Brazilian hip hop

Brazilian hip hop is a national music genre. From its earliest days in the African-Brazilian communities of São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro the genre has grown into a countrywide phenomena. Rappers, DJs, break dancers and graffiti artists are active across the complete spectrum of society blending Brazil's cultural heritage with American hip hop to form a contemporary musical fusion.

Brazilian hip hop has its origins in the Bailes Black (Black Parties) of the late 1970s where American funk and soul music was played. These events, which tens of thousands of people attended regularly, had become an important forum for the expression of African-Brazilian identity during the absence of democracy; the military had assumed power in 1964 and would remain in power until 1985. The Bailes Black were orientated towards playing American imports by artists such as James Brown, Funkadelic and Parliament. The influence of "Say It Loud – I'm Black and I'm Proud" by James Brown and the Civil Rights Movement is reflected in the names of the Brazilian Sound Teams (equivalent of the Jamaican Sound Systems): Black Power, Zimbabwe and Revolution of the Mind. The sound teams of the Bailes Black were soon providing opportunities for local Master of Ceremonies (MC) to take the stage and though the parties were still orientated towards American music they formed an important training ground for Brazilian rappers.

By the early 1980s the nascent Brazilian hip hop movement was centered around the city of São Paulo especially São Bento station, Galleria 24 de Maio Street and the Theatro Municipal where break dancers and rappers congregated to exchange ideas and information. In 1988 the first hip hop posse was formed by the rappers from Praça Roosevelt (Roosevelt Square) in São Paulo; calling themselves the Sindicato Negro (Black Trade Union) they were directly involved in helping other posses in the city to organize. The first Brazilian hip hop album Hip Hop, Cultura De Rua (Hip Hop, Street Culture) was released in September 1988 on the Paralelo label; the album featured Thaide & DJ Hum, Código 13, MC Jack and O Credo. The second Brazilian hip hop album was Consciência Black Vol.1 which featured "Pânico na Zona Sul" (Panic on the South Side) and "Tempos Difíceis" (Hard Times) by the group Racionais MC's as well as the song "Nossos Dias" (Our Days) by Sharylaine who was the first female rapper to make an impact in Brazil. The influence of the Universal Zulu Nation, a US hip hop organization created by Afrika Bambaataa as an alternative to gang culture, was emulated in Brazil with the formation of the Movimento Hip Hop Organizado do Brasil (MH2O) in 1989.

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