few days. First, let me give some context to the hip-hop scene in Brazil.

One cannot talk about hip-hop in Brazil without mentioning Racionais MC's. Racionais are the most well known and respected artists in the history of Brazilian hip-hop. The group formed in 1988 and each member hails from the ring of favelas around São Paulo, Brazil locally called the periferia. Their lyrics combine themes of social justice with gangster imagery. Brazil hip-hop artists basically copycatted Racionais and adopted social justice themes, which is a good thing. A lot of the music challenges the idea of a racial democracy and talks about issues ranging from police brutality to support for affirmative action quotas surprisingly! Artists like Racionais and Rappin Hood have are the most well known artists to rap about such issues. The artists here can be seen as a mix between Tupac, NWA, and Public Enemy with regard to their message.

Liza and I spoke with several industry insiders including a hip-hop writer for Rolling Stone Brazil and an MC who once hosted Yo MTV Raps Brazil. Both gave similar descriptions of the hip-hop scene in Brazil with much praise of Racionais as the leaders of the hip-hop movement. With regard to the government funding of hip-hop, it all began when Lula became President of Brazil in 2002. Lula is the first President of Brazil to come from a poor and working class background. When Lula became President the working class believed that they all became President. Many progressive programs and policies have been started under Lula and the funding of music and cultural development was one of them. One of the things I found very interesting was the meeting President Lula had with the leaders of the hip-hop movement; including Racionais, MV Bill, Rappin Hood, and others. During this meeting, President Lula listened to the needs of the hip-hop movement and this is how the program was started.

However, the people with whom I talked to about the government programs had a few responses. One artist stated that 97% of the people involved in the hip-hop movement don’t have access to the funds because 1) they don’t know how to write projects and 2) the criteria is ambiguous. Others stated that the program is strictly to take students out of crime life and give them an alternative and not about the music most of the time. Therefore, mainly NGO’s seek funding to give poor kids an alternative to crime life. But, the music they make is not usually good because the people teaching the music don’t know how to make music themselves.

At minimum, the acknowledgement by the government that hip-hop is a culture point of Brazil is symbolic. Because popular hip-hop music in Brazil offers messages that engage race and discrimination, public and government recognition of the music can constantly encourage debate of these issues.

Check this out. "Favela Rising":