Proibidão

Proibidão
Stylistic origins	Funk carioca, gangsta rap
Cultural origins	1990s, Rio de Janeiro
Typical instruments	Drum machine - Turntable - Sampler - Synthesizer - Vocal

Proibidão, which literally translates to "strongly prohibited", is a subgenre of funk carioca music originating from the favelas of Rio de Janeiro where it began in the early 1990s as a parallel phenomenon to the growth of drug gangs in the many slums of the city. The drug gangs sponsored DJs and baile funks in the favelas they controlled to spread respect and love for their gang as well as hate to the other gangs. The music that resulted is proibidão.

Proibidão is characterized as a raw mix of live funk vocals and Miami bass structures. The explicit lyrics typically promote the gang the MC is affiliated with, crime, drug use, and violence. Like gang members, MCs who speak ill of their allied gang or perform outside of their gang's territory risk the possibility of violence or death. Each drug gang sponsors their own baile funk at their own favela(s), which results in a unique sound that distinguishes each MC, and by extension, each gang.

The highly territorial nature of the gangs has made proibidão an extremely localized form of funk in Rio de Janeiro. Moreover, in Brazil, it is against the law to promote crime in song lyrics which makes most proibidão songs illegal to perform or broadcast through radio (hence the name "proibidão"). These two factors seldom allow proibidão to be heard beyond the live performances in favela. Proibidão is a raw musical genre that captures the dark side of Brazilian favelas.

One particularly powerful gang, the Comando Vermelho (Portuguese for Red Command) has given poor youths free girls, drinks, and entertainment at their dances, hoping to engrain a positive image of drug-dealing and gang membership to Rio youths. In Red Command released CDs, their gang sign, a CV, sits across the label, representing the community and the gang instead of the artists. The Red Command's influence was best shown in 1990, when William Santos de Souza and Duda, the "Kings of Rio rap" at the time, released a track entitled, "Rap do Borel" shouting out to a gang-controlled favela in Rio. No gang better represents Proibidão than the Commando Vermelho.

Other gangs also have renowned songs. For example, the gang Amigos dos Amigos (Portuguese for ‘’Friends of Friends’’) is known for "A.D.A do Chuck", featuring MC Cruel. Another Funk emcee, MC Colibri, was very successful with erotic funk, but he has also already made music for the Terceiro Comando Puro

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Wikipedia