Music
Twenty years from its birth in east London, grime has set down roots in Rio de Janeiro, where it's mingling with homegrown sounds like baile funk.
It’s November 2019 in a club down some back street in Lapa, an area best described as Rio de Janeiro’s de facto red light district, and the night is in full swing. It’s the sort of area you’d expect to hear music from Brazil’s homegrown underground music scene – baile funk, or the latest Brazilian rap, perhaps. But tonight there’s different sounds coming from the PA: new and vintage tracks from 67, Section Boyz, Skepta, Krept & Konan and Giggs. This would be the soundtrack to a standard night in London, perhaps – but not Rio.
A year or so prior, it would have been difficult to find a rave where you’d hear those artists. But platforms like YouTube mean that sounds can spread quickly, and lately, Brazilian DJs, producers and MCs have been looking for inspiration beyond their home country. Now, Brazilian grime artists like Leall and Fleezus are running up hundreds of thousands of views online, and while it’s early days for the scene – there are a smattering of shows every month – aspiring MCs have artists that they can look to as flag bearers.
The increased criminalisation and censorship of Brazil’s last big homegrown underground sound, baile funk (sometimes referred to simply as 'funk'), has forced artists to become innovative with their approach. Historically, North America has been a source of inspiration. But lately, the influence of grime, drill and UK rap has become difficult to ignore – and now Brazilian artists are starting to trace the sound back to the land of its birth. Late last year, some of Brazil’s leading grime MCs – Fleezus, Febem and Rodrigo – plus label owener Don Cesão and producer Cesrv, made their first trip to Britain. In the day, the three had visited Red Bull Music Studios London, where they recorded a cypher with Eyez, Yizzy and a UK MC of Brazilian heritage, Jevon.
In the evening, I meet them to show them around West London. Cesrv, the only artist among the group who speaks English, mentions how difficult it is for people to leave Brazil due to the cost of flights: “We want to be able to travel outside of Brazil to perform because the market isn’t so big for the music we make,” he explains. “Over there it’s all about baile funk in the charts – even though that’s the watered-down version.” Most rap-based genres are considered underground in Brazil, with entry into the industry incredibly difficult for artists of black origin.
The depth of Cesrv’s production knowledge comes from studying the UK underground bass scenes after he first came into contact with grime around 2011. Although he’d come across garage, drum’n’bass and bassline before, Cesrv’s exposure to grime completely changed his approach to production. Gustavo, the group’s manager, tells me of when they first met back in 2014: “I did some shows with Febem back then but I’d already known Cesrv for some time before.” Cesrv sees Gustavo as playing a pivotal role in bringing artists together in São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, with a specific focus on grime.
The migration of UK sounds to Brazil wouldn’t have happened as quickly without the internet. But listen to the music and you quickly realise that it’s not simply a case of imitation – rather a marrying of two distinct cultures into something that feels fresh and new. An upcoming project featuring Febem, Fleezus and Cesrv features productions that skilfully merge eskibeat, garage, bassline, drill, trap and baile funk. On one particular track, Cesrv beautifully masters the essence of mid-2000s bassline while adding a staple “um cha-cha” funk sound as a garnish on top. The language barrier that can prevent non-Portuguese listeners from understanding Febem and Fleezus isn’t even enough to stop them from getting a reload – the energy is there regardless.
“It feels as though grime belongs here, in Brazil – it already operates at a similar BPM to baile funk"
So why has grime settled in Brazil? “It feels as though grime belongs here,” says Cesrv. “It already operates at a similar BPM to baile funk… most grime stuff is 130-140 [BPM] – funk is traditionally 150, but at the moment, 130 is really popular.” He’s also observed that there are cultural and racial similarities between the audiences. Similar to grime, baile funk was born in the favelas before it made its way to the dancefloor. Grime and funk share the same space as most black-led sounds in that one of their primary functions is to serve as an artistic response to state violence and oppression. They also both descend from soundsystem culture – albeit sitting on different branches due to regionality, language and sonic differences. “This is hood music for the kids here," adds Cesrv. "We’re trying to connect it with where it originally comes from, London – but we have funk as an influence as well.”
The internet – specifically social media – has made it so that where it once used to take a sound years to cross the Atlantic, it now happens in real time as we interact online across physical borders. If the digital migration of people is happening via online interactions, it doesn’t take long for the music, culture and language to follow. Brazil is home to the largest Nigerian diaspora outside of West Africa, so it makes sense that a sound also developed in part by British-Nigerians would set down roots here.
Another outlet for the sound is Brasil Grime Show, an online program which could best be described as Boiler Room meets early Rinse FM. Fronted by Ant Constantino and DiniBoy, it consists of a weekly show that has featured appearances and performances by Cesrv, Febem, Fleezus and others. The team also hosts occasional raves in São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. They’ve found a deft balance between maintaining an online and offline presence which allows them to reach an audience in a country almost the size of Europe while also reaching listeners across the world.
Yvie, the show's producer, tells me that Brasil Grime Show has also put local MCs on their radar, which has led to the formation of something resembling a scene. "When we started the programme it was very difficult to find MCs from grime or who identified with it, and it was difficult to find materials on platforms like YouTube, Spotify and so on,” she says. “Now we see an impact, and not only in our region here in Rio de Janeiro. We receive contacts from artists from all over Brazil – people who watch the programme, people who want to participate, and people who want to help create events and more.”
It’s another example of cross-cultural exchange that shows how ideas can travel across the black diaspora. “We have to push our scene forward and look outward – but we also have to keep our ears open to what’s happening where we come from, because that’s ultimately who we make this for,” says Cesrv. It may have taken grime nearly 20 years to find a permanent home in Brazil but now that it has, the artists are yearning to build a community for it.
Now watch Eyez and Kamakaze trade bars in Red Bull Music Studios.
