Lesson 1: Estilo Vagabundo
MV Bill, real name Alex Pereira Barbosa, is a Brazilian rap singer and co-author of the best-selling book Falcão - Meninos do Tráfico. The initials "MV" stand for "Mensageiro da Verdade", Portuguese for "Messenger of Truth".
MV Bill is one of the leading and most controversial rappers of Brazilian hip hop in Rio de Janeiro. He is an advocate for getting the Brazilian youth out of the drug trade and into other activities for upward mobility, so he began a network of NGOs located in Rio, which strive to teach hip-hop skills, graffiti, and break dancing to children, alongside educational classes such as computer training. Many of his songs contain lyrics discussing the Brazilian youth lost to the trades and confrontations in Rio.
MV Bill has also funneled his passion for social justice into a book, Cabeça de Porco, that he co-authored with Celso Athayde and Luis Eduardo Soares, one of Brazil's foremost social anthropologists. The book, published in 2005, revolves around the issue of social injustice and violence in Brazil and discusses what must be done to solve the problem.
This song, Estilo Vagabundo, is a bit more lighter theme than his typical works. In the song, he has an argument with his girlfriend, represented by female rapper K'mila. The song is more or less a showcase of the two's rap skills as they re-create a typical couples argument while rhyming and keeping everything funky. In this unit, you will learn some of the K'Mila's lyrics.
MV Bill is one of the leading and most controversial rappers of Brazilian hip hop in Rio de Janeiro. He is an advocate for getting the Brazilian youth out of the drug trade and into other activities for upward mobility, so he began a network of NGOs located in Rio, which strive to teach hip-hop skills, graffiti, and break dancing to children, alongside educational classes such as computer training. Many of his songs contain lyrics discussing the Brazilian youth lost to the trades and confrontations in Rio.
MV Bill has also funneled his passion for social justice into a book, Cabeça de Porco, that he co-authored with Celso Athayde and Luis Eduardo Soares, one of Brazil's foremost social anthropologists. The book, published in 2005, revolves around the issue of social injustice and violence in Brazil and discusses what must be done to solve the problem.
This song, Estilo Vagabundo, is a bit more lighter theme than his typical works. In the song, he has an argument with his girlfriend, represented by female rapper K'mila. The song is more or less a showcase of the two's rap skills as they re-create a typical couples argument while rhyming and keeping everything funky. In this unit, you will learn some of the K'Mila's lyrics.
