Rap in poor neighborhoods: word as ranting and spit

Abstract

Written with the fresh paint of immediate history, the Roberto Camargos’ awardwinning book we present here challenges quite harshly the Brazilian present and past in a time of a global escalation of neoliberal capitalism. The raw flesh on which he feeds it rap from different corners and poor neighborhoods of this often sad tropics, with all the suite of disgraces it holds in store for a significant portion of those living in poor outskirts of our big cities. The words spitted out by rappers, marked by ranting, are expressions of those who write the, so to say, B-side of history. No wonder that, as it welcomes a whole constellation of dissonant voices, rap is often looked down at, as a kind of art’s bastard child. This is the price to pay for the uneasiness it causes to social order and deep-rooted, established sound habits.

Keywords: rap in Brazil; politics; immediate history.