The new condition of Brazilian Rap in the 2000's

• In Event: From Rock to Rap

Abstract

This paper aims to analize the new social place of Brazilian rap to understand the changes related to race and class since the middle 2000's, through the trajectory of the paulistano rapper called Emicida. This rapper, besides attracting the taste of a diverse audience, has been occupying spaces before unimaginable to a peripheral black artist. I believe that the analysis of his trajectory in consonance with the analysis of his work contributes to the problematization of the new social place that Brazilian rap has been occupying in the cultural industry. I consider his performance as an interesting subject for the reflection on the position of the black artist in contemporary Brazil, which brings consequences for the study of race and class in the country. I support the hypothesis that the actions of Emicida are guided by the tension between sweetening and blackening. Although, his rise is marked by an individual perspective. If the individual's logic over a collective project expresses rap's elasticity nowadays, it also stresses the social meaning of Emicida's work and its role as a peripheral agent in contemporary Brazil.

Author

• Daniela Vieira dos Santos