Cidinho e Doca - Rap Das Armas

A tropical take on the politics of violence: this is gorgeous. It's got Brazil's veteran MCs Cidinho e Doca going to work on a baile funk tune, with incredible results.

The song's about the Morro do Dende favela, which is dominated by drug trafficking and in which the only police presence is heavily-armed incursions to arrest dealers (often with significant civilian casualties). Their chorus is "Mais Morro Do Dendê também é terra de Deus" - "But Morro Do Dende is also God's earth"

Humanitarianism and babes in bikinis - what's not to like? Also, the tune is phenomenal. I am going to be playing this until my neighbours start joining in with the chorus



Incidentally, it was these guys who made funk carioca mainstream in 1994, with this

Cidinho e Doca - Rap Da Felicidade

I don't even know where to start writing about this one. It's a Brazilian anthem, and the first funk carioca song to hit the charts there when it came out in 1994. Cidinho e Doca are often described as proibidão rappers - MCs who narrate the doings of the underworld (somewhat like the Mexican narcocorridos). But this track is pure sunshine: that minor-key chant is all about wanting peace and respect for the favelas:

Eu só quero é ser feliz
Andar tranqüilamente
Na favela onde eu nasci
É...
E poder me orgulhar
E ter a consciência que o pobre tem o seu lugar
Fé em Deus

All I want is to be happy
Walk quietly
In the favela where I was born
Yes...
And I could be proud
and know that there is a place for the poor
Have faith in God

I read a phenomenal article about funk carioca and attitudes to social inequality and abject poverty.

Going back to the music: this has that danceable rhythm that makes funk so popular across Brazil, and an instantly-familiar tune. And those voices are incredible: Brazilian Portuguese is such a beautiful language with all those "eesh" and "adje" sounds. The lyrics are brutal: 17 years on I think they'd still resonate with the part of the population left out of Brazil's economic expansion.